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Strawberry Tres Leches is an ideal summertime dessert. Strawberry milk is blended with three milks and then poured over a light and airy sponge cake until itโs all absorbed. The result is a sweet and delicious cake thatโs full of flavor.
Why You Should Make *This* Recipe
- Strawberry Milk is delicious. I loved it even as a kid at the cafeteria. And this version is amazing.
- Great make-ahead dessert.
Here’s What People Are Saying About This Recipe:
“Made this for my daughter who loves strawberries and whipped cream , she loved it. Doubled the whipped cream as other people suggested. Thank you!”
How to Make a Strawberry Tres Leches Cake
- Blend up the strawberries and sugar. You want to let these macerate with each other until the juices from the strawberries are released, about 15 minutes.
- Pour in the evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. Transfer to a container and pour in the heavy cream. I like to add the heavy cream at this time so it doesnโt whip in the blender and become too thick.
- Make the cake. Then combine the egg yolks with sugar and beat until ribbons form. You want a pale yellow mixture. Then add in flour. And lastly, fold in the egg whites.
- Beat the egg whites with a whisk attachment until stiff peaks form. Transfer them the batter and fold them in.
- Bake the cake. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for about 15 to 17 minutes. When the cake comes out of the oven, allow it to cool and then poke it with a fork.
- Pour on the strawberry milk.
- Soak the cake. This is going to allow the strawberry milk to soak throughout the cake and let it soak in the fridge for at least four hours, ideally overnight.
- Top with fluffy whipped cream and sliced strawberries.
Tips and Tricks
The three milks – The strawberry milk is key to this cake. In a former iteration of this cake, I used sweetened condensed milk, but found that the entire mixture got too thick. So it’s been updated to use whole milk, evaporated milk and heavy cream.
The heavy cream – Do not add the heavy cream to the blender with the other milks. This will thicken the cream (whip air into it) and that’s not what we want!
Steeping the milks – I do find it necessary to let the milk steep for 1 full hour. It really helps with the strawberry flavor coming through.
What to Serve With this Strawberry Tres Leches
If you tried this Strawberry Tres Leches Cake Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a ๐ star rating and let me know how it went in the ๐ comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Strawberry Tres Leches
Video
Ingredients
Strawberry Milk:
- 1/2 pound strawberries, stems removed
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 (12-ounce can) evaporated milk
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
Tres Leches Sponge Cake:
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 large eggs, separated
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/3 cup milk
Topping:
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar, sifted
- Pinch of salt
- 1/2 pound strawberries, stems removed and sliced
Instructions
To make the strawberry milk:
- To a blender, add the chopped up strawberries and sugar. Allow them to macerate (sit together) until the strawberries have softened, about 15 to 30 minutes. Pour in the evaporated milk and regular milk. Blend until pureed. Transfer the strawberry milk to the container and mix in the heavy cream. Transfer to the fridge to allow the strawberry puree to infuse the milk, about 1 hour.
- I made this at the beginning of the recipe and then made the sponge cake and it was perfect timing. Run the strawberry milk through a strainer into a measuring cup or a bowl with a spout.
To Make the Tres Leches Sponge Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13-inch pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a stand-up mixer with paddle attachment, beat egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow and double in volume. Mix in the vanilla and the milk on low speed just until combined, then fold the egg yolk mixture into the flour mixture.
- Clean and dry the egg yolk bowl. Add the egg whites and beat with the whisk attachment on high until stiff peaks about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Fold the egg white mixture into egg yolk and flour mixture.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.
To Assemble + Topping:
- Using a skewer or fork, create little holes on the top of the cake. Pour the strawberry milk mixture over the cake (it may seem like a lot but it will absorb!). Transfer to the fridge to 2 to 3 hours, ideally overnight.
- Just before serving, make the whipped cream! To a bowl, using an electric mixer, mix the heavy cream and sifted powdered sugar. Top the cake with the fluffy whipped cream and garnish with slices of strawberry. Slice and serve.
Notes
- The three milks – The strawberry milk is key to this cake. In a former iteration of this cake, I used sweetened condensed milk, but found that the entire mixture got too thick. So it’s been updated to use whole milk, evaporated milk and heavy cream.
- The heavy cream – Do not add the heavy cream to the blender with the other milks. This will thicken the cream (whip air into it) and that’s not what we want!
- Steeping the milks – I do find it necessary to let the milk steep for 1 full hour. It really helps with the strawberry flavor coming through.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Wow delicious!! I did not make the cake, I bought the box strawberry cake and followed the box directions, but I made the strawberry milk and the whipped cream. The strawberry milk was so so good! I didn’t filter it bc I liked eating the strawberries on the cake, and I added 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar instead of 1 (had to make the 3x the amount of frosting) so it was slightly sweeter, and it was so good! Added frozen blueberries for the topping too to be pretty, and the cake was the perfect texture–not too moist but completely absorbed the syrawberry flavor from the milk. My boyfriend who says he normally doesn’t like/care for tres leche said this is the best he’s ever had. Thank you!!
First time making a tres leches cake and I had no idea what I was doing. Definitely needed to be soaked a lot longer for that classic tres leches texture. There was a lot of cream left over, so i felt like i did something wrong, but i found out thats normal. I soaked mine overnight and for most of the next day and the cake was still pretty firm. But everyone loved it! Its sweet enough without the condensed milk. I would definitely use a different whipped cream recipe, like enough for a full round cake.
In my opinion this recipe isnโt figured out at ALL, 18 to 20 minutes it not enough time for it to bake if needed 25 and even more. Second isnโt the whole point of tres leches 3 kinds of milk? Iโd potentially change the name since itโs NOT 3 different types of milk, I did it with condensed milk and it wasnโt too thick at allโฆ. But other than that the recipe was delicious, id just make sure to use your own discretion when baking tho
mine did not turn out great:/ way too soupy the flavor is good but the milk was not thick enough, next time i would replace the whole milk for sweetened and condensed milk
Hi! Really want to try making this but since I live in India, getting my hands on evaporated milk is difficult. Can I still use sweetened condensed milk instead of the evaporated milk and sugar, and then add a little more whole milk to dilute it?
Thanks!
This is trash!!!! This is not tres leche!!!!! Tres leche cake is made with condensed milk!! I tried this and this is NOT how my spanish friends make this!!!!
Hi Ashanti, thank you for your feedback. Condensed milk was a bit thick for this recipe so we opted for evaporated milk.
Is it necessary to strain the strawberry milk?
Very tasty cake, but the strawberry flavor did not come through for me. Perhaps you need super ripe, fresh picked berriesโmy grocery store berries just didnโt cut it. We all loved it regardless though. Next time Iโll try it with some freeze dried strawberry powder or some store-bought strawberry milk. One thing to note, I ended up tripling the whipped cream topping because it was nowhere near enough to cover the cake. Also, I could not find a 15 ounce can of evaporated milk anywhere, even online. I ended up buying a 12 ounce and a 5 ounce and used the remainder in my coffee. I left a previous comment asking about this, but it was never approved. Thanks!
Freeze dried strawberries will definitely add a stronger flavor!