Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you click on the link and make a purchase.
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 it’s all absorbed. The result is a sweet and delicious cake that’s full of flavor.
If someone were to ask me what my favorite cake is in the entire world, I would quickly reply with Tres Leches Cake! There’s truly nothing better. A sponge-like cake poked with tons of holes and drenched with three types of milk (hence the tres part). This strawberry tres leches cake is slightly different because we’re taking advantage of our spring/summer strawberries and making a strawberry milk first.
Strawberry Milk
This recipes comes from my love of those childhood cartons of pink milk at the cafeteria. Honestly, my mom always made my lunch so I wasn’t really allowed to eat at the cafeteria. I had Capri-Suns anyway so I rarely was able to drink strawberry milk. VERY SAD!
But this is a love letter to strawberry milk because it’s so good. And when we made it for this, we still thought it was fantastic and dreamy.
How to Make a Strawberry Tres Leches Cake
- In a blender, add the strawberries and sugar. You want to let these macerate with each other until the juices from the strawberries are released, about 15 minutes. Add in the evaporated milk and regular milk. Blend until everything is totally pureed.
- Transfer to a container and pour in the heavy cream. I like to add the heavy cream at this time so it doesn’t whip in the blender and become too thick.
- Place in the fridge to steep for about 1 hour. Meanwhile, make the cake. Beat the egg whites with a whisk attachment until stiff peaks form. Transfer them to another bowl.
- 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.
- 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.
- This is going to allow the strawberry milk to soak throughout the cake. Strain the strawberry milk and discard the puree.
- Pour the strawberry milk on top and transfer to the fridge so the cake can soak up the milk.
- When it’s been all soaked up and absorbed, top with fluffy whipped cream, freshly sliced strawberries and cut and serve.
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.
If you make this Strawberry Tres Leches, let me know on Instagram!
Looking for more recipes? Here are some favorites:
Strawberry Tres Leches
Ingredients
Strawberry Milk:
- 1/2 pound strawberries, stems removed
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 (15-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.
Could you make the strawberry milk and cake the night before then assemble next day?
Yes absolutely. If the strawberry milk gets too thick, I would dilute it with water or milk tho. If it’s too thick it won’t hydrate the cake.
I want to make this! When placing the cake in the fridge overnight do you cover it or leave it uncovered? Is it okay to use a glass pan? Thanks!
i cover it with plastic wrap!
This was amazing – the strawberry milk was such a tasty addition to tres leches! It was a winner dessert at our 4th of July party. And strawberry milk might be a new staple in my fridge 🙂
This cake is awesome !!! I loved it & so did my family
I used a different cake recipe, but this strawberry milk is to die for! Bless you.
I didn’t realize how necessary it is to wash the bowl before whipping the egg whites, because they won’t stiffen up if there is residual fat in the bowl. DEFINITELY WASH THE BOWL! Maybe this is why some folks had trouble with the cake, I dunno. But my cake still came out nice and fluffy even with the sad egg whites.
Made this last night and even after sitting overnight the milk mixture was not absorbed into the cake. Had to pour a bunch off. Also 1/2 cup heavy cream for the topping is barely enough for a thin layer of whipped cream to cover a 9×13. I would double this if I made it again.
This strawberry milk is so good i had to stop myself from drinking it all. This cake the photos the blog everything is just so pretty .
Another winner! This is awesome. I made this while on vacation and didn’t have access to a blender, so I chopped up and “smushed” (to be technical here) the strawberries to add to the milk for steeping. Still worked great and I ended up adding the smushed strawberry pieces back into the whipped cream for the topping.
I just baked this cake. Unfortunately the strawberry sauce did not seep into the cake even after many hours. So I poked a lot more into the cake with a fork. Still no change. I finally had to gouge circles into the top of the cake for the sauce to seep into them. Overall it still tasted amazing, but I wonder why this happened?
I hardly ever had strawberry milk growing up.
My mom really didn’t allow it, it’s not milk according to her.
But this, this is great ‘milk-magic’ Adrianna, strawberry milk in a cake….YAY!!
Thank you for sharing!
Have a nice day!