This authentic Tres Leches Cake recipe is simple to recreate. This light and airy vanilla cake is drizzled with a decadent three milk mixture creating an incredibly moist and tender cake! A tasty, sweet ending to any Mexican or Tex Mex meal.
All about this Tres Leches Cake…
I’m so excited to share with you one of my all time FAVORITE dessert recipes. This cake is such an easy, yet impressive dessert to make. It is the perfect ending to any meal. The cake is light and airy, then drenched in a truly decadent mixture of three milks.
- Sponge Cake: separating the eggs and beating the egg whites allows us to create a light and airy cake that is perfect for soaking up the milks.
- Perfect Texture: using the perfect amount of milks to pour over the top gives a moist tender cake without being overly soggy.
- Toppings: switch up the toppings on this cake to include fresh fruit or cinnamon. This allows it to be the perfect dessert for all your Mexican or Tex Mex meals.
Ingredients Needed:
How to Make (step-by-step):
- Step 1: Prepare the dry ingredients.
- Step 2: Separate the eggs and mix the egg yolks with sugar to create a thick, creamy mixture.
- Step 3: Add the vanilla to the wet ingredients.
- Step 4: Stir the dry ingredients into the wet to create a smooth batter.
- Step 5: Stir together the wet and dry ingredients until you have a smooth batter.
- Step 6: Whisk the egg whites with a stand or hand mixer until stiff peaks form.
- Step 7: Combine the egg whites with the cake batter.
- Step 8: Mix until batter is smooth.
- Step 9: After baking the cake, use a fork to poke into the cake, this helps the milks soak into the cake.
- Step 10: Evenly pour the milk mixture over the top of the cake.
- Step 11: Top with fluffy whipped cream, then cover the cake and allow to chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
Expert Tips:
- Eggs: separating the eggs and beating the whites to stiff peaks is what helps this cake get a sponge like texture perfect for soaking up the milk mixture.
- Soak Time: after the cake bakes it will seem slightly flat, pouring the milks over the top and allowing at least 4 hours of chill time in the refrigerator will allow the cake to soak in all of the milk, expanding the size of the cake and giving a tender, moist bite.
- Spread Batter Evenly: once you pour the batter into the cake pan, spread the batter into a nice even layer to create a even cake top. This will help the milk pour evenly over the top which helps it to soak evenly into the cake.
FAQ’s:
The milks used in this tres leches cake recipe are sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and regular milk (can be whole milk or 2%). Some recipes will substitute heavy cream or half and half in place of the milk. I don’t find it necessary in this recipe, since it’s decadent enough without it.
Due to the milks in the cake, this cake does need to be stored in the refrigerator. Cover the cake, to help keep in the moisture, and store in the fridge.
This cake can be stored in the fridge and saved for up to 4 days. It is best when eaten within the first 48 hours. After the 4th day, the cake does become slightly soggy.
Yes!! You can freeze this cake. BUT you can only freeze the actual cake. Before you drench it with the milk mixture. So after the cake has been baked, you can freeze it like you would any cake. Then when you are ready to use, bring to room temperature, drench with the milks, let it soak overnight, then top with the whipped cream.
More Tex Mex Dessert Recipes To Try:
Tres Leches Cake
Ingredients
Cake Batter
- 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 5 large eggs, divided
- 1 cup white sugar, divided
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup milk
Milk Mixture
- ⅔ cup whole milk
- 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
Whipped Topping
- 1 pint heavy cream
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a medium size bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir together with a fork.
- In a large bowl combine the egg yolks(separates the egg whites into another medium size bowl), with 3/4 cup of white sugar. Stir together until fluffy.
- Add in the vanilla extract. Stir to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stir to combine.
- Add in the milk. Stir to mix.
- Whisk the egg whites with a hand or stand mixer, once the egg whites start getting foamy and white in color add in the last 1/4 cup of sugar. Continue whisking or mixing on high speed until smooth, white, and stiff peaks form.
- Fold the egg whites into the cake batter.
- Grease a 9×13 cake pan. Pour the cake batter into the cake pan. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the top of the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- In a large measuring cup combine the milks needed for the milk mixture. Whisk together.
- When the cake is cooled to room temperature. Poke all over the top with a fork. Then pour the milk mixture over the entire cake.
- Cover the cake and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours to overnight.
- After the cake has chilled and soaked in the milks, prepare the whipped cream.Add the heavy cream to a large mixing bowl. Mix on medium speed until cream starts to thicken, then add in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Continue mixing on medium to high speed until soft peaks form.
- Spoon the whipped cream onto the cake, spread with a spatula or butter knife.
