Tres Leches Cake

Okay I admit that I have a lot of favorites and this cake is pretty up there in terms of my favorite cakes.  Tres Leches Cake also known as pan tres leches "three milk bread" which is actually a sponge cake soaked with three kinds of milk and usually they are evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream (but you can also cut the fat by using half and half or even whole milk) then top with whipping cream.  The reason for using a sponge cake because you want a cake to have light crumbs and spongy so that it will soaked up all the milk.  In my version, I put some vanilla beans into my sponge cake and also some rum in my three milk but if you like it to be original you can omit those.  The first time I was introduced to this cake was when I was teaching English as a second language at San Francisco YMCA literacy program.  At the end of every session we would have a potluck and since there were a big Hispanic student body at our school students would bring their homemade tres leches cake to the party and I remember just kept on eating and eating and I almost ate half of the cake, yeah probably it was not a good idea but it was so delicious that I could not stop eating.  As I am sure that if you are any kind of a cake lover you couldn't either.

Ingredient:

For the Cake
70g of flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 large egg, separated
A pinch of cream of tartar
90g of sugar
60 ml of whole milk
1/4 tsp Vanilla essence (optional)

Preheat oven 350 and spray a 6 inch cake pan

Using a hand mixer, whisk egg white and cream of tartar until soft peak form then slowly add the sugar into the egg white mixture and whisk until all sugar are mixed in

Add the egg yolk and vanilla if using then mix well.

Mix together flour and baking powder then fold 1/3 of the flour into the egg batter, then add 1/3 of the whole milk then repeat this whole process until all the flour and milk are gone.

Pour the cake batter into the pan and bake about 22 mins and see if it is done by pressing the top of the cake lightly and if it feels firm then it is done and I usually like to leave the cake in there for another 2 mins with heat turn off just to make sure it is done.

Take the cake out and leave it to cool a little bit before flipping it out

Us a skewer poke the cake with lots of holes so that the milk mixture will be a able to get into the cake.

For the three milk mixture

1/3 cup of evaporated milk
1/3 cup of condensed milk
1/3 cup of heavy cream (or half and half or whole milk)
1 cap full of rum if using

In a bowl mix all the milk together (and rum if using)

Then warm it up in a microwave for about 30 second till warm

Pour over the wam sponge cake slowly until milk is gone

Do not pour too fast or else the cake will not soak up the milk

For the whipping cream topping

1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
2 to 3 Tbsp of powdered sugar

Whip until firm

Leave cake to soak up the milk for a few hours before serving

To serve cut a slice of cake and top with the sweetened whipping cream