In "Fateful Connections" the group of four arrived at Maria's home north of Puerto Vallarta to search for Conroy. Her mother and sister served them a delicious meal of tacos dorados, deep fried with chicken breast and marbled tres leches cake and coffee for dessert. "There was not a crumb left on anyone's plate." I've given you an easy recipe using a cake mix, adding directions at the end on how to marble it.
Tres Leches Cake
A classic and easy Tres Leches Cake goes far beyond your average cake recipe. Our Tres Leches Cake recipe with Betty Crocker™ Super Moist™ Yellow Cake Mix makes a moist, flavorful and deeply rich dessert. You'll mix and pour sweetened condensed milk, whole milk and whipping cream (the traditional “three milks") into "poke" holes in the cake to create the iconic flavor. Tap into your inner Betty with a cake that goes from mix to masterpiece, and make a tres leches birthday cake, holiday dessert or weekend treat.
Ingredients
· 1cup water
· 1tablespoon vegetable oil
· 2teaspoons vanilla
· 4eggs
· 1can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
· 1cup whole milk or evaporated milk
· 1/2cup heavy whipping cream
· 1tub (12 oz) Betty Crocker™ Whipped Fluffy White Frosting
Steps
· 1
Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.
· 2
In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, vanilla and eggs with electric mixer on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan. Note: Use recipe amounts not those on the back of box.
· 3
Bake 24 to 28 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove cake to cooling rack; let stand 5 minutes. Poke holes using fork every 1/2 inch over top of cake. If necessary, wipe fork tines occasionally with paper towel to reduce sticking.
· 4
In large bowl, stir together sweetened condensed milk, whole milk and whipping cream, until blended. Carefully pour evenly over top of cake, working back and forth to fill holes. NOTE: I wait until the cake is cool so it doesn’t get soggy. Refrigerate about 2 hours or until chilled. Drop frosting by spoonfuls over top of cake; spread evenly. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.
Tips from the Betty Crocker Kitchens
· tip 1
When frosting this moist cake, spread in just one direction using long strokes. Using a back-and-forth motion often causes the top layer of cake to come off, leaving crumbs in the frosting.
· tip 2
Tres leches—or “three milks” in Spanish—is just a very moist cake enriched with two forms of concentrated milk and rich cream. The full dairy and vanilla flavors are a favorite in the southern U.S.
· tip 3
Try serving this Tres Leches Cake topped with a fresh berry or tropical fruit compote.
NOTE: You can make this cake a day or two ahead and just keep it in the fridge.
Marbled Tres Leches Cake
No matter where you are in Latin America, or which country you or your family came from, the traditional way to make a Tres Leches Cake is to make a sturdy sponge cake and then completely bathe it in a tres leches sauce. The three milks in the sauce are the fresh tasting regular milk, the lightly savory evaporated milk and the charmingly sweet sweetened condensed milk.
As the decades have gone by, many other variations have appeared in attempts to dress up and reinvent this classic. You could add different kinds of nuts, coconut, spiked with rum, exotic fruits, coffee… to name some. Indeed, the cake lends itself to be played with: it is basic, it is easy, and it can be easily transformed.
At home, we absolutely adore chocolate. And, since my boys have a hard time making up their minds as to when to make the Tres Leches Cake vanilla and when to make it chocolate, one day I decided to go marbled. That was it: we rarely go back.
In my marbled version, the vanilla cake has fudgy chocolate swirls that go wild when soaked in the tres leches sauce. I garnish with copious amounts of grated Mexican chocolate all over the top and a sprinkle of ground cinnamon.
p.s. To boot, the Tres Leches Cake can be made ahead of time, it gets better and better as it soaks and chills bathed in the sauce. It is also perfect to bring along.
This is how you make the marbled effect:
In a small bowl, combine ½ C hot water with 1/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder. Pour half the cake batter into another bowl and fold in the cocoa-water mixture with a rubber spatula until thoroughly mixed.
Spread the vanilla batter in the prepared pan. Pour the chocolate batter on top, in a straight line down the center. With a knife or spoon, make a whirling design from one side of the pan to the other.
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