Tres Leches Cake Recipe (2024)

Published: Jun 25, 2015 · Modified: May 22, 2020 by Christina Lane · This post may contain affiliate links · 15 Comments

I partnered with BAILEYS® Coffee Creamers to bring you this post. Thanks for letting me partner with brands I love and use in my own kitchen. I was provided with product and compensated for my time, but the opinions and recipe are my own.

If you are one of those lovely souls that bought my cookbook, you’ve been subject to my tiresome ramblings on how much I love Tres Leches Cake. Sorry ‘bout that. But thanks for buying my book, yo! Tres Leches Cake is my birthday cake of choice, made by my ever-lovely best friend, Esther. I love the cake so much that whenever I make it, I eat it before I have the chance to make the frosting. There’s just something so dang delicious about a soft, tender cake soaked in sweet, sweet milk.

Since I’m always looking for a way to get my favorite foods in my mouth faster (aren’t we all?), I had the idea to use my beloved BAILEYS® Coffee Creamer French Vanilla as a replacement for the ‘tres’ leches. So, una leche cake? Muy delicioso.

First, I made a sponge cake in an 8” square pan. I love it when I can make a dessert for two in a regular size pan that everyone has in their kitchen. This is your brownie pan, friends. Unless you make tons o’ brownies in a 9x13” pan. If so, bring me some, k?

So, sponge cake. Super easy to make. It’s a little weird looking after baking—it’s flat. You might think you did something wrong, but you didn’t. It’s flat and thin, and meant to be malleable for things like jelly rolls and other ‘rolled up in a log’ cakes. Follow the instructions and the order of ingredients carefully. It’s important. Eggs are the main leavener in the cake, so they must be beaten for the amount of time it takes to make them look like whipped cream. Sometimes that’s 10 minutes with old mixers. For me, it’s 5 minutes on super high speed. Take time, make time for eggs that are fluffy like softly whipped cream. I promise it will happen in the bowl if you give it a chance.

After baking, I cut out 8 rounds that fit into mini half-pint mason jars. I sprinkled about a tablespoon of BAILEYS® Coffee Creamer French Vanilla on the bottom of each mason jar. Next, add a slice of cake, followed by another scant tablespoon of coffee creamer. Then, seal each layer with unsweetened whipped cream. This dessert is plenty sweet. Put the lids on the jars, and let sit in the fridge for a few hours. Before serving, top each jar off with a Morello cherry. ¡Buen provecho, disfruta tu una leche cake!

Yield: 2 servings

Shortcut Tres Leches Cakes

Ingredients

For the sponge cake:
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cornstarch
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3 tablespoons 2% milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
For the rest:
½ cup heavy whipping cream
½ cup BAILEYSÂ® Coffee Creamer French Vanilla
2 Morello cherries, for garnish

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350.
Use an 8â? square metal pan for this recipe; it needs to have sharp corners. Do not use ceramic bakeware with rounded corners.
Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Trim it very well to fit perfectly. Do not grease the pan in any way.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and cornstarch twice.
In a separate bowl, combine the granulated sugar and eggs. Beat until it reaches the consistency of soft whipped cream. This can take anywhere from 5-10 minutes. It will be fluffy with soft, floppy peaks.
Melt the butter and milk together in the microwave.
Fold one-third of the flour mixture into the eggs. The proper folding technique is: down the middle with the narrow part of the spatula and then sweep the sides of the bowl. Take your time and do this carefully until all of the flour mixture is incorporated, adding ⅓ of the flour mixture at a time.
Finally, stir in the hot milk and butter mixture all at once and fold in very well.
Pour the batter into the pan, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove the pan from the oven, and let cool for 10 minutes. Then, run a knife along the edges of the pan and invert the cake carefully onto a cooling rack. The parchment paper will stick to the surface of the cake. Gently peel it off, but if any more than a thin layer of cake sticks to it, let it cool completely before pulling it off.
Next, use the mason jar as a guide to cut out 8 circles of cake. Discard scraps.
In a cold bowl, beat the whipping cream until soft peaks form.
Pour a scant tablespoon of BAILEYSÂ® Coffee Creamer French Vanilla coffee creamer in the bottom of each mason jar. Top with a cake circle. Add a scoop of whipped cream. Repeat until everything is used, gently pouring any excess BAILEYSÂ® Coffee Creamer on top before garnishing with whipped cream and a cherry.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 625Total Fat: 39gSaturated Fat: 25gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 270mgSodium: 269mgCarbohydrates: 59gFiber: 1gSugar: 36gProtein: 11g

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram