Tres Leche or Cuatro Leche

You be the judge!

A friend of mine who I work with had her Birthday recently (by recently I mean in October). I promised her a cake, but due to some delays on my part the cake was slightly belated. 

Her favorite cake is Tres or Cuatro Leches cake. I chose to make Tres Leches Cake, which conversely, due to the ingredients used, could be referred to as a Cuatro Leches cake. Leche is Spanish for milk. Tres of course being Spanish for three and Cuatro being Spanish for four. The milks used in this case are whole milk (I used 2%), evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk...topped with heavy whipping cream combined with sugar and whipped into fluffy peaks for a fresh whipped cream topping. 

The first time I tried a Leche cake was at a restaurant here in Dallas called La Duni. I haven't been there in quite a while but to tell you the honest to goodness truth the only reason I would want to go back there is for the Cuatro Leche cake. If you want to make it yourself you can certainly try. They have published the recipe at this link - I personally didn't want to make this exact cake for my friends birthday but it is certainly the inspiration. Perhaps some time I will try my hand at La Dunis famous cake. At this time however, I don't have a kitchen torch - hint hint hint for my family, friends and husband alike! The holidays ARE coming up, you know!

The recipe used for the cake can be found at the following link. I wavered between this recipe and a recipe found on the Pioneer Woman's website. I finally chose this recipe because of it's ratings. 

The ingredients for the sponge like cake are very simple - most people would have these ingredients laying around the house. The recipe recommends using a Pyrex dish to bake the cake for accurate baking time. My cake baked in just about 30 minutes using a Pyrex dish. A note is made in the recipe that if you choose to use a metal pan the cake will cook much quicker or in about half the time. 


The ingredients for the cake itself are displayed below.

I have got to say something, God bless my Kitchen Aid Mixer. I know I've talked about it before but I must say it again. Whipping the eggs for 4 minutes in a recipe like this with a hand mixer would be just boring and you would obviously have to stand there. I am a baker who is constantly on the go! With the Kitchen Aid I simply turned the mixer on high and walked away for about 4 minutes. At that point I was able to combine the flour, salt and baking powder mixture. By the time I returned to the mixer the eggs were fluffy and pale like they were supposed to be! A baker/cooks dream all in one, an appliance that does something for you hence leaving you time to work on other components of a recipe is truly irreplaceable in my humble opinion. 

While the cake was in the oven baking I got the tres leche mixture put together. Below are the 3 milks I used. 

Once the cake came out of the oven it was fluffy and perfectly spongy looking. I took out my aggression of the day and poked it all over using toothpicks and then slowly poured the delicious milky mixture over the cake and let it really soak into the cake. 

Here is a picture of the cake right after it came out of the oven.

And a picture of the cake after the tres leche mixture has been poured over it. Can't really see a difference? Neither can I, but it is there, I promise you it's there! 

At this point I went ahead and loosely covered the cake and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours to let it get not just cool, but cold so that it could be topped with the fresh whipped cream. 

The whipped cream ingredients are simply 2 cups of heavy whipping cream and 1/4 cup of sugar. I added a touch of vanilla for a little bit more complex flavor. I took care not to add too much vanilla as the color could have easily been an off putting brownish white. I don't personally believe in using clear vanilla extract. Something about that just seems wrong to me. Vanilla beans are brown - how on earth a vanilla extract that is clear could be "natural" is beyond my scope of understanding. 

Here is the cake ready to be taken to work.

Secret weapon standing by. Dulce De Leche which is a mexican caramel like topping that I could honestly eat out of the can with a spoon. 

The cake when served was topped with a slight bit of Dulce De Leche for a little bit of sweetness and difference of texture. Absolutely delicious though the Dulce De Leche straight from the can was rather thick. If I chose to make this cake in summer I would absolutely add fresh fruits to serve it which I feel would be phenomenal. This time of year though I don't really like the in-season fruit selection in the local markets. 

I have to say that the cake tasted okay the first day eaten, about 18 hours after being made. The next day, however, approximately 36 hours after being made the cake was phenomenal! I took a picture of the cake on Day one and Day two and I cannot really distinguish between them in photograph, but in taste, you definitely can! I have shown both pictures below! My surprising suggestion would be that when making this cake waiting to serve it until about 36 hours after baking/making which is rare for a cake. Usually I'm all about making a cake and serving it as fresh as possible!

Day One: 18 hours after making. 

Day Two: Roughly 36 hours after making. 

I would have to say I am pleased with how this recipe turned out and I would absolutely make it again myself and recommend to others. 

A couple of more blogs are forthcoming over the next couple of days!