- Serve the cake with a sprinkle of cinnamon or fresh fruit if desired.
Video
Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe first published February 5, 2019. Updated April 15, 2022 with new images and information.
Photography by the talented @KJandCompany.co
My husband is Mexican and Honduran and always asks for me to make this cake! He loves it with a layer of jelly (I usually use strawberry) under the whip cream it’s delicious!! Love the recipe because it’s not overly wet it’s the perfect amount!
My grandchildren always ask me to make this cake for them when I visit. They are now old enough where they want to learn how to make it themselves and we have had such fun doing that. It will be a memory they will always have long after I’m gone. Thank you for such a great recipe.
Doubled it and made it for a crowd and everyone was raving about it! Definitely saving this one. Thank you!
If I could give this 10 stars I would. This is my first time leaving a review on Pinterest. I made scrumptious cake for my brother, who is very picky about his tres leches cake. We are Mexican so we know authentic when we taste it. He raved about it and said it was his favorite & not just because I’m his sister. My 15 yr old daughter LOVED it too. My husband said “Oh mAn!” & said it was his new favorite cake & wants it for his birthday instead of his mom’s chocolate marble cake. I’m definitely keeping this as my go to tres leches cake recipe. Thank you so much for sharing!
Hi Serene! This is a delicious cake and it has become my family’s favorite tres leches cake. I’ve made it several times now and it’s sooo goood. I was wondering, to make a chocolate cake, would it be okay to omit 1/4 cup of the flour and add 1/4 cup of cocoa powder instead? What do you think would be best?
I love these kinds of recipes–not fussy, simple, whole ingredients and phenomenal flavor! I love that this recipe does not have half a stick of butter, yet it tastes amazing. The density of this cake once it is soaked with the 3 milks is absolutely perfect. Everyone love this when I served it, and I know because they all stopped talking to eat it, so that about sums it up! This tres leches recipe is definitely a keeper. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much Sonia! I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Hi! Thank you for the recipe! My family loved it, really! Question, what if I had leftover milk mixture, how long can I chill it in case I make a new tres leches cake again?
Will it be okay to make this ahead of time (3-5 days) and pop it in the freezer until the day of? Or will that just make a big soggy mess when it thaws?
Make the cake and freeze, but don’t add the milk mixture and topping to the cake until it has thawed. This will help keep it from becoming soggy in the freezer.
I made this cake for 40 people in a big baking tray (I multiplied by 3) and it was AMAZING! I didn’t use all of the milk (probably just because of the multiplication but honestly I probably could have put a bit more.) But I topped with the whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon and strawberries and blueberries and it was a HIT! I’m from California and miss this cake because I’ve been living in Australia and I was pleasantly surprised that even Australians loved it! Definitely recommend this recipe! Thanks so much.
Thank you for this, an amazing recipe I tried it out and everyone loved it !! Had to make extra frosting because I ran out but apart from that it was delicious
Great recipe. I omitted two yolks and bumped up the milk a bit to compensate…not fond of eggy sweets. I’ll probably reduce the sugar next time. I added a smidge, maybe 1/8t, of cinnamon to the milk mixture before pouring. Lovely.
I had to give most of it away to keep from eating it myself – and they all loved it – all six of them.
Maybe tweak the recipe for readability?
5 eggs – separated
1C sugar – divided 3/4 and 1/4
Is it necessary to poke holes in order to soak the cake? I wanted to make a layered version of the tres leches.
Poking the holes is what helps the cake absorb the milk mixture. If I were going to make a layered tres leches I would probably make two layers of cake, soak the bottom one by poking the cake, add the frosting to the middle, then add the top layer and soak the top layer by poking that layer of cake. But I haven’t attempted to do a layered tres leches before.
I’ve made this cake twice. Once for 40 kids and once for my husband’s birthday, and all I can say is that it’s DELICIOUS!!! I’m Brazilian and I’ve been eating the leches all my life, and this recipe is the best.
Thank you so much Erica!
Can I make it, refrigerate it, and then put whipped cream and strawberries on it and again refrigerate it for about 1 1/2 hours before serving?
Yes absolutely! That’s not a very long time, the cake will be just fine 🙂
Made this cake this weekend and as I sit here eating a piece I can’t help but think it’s missing something. Then it hits me. It needs some cinnamon. Next time I will definitely be adding a bit of spice!
Yes! I know, traditionally there is cinnamon. I do prefer mine without. But it’s such an easy thing to sprinkle on top 🙂
Baking this for my husband and I already can see the difference folding the whipped egg whites in makes. Thank you for this!!! He’s going to love it!
Thanks Elizabeth! Hope y’all enjoyed!