Friday, August 20, 2010

Tres Leches

This month the Cake Slice Bakers baked up Johnny C's Tres Leches Cakes from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott. I have made both a regular tres leches and a chocolate tres leches and both were amazing so I was hopeful this one would be as well. I was a little hesitant with the lime zest cause that just seemed so odd to me, but I decided to go long with the recipe. However this recipe just says to top with with cream but I decided I would use the whipped cream from the other Tres Leches cake I used cause it was so good last time.

Johnny C's Tres Leches Cake from Southern Cake by Nancie McDermott


Cake:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk

Three Milk Sauce:
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
One 12 ounce can evaporated milk
1 tbsp grated lime zest

Garnish with whipped cream and or fresh fruit such as kiwi or berries. I whipped a pint of heavy whipping cream with 3 tbsp sugar and covered the cake in the whipped cream.

Cake Method-
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 13 x 9 inch pan. In a medium bowl, combine the flour and baking powder and stir with a fork to mix well.

In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat with a mixer on medium high speed to mix well. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and half of the milk, beating at low speed each time until incorporated. Add another third of the flour, the remaining milk and the remaining flour the same way.


Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. Mine took about 45 minutes. Bake until golden brown, the cake begins to pull away from the sides and the center springs back with touched.

While the cake bakes, make the milk sauce. You want the cake to be warm when you add the milk.

Three Milk Sauce:
Combine the milk, sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk in a medium saucepan. Hea gently over medium heat, stirring often until the mixture is smooth and steaming hot. Do not let it come to a boil. Allow 10 minutes to cool before using.

To Finish:
Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Sprinkle the lime zest over the cake

Punch holes with a toothpick or fork. Slowly pour the warm milk, in stages, stopping to let the cake absorb the sauce before adding more. You may not need it all. You can always add more if needed. Let the cake stand for an hour. Then top with any whipped topping or refrigerate covered until ready to serve. Garnish however you wish!



I really wanted this cake to be good but it really just wasnt as good as the other Tres Leches I had made. I will say I had to bake mine for 45 minutes because the middle was not done and in the process I think the bottom got a little over cooked. Nothing horrible just darker than I would normally cook it. The cake wasnt as light and fluffy as I am used to tres leches being and I think it needed more milk sauce as well.

All in all this cake wasnt bad but next time I would definitely use the other recipes I have in the past.

I also recently added a Smitten Sugar Facebook page so please go online and check it out and while you are there make sure you "Like" my page! Happy Baking everyone!

Krystle
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11 comments:

  1. The cake looks lovely. Shame it didn't meet the taste expectations

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  2. I made my first tres leches cake last weekend with my mom and it didn't turn out the way I expected. I'm gonna go look at the other recipes you used since you loved them. Esp. that chocolate version!

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  3. I agree about the cake...I'd never had tres leches cake before but I'd read about it and was expecting something a lot different. Looking forward to trying your recommended recipes sometime soon.

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  4. i agree that this recipe didn't make a spongy enough cake for a tres leches. but with whipped cream and fruit, it was pretty good.

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  5. I agree withyou that this cake was good but not great. Heck I think the tres leches cupcakes from Martha Stewart were better than this cake. Of course I changed mine and made a chocolate version which was good but it was the texture that was different. ANd it didn't have enough milk mixture to fully soak it- I had a few dry spots on mine.

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  6. I have been wanting to try a tres leches cake for a while now! Thanks for the heads up about this recipe :)

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  7. Looks like it turned out well but from what I have heard from other CS bakers, it wasn't the bext tres leches cake.

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  8. Oh yum! Tres Leches is one of my favorite cakes!

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  9. sorry it wasn't your favorite, but it sure looks great!

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  10. I am sorry you didn't love this recipe. It looks terrific to me.

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  11. I've been wanting to make another tres leche cake...guess it won't be this one! Thanks for the heads up! I'm gonna check out your other recipe.

    Btw, it did look good!
    ~ingrid

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