Authentic Compassion

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Tres Leches is spanish for very wet

Finally chillated enough - we had (drank?) a piece of the tres leches (which really means three milks) cake for our lunch dessert. I'll put the recipe below - it is from Texas Cooking website. How does the cake taste - well moist is an understatement with a couple of cups of additional liquid poured over the cake after it has baked. Texture somewhat like a pudding cake and must be kept refrigerated. The whipped cream topping is definitely gilding the lily but somehow combines the other flavors. In my cake yesterday I used a liqueur made from coffee and tequila - would not do that again. Probably better with some other liqueur - if you do not use alcohol at all in the kitchen - I think flavoring the 3 milks mixture with cinnamon or a touch nutmeg might be very tasty. Fair warning - have a big glass of either milk, iced tea, coffee or something to drink because this is a very rich dessert.

Here goes the recipe copied directly from the website - the author on the website says----
"I have experimented with this cake, and my recipe has one variant to the original. I add a liqueur to three milks.
Pastel de Tres Leches 1-½ cups All-purpose flour 1 teaspoon Baking powder ½ cup Unsalted butter 2 cups White sugar (divided) 5 Eggs 1-½ teaspoon Vanilla extract (divided) 1 cup Milk ½ of a 14-ounce can Sweetened condensed milk ½ of a 12-ounce can Evaporated milk 1/3 cup Liqueur, Frangelico, Brandy or Chambord, for example (optional) 1-½ cups Heavy (whipping) cream Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13-inch baking pan. Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside. Cream the butter and 1 cup of the sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs and 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla. Beat well. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, 2 tablespoons at a time, mixing well until blended. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes. When cake has finished baking, pierce it in 8 or 10 places with a fork or skewer, and let it cool. Combine the whole milk, evaporated milk, condensed milk and liqueur and pour over the top of the cooled cake. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Whipped Cream Topping: When ready to serve, combine the whipping cream and the remaining 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 cup of sugar, whipping until thick. Spread over top of cake. Because of the milk in the cake, it is very important that you keep the cake refrigerated until ready to serve. Serve chilled.
Version: Replace the sweetened condensed milk with cup of Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut in the milk mixture. You can also add ¼ cup rum. Southern Version: In addition to the three milks, add 1/3 cup peach schnapps. You can add cup of diced, drained peaches to the batter. About cup of pecans can be added to the batter or sprinkled on top of the cake before serving. Now, if you like cherries, blueberries, raspberries or apples, you can add them to this cake much in the same way. Well, what about chocolate? Why not add some chocolate syrup to the three-milk mixture, or temper in some white chocolate. This is another one of those great recipes that allows for culinary adventure. Plus, it is just plain delicious"

4 comments:

Paula said...

Wow, that sounds RICH!
I may have to wait until company is coming to make something like that... I wouldn't want to be alone with that cake for too long!

Anonymous said...

Yummy Yummy Yummy!

Vickie said...

Love tres leches cake. WHat I really liked was all the different varieties and things you could add - thanks for point that out! Do you have any left?
Vickie

LindaSue said...

Yes a bit - made a pineapple topping for it today - as I said the tequila liqueur I used was NOT wonderful. But oh MY a bit of tangy pineapple and we were all loosening the belt again. Thanks for coming by y'all - I'm going to make something else really soon - but have been working like a possessed being on apartment renovations - not fun but gotta do it.