Tres Leches de Café (Coffee Three Milks Cake)

This post is also available in Spanish

Tres leches cakes are a favorite of mine. They come together easily and they are much moister than traditional cakes. I have had enormous success making variations of tres leches in the past including traditional tres leches cake, chocolate tres leches cake, coconut tres leches cake and tangerine tres leches cake. I am pleased to report that this Coffee Tres Leches Cake was no exception!

Given the popularity of the traditional tres leches cake, I had a feeling that Coffee Three Milks Cake would be a terrific follow-up. You can really taste the coffee in this cake and I mean that in the most phenomenal way imaginable. It’s moist and absolutely bursting with coffee flavor. For someone like me who could eat tres leches cake with coffee for breakfast, lunch and dinner, this cake is a dream come true.

Buen provecho!

Ingredients

(Serves 10-12)

Cake

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup whole milk
• 5 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt

Sauce

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 tablespoons of VERY strong coffee or espresso

Frosting

• 2 egg whites
• ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F
2. Grease and lightly flour a baking dish.
3. To make the cake: In a bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder.
4. In a small pot heat the milk and butter, remove from the heat and set aside.
5. In a large bowl beat the eggs with an electric mixer on high speed for 2 minutes. Add the sugar and continue mixing for 5 minutes. Reduce the speed to low. Add the flour mixture, butter mixture and vanilla extract and mix for 1 more minute.
6. Pour the batter into the baking dish and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean. Remove cake from the oven and with a fork make holes all over the top of the cake. Set aside to cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
7. When the cake is cooling, make the milk sauce: Whisk together sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream, coffee and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl.
8. Pour the 3 milks sauce over the cake until it is all absorbed. Refrigerate for a least 3 hours or overnight before frosting.
9. For the frosting, in a small pot mix the water and sugar, over medium high heat, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Set aside.
10. Beat the egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff peaks are formed. While beating the egg whites, add sugar syrup and continue beating for 5 more minutes. Add vanilla extract and beat 1 more minute. Spread the frosting over the cake and refrigerate until ready to serve.