Pastel de Tres Leches
(Central American cake of three milks)
The famous cake of three milks, pastel de tres leches is believed to have originated in Nicaragua. It has become very popular throughout Central America and is becoming more and more common in the United States. Soaking the cake in three kinds of milk gives it a rich, dense quality, almost like a cheesecake.
8 to 10 servings
- Flour -- 1 1/2 cups
- Baking powder -- 1 teaspoon
- Unsalted butter, room temperature -- 1/2 cup, or 8 tablespoons
- Sugar -- 3/4 cup
- Eggs, room temperature -- 5
- Vanilla -- 1/2 teaspoons
- Whole milk -- 1 cup
- Sweetened, condensed milk -- 1 cup
- Evaporated milk -- 2/3 cup
- Whipping cream -- 1 1/2 cups
- Sugar -- 1/2 cup
- Vanilla -- 1 teaspoon
Method
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease and flour an 8x11-inch baking pan.
- Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Reduce mixer speed to medium-low and add the eggs one at a time, allowing each one to get incorporated before adding the next. Finally add the vanilla and continue beating until foamy.
- Remove the bowl from mixer and fold in the sifted flour until it is well incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 30 minutes, or until done. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
- Pierce cake all over with a fork, toothpick or skewer. Mix the whole, sweetened, condensed, and evaporated milk together and pour the mixture over the whole cake.
- Refrigerate cake for anywhere from 2 to 8 hours, or until liquid is completely absorbed and cake is well chilled.
- Beat the cream, sugar and vanilla together to make whipped cream. Frost the cake with the whipped cream and serve.
Variations
- Substitute coconut milk for the whole milk if you like. Scatter the frosting with coconut flakes.
- Substitute 1/2 cup rum for half the whole milk for a pastel with a punch.
- If you would like a layer cake, divide the batter between 2 prepared, round cake pans. For layer cakes, you can add a fruit filling between the layers. Try pineapple filling, peaches, bananas or any fruit that suits your fancy.
Notes
- Because of the milk ingredients, pastel de tres leches is perishable. Leftovers should be refrigerated.
i hate it
i hate it
no offencce
no offence but to the anonymous person that wrote a comment before me i know that everyone has they're own opinion but don't write back that you hate it thats not nice if you didn't like it then move on .....you're making the person who wrote the recipe feel bad.
The only person that is OTR
The only person that is OTR is obviously you, as I know 7 year olds who can at least articulate why they dislike something. So, next time mommy lets you on the computer without supervision, find a site meant for haters...not a cooking site, unless you learn how to 1)cook and 2)express a useful opinion in other than monosyllabic, "the world needs to hear my opinion because I think I'm so cool" anonymous form. And yes, even though the Constitution guarantees your right to "speak" it also gives us the right to tell you to bugger off until you learn how to engage in a mature civil exchange.
dont say you hate it. thats
dont say you hate it. thats just a stupid thing to do.
3 leches a delight
Well I like it and if u don't u r the first person I've heard you didn't like it.
I made for school and got an
I made for school and got an A+, thanks so much!
very good realy like it,
my family and I enjoyed alot maybe less sugar on every thing ,delicioso!!!!!!
its the bomb
i agree with the person who commented before me. by the way this cake is the bomb you will love it if you have a sweet tooth. and it will be a big hit at parties.
sick in a good way!
it was awesome!!!!!!!!
this cake was absolutely the
this cake was absolutely the sh**. made it for foods and nutrition class everyone wanted seconds.=)mmmmmmmm great.
Cake was great but I ended
Cake was great but I ended up with a lot of frosting leftover and it was a bit too sweet...I'm going to try it with less sugar next time. But seriously tasted like the real thing!
AWESOME
Very Sweet and Dilisioso!!
Help
Can i cook more than one cake at a time at the same temp?
Help is here!
