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This Tres Leches Cake is absolute perfection. It’s airy, light, decadent and delicious. This Latin American dessert consists a sponge cake topped with a three milk mixture. After the milk is absorbed it’s topped with fluffy whipped cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon!
Tres Leches is my absolute favorite cake of all time. I’ve made this cake for years, YEARS. I’ve even made different iterations like this strawberry tres leches and pumpkin tres leches.
What is Tres Leches Cake?
Tres Leches literally translates in english as “three milks.” This cake consists of a single cake layer. A lot of times the sponge is airy and light, other times it’s heavy and dense. People have different styles of this same cake so there is no “right way.” Depending on what country you’re from or even what region you’re from within said country, the styles and texture of the sponge may vary.
My favorite iteration is a super light and airy sponge. Though I’ve tried other super rich and buttery cake versions that are delicious too.
Ingredients for Tres Leches
Ingredients for Tres Leches
- Eggs – We’ll be using the egg whites and egg yolks. Both will serve different purposes; both important.
- Sweetened condensed milk – One of the three milks is an important one.
- Evaporated milk – I love evaporated milk. It has a very concentrated milk flavor.
- Whole milk – This fresh milk is one of the three milks.
- Vanilla – This cake is simple so I like to use good quality vanilla extract. If you’re feeling fancy, scrape a vanilla bean and put in the cake batter.
For the rest of the ingredients, please see the recipe card below!
How to Make Tres Leches Cake?
- Whisk together the dry ingredients – for this cake it’s pretty standard: all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt.
- Beat the egg yolks with the sugar – you really want to emulsify the egg yolks with the sugar and beat the two together until ribbons form and the color of the egg yolks turns to pale yellow.
- Mix in the vanilla extract and milk – You then want to add the milk and vanilla extract to the egg yolks and whisk until they’re smooth.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients – You want to use a bit of a folding technique to combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients,
- Beat the egg whites – You want to clean your mixing bowl thoroughly. And dry it. If there’s any water, it may not beat until light and fluffy.
- Fold the egg whites in – Lastly, you want to fold the fluffy egg whites into the batter until you no longer see any egg white bits. You really want to be gentle with this step as to not deflate the egg whites.
- Bake it! – Next comes baking. This cake will shrink when it cools. That’s a-ok.
- Mix the milks – Add all of the milks to a large measuring cup, and whisk them al together.
- Poke holes in the cake – Using a fork or a skewer, poke a bunch of holes in the cake.
- Pour the milk mixture over the cake – It will seem like A LOT of milk, but don’t worry, it will eventually be all soaked up by the cake.
Recipe FAQs
Tres Leches is a cake that derives from Nicaragua. A lot of different countries have slightly different iterations and takes on this cake. This is my version!
While I love to add all sorts of buttercream flowers and such to random cakes, I keep this authentic tres leches cake recipe as simple ass possible. So this means, whipping heavy cream with a teeny bit of powdered sugar and smoothing it on top. And then I’ll dust a bit of ground cinnamon on top.
Tips and Tricks
Freeze Tres Leches – I would suggest baking the cake, allowing it to cool completely and then wrapping it tightly in plastic wrap. You can freeze it for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to serve, transfer to the fridge to thaw. Pour the milks on top, let it soak in and then serve.
Be Sure to Soak it For the Time – This cake really needs the full time to soak all of the milk. Make sure it really has time to soak for the best tasting cake!
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Tres Leches Cake
Equipment
- 1 (9×13-inch) cake pan
- Stand-up electric mixer or electric hand mixer
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 large eggs, separated
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup whole milk
Tres Leches:
- 1 (14-ounce) can can of sweetened condensed milk
- 1 (12-ounce) can of evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup whole milk
Topping:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, sifted
- Pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
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. We’re doing this because the egg whites won’t have height if the bowl has any remnants of egg yolk and/or water. Add the egg whites and beat with the whisk attachment on high until stiff peaks about 3 to 4 minutes.
- In two batches, fold the egg white mixture into egg yolk and flour mixture until you no longer see any bits of egg white.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan for about 30 minutes.
To Assemble + Topping:
- In a large serving bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and whole milk.
- When the cake is cool, using a fork, poke holes in the top of the cake. I did it about 20 times, you really want to give a way for the milks to be absorbed by the cake. Pour the 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, sifted powdered sugar and salt until soft peaks form. Top the cake with the fluffy whipped cream. Garnish with a bit of ground cinnamon, if you like.
- This cake stays good for about 3 days when stored in the fridge.
Notes
- Freeze Tres Leches – I would suggest baking the cake, allowing it to cool completely and then wrapping it tightly in plastic wrap. You can freeze it for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to serve, transfer to the fridge to thaw. Pour the milks on top, let it soak in and then serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Perfect! The cake was so light and airy and with the three milk it became the consistency of a yummy bread pudding. So delicious! My baking time was 22 minutes and I rotated the pan half way through. This will be my go-to recipe from now on. Thank you for sharing.
fantastic to hear!
This cake is fantastic and pretty quick too. My spouse adores it so much they requested it again for valentines day! Everything went smoothly, although I found it took closer to 45 minutes for the cake to fully bake in my oven!
This was so delicious and straightforward. Made it for a work function and there wasn’t a single slice left! Came together really fast and with minimal fuss. Rave reviews from my coworkers. Thank you!
I never leave comments/reviews on recipe blogs however the cake I made was so good I had to! I made this cake first for a birthday and it was a hit! Tasted just like the ones in a bakery if not better. I did see some reviews state they had problems with the cake being underbaked, I had to leave mine in for a couple minutes longer as well since it was still raw in the middle once it hit the 20min mark but the sponge still turned out great! I ended up making this cake a second time but made a coffee version instead and it was still delicious. The texture of the cake is so light and airy and the sweetness is perfect. Hands down best tres leches recipe I’ve tried!
wow a coffee version sounds amazing!! i’m so glad you loved it xoxo
I followed the recipe to a T and my cake will not cook in the center, so I’ve been putting it back in, first with foil and now uncovered. I’m not sure what I did wrong? Once it’s not gooey in the center, I’ll let it cool but it’s so doughy. The recipe was easy to follow and fun to make (aside from the baking part :(). I’m excited to try the finished product. I’m hoping it turns out yummy because it’s for someone’s going away today!
This is the second time I’ve made this cake and it is a crowd pleaser! I just have one question. I let it cool completely, but when I poked the holes I also had it stick to the fork and kind of tear holes instead of fork pricks. In the end it doesn’t matter since it is covered with whipped cream, but I was wondering if there is a trick to it so that doesn’t happen again. Thanks for this recipe!
hi i leave in china and i have no where to get, can of evaporated milk… can i use only 2 kind of milk?
i have Colombian friend that have a birthday and i will love to do it for them 🙂
A hit every single time!
Amazing!!!!
This cake is DOPE. Seriously, so good. The instructions were easy to follow, and it turned out perfectly. I baked for a few extra minutes (my oven might run a little cool), and I wish I’d let it cool a little bit longer before poking (I think the middle was still warm, which made my poking tear up the cake a bit), but it truly turned out perfectly. SO good.