Tres Leches takes the cake

We had the big guy's parents over for dinner last night and the big guy cooked up a load of rib eye steaks on the barby, accompanied by Hasselback Potatoes which we've re-named Armadillo's because we thought it was a better name along with some home made Cloverleaf rolls and a crunchy broccoli salad that we've shared with you before.

 
 

Of course my favorite part of the meal was dessert - a wonderful Latin American cake called Tres Leches.

Nothing like what we think of as a cake, this one is made up of a sponge cake that is soaked in a syrup  of "3 Milks", thus the name Tres Leches. The result is a rich, dense, extremely moist cake that is almost like a custard in texture but not soggy in the least thanks to the ability of the "sponge" to soak up the liquid. The good news is that it can be made up to three days in advance which makes it a perfect dessert when you're entertaining. In my case, I whipped it up on Saturday for our Sunday dinner, but I'm not sure it wouldn't have benefited from a little more time in the refrigerator.

This particular recipe is adapted from from epicurious.com and is slightly different in that it involves the addition of cinnamon to the cake while a traditional recipe normally calls for only vanilla.  Download Tres Leches Cake The sponge cake went together very quickly and baked in a springform pan for 35 minutes. After it cooled a tad, I removed the sides of the pan and sliced off the top crust, then returned the sides to the base of the pan, poked holes in the cake with a skewer and added the "syrup" which is a combination of evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream and vanilla. Poured over the top, the sauce soaked into the sponge and created this cool, sweet and delicious taste sensation.

We topped the cake in a sauce made from four fresh peaches combined with butter and sugar then sauteed until soft and garnished it with whipped cream. The peaches, as planned, went very well with the cinnamon flavored cake - in fact the big guy who's not a "dry cake" fan particularly enjoyed his portion. He'd better because there's over half a cake left and only 4 days left to eat it! LOL

Comments

[Mags]

I love your renaming of the Hasselback potatoes...LOL

Your dessert looks awesome as always June. And I can't believe you only have 4 days left until you leave for your big vacation. You must be getting so excited!

[pam]

I have been wanting to try one of these cakes ever since the first time I read about them!

[June]

Mags - the big guy can take the credit for the new potato name. He said "sounds like some movie star's name - I'm gonna call them armadillos". He's not stupid that man a mine. LOL ...and yes, excited is not quite emphatic enough.

Pam - great cake with a texture not unlike a bread pudding. I just had a little for lunch but found the cinnamon quite strong so next time I'll just make plain vanilla. I've heard of people using Coco Lopez too (cream of coconut) which would be darn tasty with a garnish of grilled pineapple.

[Katie@Cozydelicious]

The cake looks moist and amazing! I love the idea of the peaches with the cake. Yum!

[Nanan]

Lovely meal - don't think I'd want to eat armadillos though - we have those critter's down here and man are they nasty! hehehehehe it is dark already here - I say you are down to 3 days - yippy!!!!!

[June]

Katie - thank you. It is delicious and the cinnamon and peaches were a really good match.

Lea - I'm with you about the 3 days. I like the way you think!

[tom]

This meal looks so good, I can't even comment. Somehow my tuna salad doesn't look so good right now.

[June]

Tom - I hate to admit it, but I'm eating a dried up piece of toast at the moment so tuna salad sounds fabulous. Ha.