As long as you don't totally crowd your oven and block the flow of heat, you should be able to bake more than one cake at a time at the same temperature. Just make sure to preheat your oven well so that its temperature doesn't fall too much when you open the door and insert the cakes. And I recommend turning the cakes halfway through the baking time to make sure they bake evenly.
tres leche
i took this to my daughters school and to my co workers and they all loved it. i changed the whole milk to half and half. and i added only 2/3 cup surgar to the whipped topping. we will do this again. thanks
I made the recipe for a
I made the recipe for a school and everyone loved it thnx
Is it good?
I'm doing a report and we have to have a recipe! Is this cake really really good?
Variation
Good recipe--another variation is to add 1/4 c of Kahlua with the liquids to be absorbed. I use one can of evaporated, 1 can of sweetened condensed & 1 can of "media crema" along with the Kahlua. I also add 1 TBSP of real vanilla. Yum!
This brings me memories of
This brings me memories of my grandmother baking in Managua. Im so happy that Nicaragua is getting its recognition for creating the cake they deserve. Its always mistaken for Mexican and or Spanish origin, which is a fallacy. The cake was invented in Nicaragua. I tried not dignify the first response in regards to hating it. But, Obviously this person is missing taste and class.
Help
Will the amount of ingredients change much if I use a 8x13 inch pan, thats all I have, please reply soon because I am goint to the store in about an hour to get the ingredients and i do not want to waste money because i am not paying for it. Thanks so much
8x13 is fine
Probably too late for you now, but 8x13 should be okay. It's just going to come out a little bit thinner, and you could probably shave a few minutes off the baking time.
I am...
I am thinkin about using this recipe for my spanish cultural day at school and from all the other comments i am pretty confident it will come out Great!! and it is great to know that its is actually from Nicaragua. it is something new i learned. well thnx!!
Help...
I'm going to make this cake for a country expo at my son's school. If I make it today for tomorrow, should I wait and do the frosting tomorrow or is it OK to make the cake, frost it and leave it in the refrigerator overnight (will probably be in refrigerator for about 12-15 hours before actually take to school to be served).
Thanks!
Wait until tomorrow to frost
I would wait until the day of the expo to frost it. Unlike a buttercream or shortening-based frosting, the frosting for this cake is just whipped cream. It would probably just turn back into cream overnight and make the cake soggy.
LOVE IT
I have made this cake on several different occassions and everyone loved it!
I have a question!
I am doing a project on Nicaragua for spanish class and I want to know if it is too sweet? If it is, how much sugar do I add to make not too sweet yet not too plain?
yum
This is an awsome cak,my husband is from ElSalvador and he loves when I make this cake for him.
hi
well my name is mauricio and im not a chef just yet but i am in my second year of culinary and the recipe written here is really good i have one that is almost the same just a few different things but this is a recipe that some one knowing of baking can follow. well howp to see more of these recipes soon.. mauricio from barrie, canada
Everyone loved the cake!
My daughter was marrying a Mexican man so I decided I wanted to bake a few cakes mostly for him and his friends that would be attending. This was one of them. Actually, I added a twist since the only pans I had was 11 x 13 and the cake would not be as tall as it should. I made two layers and put frozen peaches between the layers, as the one of the local Mexican restaurants (that caters to Mexican citizens) puts peaches in one of their tres leches cakes. I made two batches of the milk mixture, of course the bottom layer soaked up most of the liquid, after a couple of days I put another batch of the milks on the top layer. The fourth(last) day I poured off as much of the leftover milk that I could. I used no liquor on the cake.
We ate other traditional food including some huge tamales and everyone was very full after the meal. I left before they tackled the cake a few hours later. Everyone was pleased and wanted to know who made the cake. (most attendees didn't know I made it) Most agreed that it was much better than the ones made at the restaurants. (the only taste I got of it was a small piece I ate before I left just to make sure it was edible)
A hint I have been given is to turn the cake out onto a platter before adding the whipped cream to let the excess milk drain.
Thank you very much for posting this recipe.
Tres Leches Cake
Wow. Easy to make and so good. I have made it four times now and different each time I loved this cake.!
Nicaraguan Cake.
does any one know how to make Nicaraguan cakes? would this be the same recipe? how does the frosting become hard?