As with most of my posts, this Tres Leches Cake recipe begins with an obsession. Circa 2009, this cake came into my radar via a coworker at a previous job. We were celebrating a team member’s birthday and this person brought in a Tres Leches Cake from one of the local Mexican bakeries. It was a gigantic layered masterpiece. When sliced, it oozed with the sweetest, most delicious mixture of condensed milk, evaporative milk and cream. I had never had anything like it. It was rich, but not overly sweet. And it was magical! I wanted to know more.
Back then, Tres Leches Cake was not as popular as it would eventually become, so I fumbled through a few recipes that I managed to find online, but they were less than passable. The cake textures were off. Most of the recipes used a standard cake recipe so the application of the milks resulted in a soggy mess that no more resembled a slice of cake than a pile of wet goo. I gave up. Unfortunately, that glorious cake was destined to live on in my memory only.
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Could This Recipe Be the One?
I gave up, that is, until one day I was in a grocery store randomly perusing the magazine section. I’ve always had a problem with magazines. It’s a true addiction. I picked up a publication with which I was not familiar. It was a thin magazine, but the pics were glossy and pretty, and the food looked tasty, so I gave it a good thumbing through.
This particular issue featured an article on the city of Memphis and it mentioned The Peabody Hotel. I had visited Memphis a few years prior and was intrigued with the rich history of this establishment. I scanned the article for mention of the twice daily march of the ducks to and from the hotel lobby and was taken by complete surprise to find….a recipe for Tres Leches Cake?! The chef at the hotel restaurant, Chez Phillip, had created this recipe to serve as part of the restaurant’s seasonal dessert menu. Could this be the one? It absolutely was!
Tres Leches Cake, a Very Elevated Version
The cake portion of this recipe is very straight forward opting for a sponge cake rather than a standard cake and crumb. I find that most of the current recipes online lean in this direction now. A basic cake recipe cannot withstand the application of so much liquid without suffering significant structural damage. A sponge cake, however, is surprisingly sturdy and porous, while still maintaining a deceptively delicate texture.
Fresh macerated berries help to set this Tres Leches Cake apart from others. The berries are lightly sweetened and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice helps brighten their flavors even further. Rich milk soaked sponge cake and bright berry freshness is a combination that’s tough to beat, but wait, as if that’s not enough. There’s more!
The piece de resistance is a Sabayon Sauce. It begins with egg yolks, fresh orange juice and sugar whisked vigorously over a double boiler until it falls away in silky thick ribbons. Next, it’s moved to an ice bath where it is whisked even further. This allows it to cool and lighten in color, and grow even thicker and richer in consistency. Finally, fresh whipped cream is gently folded in to finish the transformation. It goes from a simple combination of ingredients into a dreamy decadent citrus infused sauce. So incredible, it can be served on its own as dessert and nobody would complain. But spooned over Tres Leches Cake with Macerated Berries? Life changing!
Truth Talk
Before I get carried away. Here’s my disclaimer. This cake is not for the faint of heart. It is not your quickie weeknight dessert. It is not an impulse endeavor. It is not without significant effort. You make this when you can plan ahead. You make this when you want to celebrate someone special. You make this when you want your dinner party guests to drive away saying “dinner was great, but damn that cake was amazing”!
Sure, you can skip the sabayon sauce. In all honesty, serve this cake as is, topped with just the berries and it will be wonderful. However, if you want to really showcase this humble dessert, make the sabayon. It is really something special. It’s a bit of work, but it is worth it.
The Blog
I don’t know if I’ve ever shared this, but I don’t write this blog for the reader. I write it for me. I write it as a place to keep track of all my favorite recipes. Keeping copies of magazines, or ripped out magazine pages is very difficult. Shuffling through those random issues and stray bits is challenging. I have lost numerous favorites over the years and spent much time and heartache trying to locate them. This recipe is no exception.
Years ago, I shared this cake with a group of friends. One of the folks at this gathering asked for the recipe. I had the magazine with me and she insisted that I let her take it home to make copies. I reluctantly obliged as I had a hard time saying no back then (that’s not the case now). Of course, I never got the magazine back. I asked about it later and she had no recollection of the exchange. Lesson learned.
To remedy this, I took to the internet to try and locate the recipe. It was not easy to find, but I did it. As a precaution, I printed out several copies and hung onto those for many years. Unfortunately, I’m now down to my last copy. And guess what? This recipe is not online anymore. And not surprisingly, this 14 year old magazine issue is not available for special purchase. I can buy a digital version if I want, but better yet, I have a blog. I can write it up and it can live here. I’ll be able to reference it anytime I need to.
