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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.
Looking for dessert recipes? Don’t miss out on these Churros, Mexican Fried Ice Cream, and our Chocolate Tres Leches cake recipe.
Why I Love this Recipe
- Sponge Cake: separating the eggs and beating the egg whites allows us to create a light and airy cake perfect for soaking up the three kinds of milk.
- Perfect Texture: using the ideal 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 makes it the perfect dessert for all your Mexican or Tex-Mex meals.
What is Tres Leches?
Tres leches translates to “three milks.” Tres Leches Cake is an airy sponge cake soaked in a sweetened milk mixture. It’s popular in Mexico, Latin America, and the United States.
The cake is light and airy, similar to angel food cake. Whipped egg whites are used in the batter to make it spongy. After baking the cake, poke holes with a fork and drench it in the decadent milks.
Ingredients Needed:
How to Make Tres Leches cake
- Prepare the dry ingredients by combining the all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Separate the eggs and mix the egg yolks with sugar to create a thick, creamy mix
- Add the vanilla to the egg yolk mixture.
- Stir together the wet and dry ingredients until you have a smooth batter.
- Whisk the egg whites with a stand or hand mixer until stiff peaks form.
- Combine the egg white mixture with the cake batter, mixing until the batter is smooth.
- After baking the cake, use a fork to poke holes into the cake; this helps the milk soak into the cake.
- Combine the three types of milk, then evenly pour the milk over the top of the cake.
- Top with whipped cream, cover the cake, and 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.
Storage Information
- Storage: Due to the milk, store this cake in the refrigerator. Cover the cake to help keep in the moisture, and store in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Freezer: Freeze the cake before soaking it with the milk mixture. After baking the cake, you can wrap it and store it in the freezer for up to 3 months. When ready to use it, bring the cake to room temperature, drench it with the milk, let it soak overnight, then top with whipped cream.
Frequently Asked Questions
This Tres leches cake recipe uses 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.
You can make this tres leches cake recipe in two 8 inch round pans.
More Tex Mex Dessert Recipes To Try:
Watch How To Make
Tres Leches Cake Recipe
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
- Serving: Cake is best served within 48 hours of soaking.
- Storage: Due to the milk, store this cake in the refrigerator. Cover the cake to help keep in the moisture, and store in the fridge for 3-4 days.
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Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe first published February 5, 2019. Updated April 15, 2022, and October 16, 2023.
Photography by the talented @KJandCompany.co
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!