Tres Leches
Cake is in my list of favorite cakes of all time. I would have said that Tres Leches is in my Top 20, but that sounds a
bit gluttonous, doesn’t it? I can’t narrow the list down to a manageable five because, come on, it changes
depending on the time of the month, you know.
Tres Leches translates to “three milks,” sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream. These milks, along with rum, make up a sticky sweet syrup that get poured over a simple, somewhat dry, sponge cake that soaks it all up. When it’s all said and done, Tres Leches cake is not pretty. It weeps the sticky milk syrup from underneath, and when you cut or bite into it, the cake falls apart and oozes milk syrup all over the plate, your chin, the front of your shirt. A delicious, but very worth the drycleaning, mess.
Typically, the cake is made in a 9x13” rectangular pan, but I made them into cupcakes so I could restrict myself to just one. Otherwise, I’d eat the whole damn thing.
Preheat oven to 350
Make sponge cake batter:
Beat 6 large egg whites until foamy, then add 1½ c. sugar, then 6 large egg yolks one at time.
Sift 1½ c flour with 1 T. baking powder.
Fold flour into eggs, alternating with ½ c. milk.
Pour batter into muffin tin lined with cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Don’t go too low because the cake doesn’t rise as much as other cakes, but don’t go too far over either because the wicked little things will spread out over the muffin and tin and stick like the Dickens.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until they’re done.
While the cake is baking, combine 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 1 can evaporated milk, 1 c. heavy cream and ¼ c. rum of any kind.
Remove cupcakes from oven, and poke all over with a thin chopstick or skewer. Slowly spoon rum-milk over hot cupcakes allowing them to soak it up. I poured by the teaspoonful, about 5 teaspoons for each cupcake. Allow cupcakes to soak and cool for at least 4 to 6 hours.
Top cupcakes with lightly sweetened whipped cream. (Traditionally, the frosting is a meringue, but raw egg white scare me).
12-22-2005 @2:18AM LACheesemonger said... Well Sarah, I see you finally tried your own version (I thought you'd eventually get around to the 3-amigos cake), lol...naturally your version would be highly combustible, matches your personality traits I think ;) !
Sooooo..., a non-stick Surfas muffin pan holds an even dozen like any other, what happened to the other 11 ;) ? I think you have the largest collection of high-octane jet fuel reserves west of El Carmen. If the fire marshal ever checked your tiny appt. I'm sure it would be condemned as a major violation of SM City Code, and be immediately evacuated until the serious fire hazard was removed, lol.
Highly whipped/firm raw-milk cream (using that Hello Kitty Accolade mixer ;) ) seems a good substitute for meringue (which btw, should be browned with a torch, were it not for the flammables you added to the recipe ;) ),
Geez, I think all of my childhood mems, as few as they are, with respect to food are not so pretty either. I think I got the flu virus hitting me bigtime in my early yut on a family camping trip when I ate campfire burnt/browned marshmallows on a coat-hanger. I just hurled those, and from then on have had as strong aversion to, and bad 'flashbacks' as far as the smell of burnt campfire marshmallows. One whiff of a fire roasted marshmallow instantly recalls that nauseating feeling. (hehe, there's a Sarah style 'too much information' kind of post ;) )
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12-22-2005 @2:42PM Ed Fisher said... Sarah,
Two things:
First, you should look into pasteurized shell eggs. Completely safe to use raw, with no significant taste difference.
Second, the incidence of salmonella in raw eggs is virtually nil nowadays. It's something like 1/20,000 to 1/40,000 eggs. You have a much better chance of getting ill from eating, say, raw oysters (1/14 or so) or raw/undercooked chicken (1/3 or so).
Or getting hurt skiing, for that matter.
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12-22-2005 @5:14PM sarah said... aha.
well then! bring me a meingue topped tres leches cupcake in that slopes-side lodge!
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