Tres Leches Cake:
Sabayon Sauce:
To Serve:
Tres Leches Cake with Berries & Sabayon Sauce
Ingredients
- Cake:
- 8 eggs (separated by whites & yolks)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup all purpose flour (sifted)
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 12 oz can evaporated milk
- Sabayon:
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Berries:
- 1 lb fresh strawberries
- 8 oz fresh blackberries
- 8 oz fresh blueberries
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 lemon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 13x9x2" cake pan.
- For the cake, in a bowl, beat 8 egg whites at high speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Add 8 egg yolks and continue beating until fully incorporated. With the mixer running, gradually add 1 cup of sugar.
- With a spatula, gently fold the flour into the egg mixure. Be sure the flour is completely incorporated. Transfer batter into the prepared cake pan, smoothing the top to level.
- Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Approximately, 20 minutes. Start checking cake at 20 minutes and repeat test every 3-minutes until cake is done. *See note #1.
- While cake is baking, in another bowl, combine 2 cups of heavy cream, condensed milk, and evaporated milk, stirring well to blend. Set aside.
- When cake is finished baking, remove from the oven and let sit 10-minutes. Gently ladle the combined milks over the hot cake. It may look like too much milk, but as it sits it will absorb all of it. Let the cake cool, then cover and refrigerate a minimum of 4 hours, but preferably overnight. *See note #2.
- For the sabayon, whip one cup of heavy whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks. Set aside.
- For the sabayon, prepare an ice bath. Place about 8 cups of ice cubes in the bottom of a large bowl. Add about a quart of water. This is necessary to quickly cool the sabayon sauce after it is pulled from the stove top. Set aside.
- For the sabayon, combine 4 egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup orange juice (*see note #3) in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. I use a metal or glass bowl over a small pan (nothing fancy). Do not let the bowl touch the simmering water. You're just allowing it to steam the bottom in order to cook the egg yolks while you whisk. If it comes into contact with the bottom of the bowl you run the risk of scrambling the eggs. Whisk continuously until the sabayon becomes lightened in color, thick and falls in ribbons from the whisk. Approximately 12-15 minutes.
- Move the bowl with the sabayon to the ice bath and continue to whisk. The sabayon will continue to lighten in color and thicken even further. Gently fold the whipped cream into the sabayon in thirds until well incorporated. Sabayon will be very silky and almost frothy. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Can be made a day ahead.
- For the berries (*see note #4), 1 hour before serving, wash and slice the berries, toss with sugar and squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the top. Stir to combine and set aside until ready to serve.
- To serve, slice cake and layer with berries. Top with sabayon sauce.
Notes
- Baking times vary significantly from oven to oven. My home oven typically bakes this cake in 25 minutes. I recently baked this cake in a different kitchen and that oven took closer to 30 minutes to bake. Start testing for doneness at 20 minutes and continue to test every 3-minutes until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cake should be ever so slightly golden. If you lightly press your finger in the center, it should feel set and any indentation left behind should mostly spring back.
- The cake can be served cold after a minimum of 4-hours in the fridge, however, if the cake is allowed to chill in the refrigerator overnight, it will achieve an almost custard-like texture and the milks will not seep from the cake when sliced. This is the goal.
- The original recipe calls for port, but we do not keep port around. Orange juice is a great substitution here and gives the finished sauce a slight citrus flavor, which is a nice bright counterpoint to the rich custard flavor of the cake. Fresh squeezed orange juice or bottled orange juice can be used.
- Use 2-lbs of fresh berries in any combination. Strawberries are usually always available, so they make a good base. Any combination of blueberries, blackberries, raspberries or other types of berries can be used to make up the difference.
Tres Leches Cake is Perfect for Entertaining
Why is a cake featured on a blog devoted to recipes that showcase rubs and seasonings? Because we all crave a little something sweet from time to time. I’ll even go so far as to call dessert a palate cleanser. After, enjoying the liveliness of a meal dominant in spicy and smoky flavors, it’s nice to follow with something sweet. In fact, the juxtaposition from salty to sweet, might even make the memory of the savory main dish more pleasurable. Do I have any scientific evidence to prove this theory? No, but do I really need it? I suggest you perform your own scientific study.
I have served this cake many times to a group. It’s a crowd pleaser, yet it feels really special. Serve this decadent cake at your next gathering and send them home swooning.
Looking for other sweet bites to feed a crowd? Try these!
Stock up on our rubs and sauces at AlbuKirkySeasonings.com and keep up with what we’re cooking on our Facebook and Instagram pages. See you next time!
