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| This is the first real cake that I have ever made, and I must say I am pretty pleased with the result |
I have never understood the American obsession with treating foreign holidays as an excuse to wear ridiculous costumes, consume unhealthy amounts of alcohol, and act foolish. Like many Americans, I will celebrating the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla with a Dos XX in one hand and some nachos in the other. However under the shade of my sombrero I will act as a social critic in disguise infiltrating the masses with the hopes of understanding why people enjoy Cinco de Mayo. In my opinion today is the most baffling of all of the get-drunk-and-act-stupid holidays. I am pretty sure that a large majority of people have no idea why they celebrate Cinco de Mayo. According to popular belief Cinco de Mayo marks the day that Mexico gained its independence, but that is false. If people really wanted to show some love for the freedom of our downstairs neighbors they would toss back a margarita on Diez y Siete de Septiembre... But now I can see why they don’t. Diez y Siete de Septiembre. Not as catchy.
Well if ignorance is bliss (which in this case it clearly is), then why not get wasted and celebrate? Better yet, why not make a cake to make the occasion really special and then get wasted?! Well that’s what I did! Because if I am going to celebrate pointless holidays then I might as well go the extra mile and add a cake.
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Tres Leches Cake is a yellow sponge cake soaked in a generous amount of sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream. Top it with a little whip cream and fresh fruit and you’ve got yourself a sticky sweet cake that has nothing to do with Cinco de Mayo (besides the fact that it is origins are believed to be based in Latin America). This chilled cake is light and airy, and perfectly sweet without being too rich. I am not going to lie, the first bite of this cake was a little underwhelming; yet I finished my slice and couldn’t even wait twenty minutes before I went back for another.
I am considering not taking this cake to the party and keep it all to myself instead. “What cake?”
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| Cake prior to icing... notice the pool of sweet milk around the bottom. |
What you need:
- 1 cup All-purpose Flour
- 1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoons Salt
- 5 whole Eggs
- 1 cup Sugar, Divided
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- ⅓ cups Milk
- 1 can Evaporated Milk
- 1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
- ¼ cups Heavy Cream
Whipped cream icing:
- 1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
- 3 Tablespoons Sugar
What to do:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9inch cake pans or one 9 x 13 inch pan with cooking spray.
- Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
- Separate eggs.
- Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow, the stir in milk and vanilla.
- Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until well combined.
- Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form.
- With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
- Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined.
- Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.
- Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Turn cake out onto a rimmed plate or platter
- Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher.
- When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times.
- Slowly drizzle all but about 1- 1.5 cups of the milk mixture until the cake is completely saturated
- Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for at least 1 hour. Some people let their cake sit over night.
- Make you icing by whipping 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
- Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries, berries, cinnamon, or whatever you’d like.
Music to play at your fiesta... because that's what I did.
This recipe was adapted from here.
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