This Tres Leches Cake is amazingly delicious! An ultra luscious cake soaked in a sweet milk mixture and topped with Italian meringue.
It has been a long week, sick kids, lots of work, mountains of laundry, etc. Well, not more complaining. It’s Friday… YAY!! Even though, that does not mean the laundry will magically disappear (yikes!).
Today, as a Friday treat, we are going to indulge our sweet tooth, and what a better way than a Tres Leches Cake.
This is my all-time FAVORITE dessert.
This recipe was passed on to me by my sister, the family expert on sweets. Every time we have a major event that requires a spectacular cake, like Victoria’s Baptism or Matthew’s birthday, my sister connects via Skype and we do the recipe together. Have I ever mentioned how difficult it is to have my family so far? I think so! It is really hard but thanks goodness for modern technology that unites us and shortens distances… OKAY! That sounded like a commercial but I promise this is not a paid post hahaha.
Back to sweet business! This cake is AMAZING, so sweet, creamy and smooth, you won’t believe it. It’s very easy to make. Every time I have to bring in my food contribution to a potluck this is my first choice. Everyone knows I’ll bring a Tres Leches, and they love it!
I used to make this cake in a 13-inch baking dish, but on this occasion, I used a 9×9 square pan, just because I wanted to show off my beautiful new enamel baker (this is a consequence of my prop addiction). It came out a bit thick for my taste. This is just a personal preference. The taste and texture were perfect.
Enjoy!!!!
This is not an eggless recipe! This is the recipe that I used to make before my daughter was diagnosed with egg and nuts allergies. If you’re looking for eggless recipes, click here to browse.
Tres Leches Cake
Ingredients
- 9 eggs , separated
- 1 1/2 cups sugar + 1 tablespoon
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup self-rising flour
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 can (12oz) evaporated milk
- 1 can of Nestle table cream (see notes)
Italian Meringue:
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 4 egg whites
- 1/2 teaspoon cream tartar
- Pinch of salt
Important
Don’t forget to check out the step-by-step photos above in the post—they’ll guide you through the process and make everything super clear!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a 13x9 inches baking pan with baking spray. Reserve.
- With an electric mixer on high speed beat the egg whites until stiff. Reserve.
- In another bowl beat the egg yolks and 1 1/2 cups sugar for 5-8 minutes, or until the mixture is pale yellow color. Add vanilla and beat until incorporated. Gradually add flour and continue mixing until you have a homogeneous mixture. The mixture will look a bit thick, do not worry, it supposed to be like that.
- With a spatula fold in the egg whites to the cake mixture.
- Pour the mixture into the baking pan and bake for about 30 minutes, or until you insert a wooden toothpick in the center of the cake and it comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
- In a small bowl mix whole milk with 1 tablespoon sugar.
- Using a fork poke all over the top of the cake. Pour the milk and sugar mixture evenly over the top of the cake.
- Mix condensed milk, evaporated milk and table cream; mix until well incorporated. Add this mixture evenly over the cake. Cover and refrigerate until most of the liquid is absorbed.
Prepare the Meringue:
- In a small saucepan over medium heat add the sugar and water. Mix with a spoon and cook until it reaches a temperature of 248º F.
- Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks, add the cream tartar, salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Reduce speed to low and pour hot syrup from the side of the bowl in a slow and steady stream. Increase speed to high and continue beating until stiff peaks and the mixture is cool and bright.
- Turn on the broil of your oven and place the top rack in the middle.
- Top the cake with the meringue creating swirls and peaks. You can also pipe the meringue if you prefer.
- Bake for 3 minutes; or until the meringue is lightly browned. In this step, you must be careful because the meringue can burn very quickly. To avoid accidents I do it with the oven door open.
- Refrigerate cake until serving time.
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Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
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Please share a eggless version of this recipe
Hello Rashmi! This is a old recipe, I used to make it before my daughter was diagnosed with egg allergy. Eventually, I will update it to make it eggless. Thanks for your interest in my recipes.
This turned out amazing! I used the heavy whipping cream instead of the NESTLE Media Crema Table Cream. You should add the amount of heavy whipping cream into the notes. I had to goggle an image of the NESTLE Media Crema Table Cream to see how much was in the can. Aside from that I loved this recipe and I will be making it again.
Hello Monika! I’m delighted to hear you enjoyed it so much. Thanks so much for trying my recipe and for taking the time to come back and let me know!
Hi Oriana,
Do you use self rising flour for this recipe? Because I don’t see any baking powder…
Thank you!
Hello Nathasha! So sorry about that, for some reason the recipe got misconfigured. It’s fixed now. Yes, I use self-rising flour. However, you can use all-purpose flour and add 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder + 1/4 teaspoon salt. Thanks for your interest in my recipe. Please come back and let me know how you like it. ?
How did you decorate the top? It looks so beautiful I want to get mine like that!
Hello Gisselle, I did it with a piping bag (or pastry bag) with a round tip. It’s very easy. Thanks for stopping by.
That Meringue frosting is to die for.Yum. 🙂
The cake has a lot of ingredients~would be to much for just my husband and
me.
i love the meringue frosting. yum!
Hope you make it soon Dina!
What a beautiful cake! I have wanted to try this cake for a while now and this looks like the perfect recipe! Thanks!
Thanks Anne!
Siempre a tus ordenes Mayito! Me cuentas como te quedo 😉
Mi postre mas preferido. Es uno de los mas ricos entre tantos. Muy bonita, y elegante la presentacion. Me llevo la receta. Una vez mas gracias Ory por deleitarnos con tus delicias!