A Tres Leches with cherries.

A Tres leches cake, or Pastel de Tres leches (Spanish, "Three milk cake"), or Pan de Tres Leches (Spanish, "Three milk bread"), is a sponge cake—in some recipes, a butter cake—soaked in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream. When butter is not used, the tres leches is a very light cake, with many air bubbles. This distinct texture is why it does not have a soggy consistency, despite being soaked in a mixture of three types of milk.

[edit] Popularity and origins

The cake is very popular in many parts of Latin America. The origins of the tres leches are disputed, and are usually attributed to Nicaragua.^[1] The Nestlé company also claims to have helped the tres leches recipe evolve, during World War II, in Mexico. The state of Veracruz, in southern Mexico, also claims its creation which will include Mexican vanilla and Caribbean rum. The idea for creating a cake soaked in a liquid is probably of European origin, as similar cakes, such as rum cake and tiramisu, use this method.^[1] In 2004, the ice cream company Häagen-Dazs for a limited time released a tres leches-flavored ice cream, containing pieces of rum-soaked tres leches in a sweet-cream ice cream.

[edit] Variations

Following the same recipe for the cake, but soaking it in a mixture of water, rum or brandy, and sugar, it is called pastel borracho (drunken cake). It is popular throughout Central America in this form. In the Caribbean, cream of coconut is occasionally used instead of condensed milk. As in the pastel borracho, rum is sometimes added. In addition, fruit or nuts are added in some recipes, as well as many other kinds of alcohol. Cherries are most commonly used as decoration, but other fruits or berries are sometimes used instead. At some restaurants in Texas and Florida, the addition of cajeta creates what is known as a cuatro leches ("four milks") cake.

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Tres leches cake

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Tres Leches Recipe Cuban Version
• Tres Leches Recipe Dominican Version
• Tres Leches Recipe Good Eats Version from episode "Milk Made" aired June 6, 2007