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a tres leches cake on an antique plate with a fork

Amazing Tres Leches Cake

Make this amazing tres leches cake entirely from scratch with homemade milk syrup. It's not soggy yet moist, soft, and not overly sweet!
Author ayacaliva
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course a whole cake, cake
Servings 8 servings

Equipment

  • Pan 10.5-inch (27 cm) x 6.5-inch (16.5 cm) rectangle pan. Or use any pan you like.
  • Parchment paper
  • Sieve
  • Stand mixer with a whisk attachment or a hand mixer (for egg whites)
  • Hand mixer or a whisk (for yolks)
  • Bowl
  • Spatula
  • Pot
  • Knife

Ingredients

Sponge Cake

  • 2.4 oz Egg yolk about 4 large eggs
  • teaspoon Salt
  • 5 oz Egg white about 4 large eggs
  • 5.3 oz Granulated sugar ¾ US cup
  • 4.2 oz All-purpose flour 1 US cup
  • 2.8 oz Whole milk US cup

Milk Syrup

  • 26.1 oz Milk 3 US cups
  • 2.1 oz Heavy cream ¼ US cup
  • 1.7 oz Granulated sugar ¼ US cup
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract or more as you like
  • ½ pod Vanilla beans

Whipped Cream

  • 10.6 oz heavy cream 1 ¼ US cups
  • 0.6 oz Granulated sugar about 4 tsp

Decoration

  • Some Fruits or any ingredients you like

Instructions
 

Sponge Cake

  • Whip egg yolk and salt in a large bowl until it looks very pale and creamy.
    2.4 oz Egg yolk, ⅛ teaspoon Salt
    whipped yolks in a bowl
  • Whip egg whites in a separate bowl. I usually whip at medium to medium-high speed first and lower the speed at the end to make silkier meringue with smaller bubbles.
    Add about ⅓ of the sugar when the meringue looks very bubbly like shampoo. 
    Add about half of the rest when the meringue looks fluffy.
    Add the rest when the meringue looks very fluffy. 
    Continue whipping it until the meringue is stiff yet the tip curls when lifting the whisk up.
    5 oz Egg white, 5.3 oz Granulated sugar
    fluffy meringue in a bowl
  • Fold egg yolk and white mixture until about 50% is blended. Combine them right away while their conditions are the best.
    adding yolks in the meringue
  • Fold in sifted all-purpose flour until you don't see any flour.
    4.2 oz All-purpose flour
    adding flour in the batter
  • Add milk and fold until the batter looks smooth and even.
    Add milk directly or add a few scoops of the cake batter in milk, mix until smooth, and pour it back into a bowl to fold more (I picked this way today).
    2.8 oz Whole milk
    finished sponge batter for tres leches cake
  • Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan.
    Toss sometimes to remove some big air bubbles. Swirl the cake batter with a toothpick for the same purpose.
    swirling the sponge batter with a chopstick
  • Bake in the preheated oven at 350ºF (176ºC) for about 25 minutes until the center bounces back gently or a toothpick comes off clean when you insert it in the center of the cake.
    Start checking from a bit earlier, just in case. Adjust the time and temperature depending on the oven, the thickness of the batter, etc. 
    Let the cake cool completely. It is normal that it deflates a little bit like this as it cools down.
    a sponge in a rectangle pan rising in the oven
  • Prepare the sponge:
    Take out the cake from a pan with parchment paper, and remove the parchment paper.
    Cut off the baked skin on the surface of the cake.
    Lay a parchment paper over a pan. (You can reuse the parchment paper or use a new one.)
    Place the sponge cake back in a pan. 
    (Poke holes all over the sponge cake with a fork.)
    poking a sponge with a fork

Milk Syrup

  • Heat whole milk, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla extract, and vanilla beans in a medium saucepan at medium-low heat while mixing constantly.
    26.1 oz Milk, 2.1 oz Heavy cream, 1.7 oz Granulated sugar, ½ pod Vanilla beans, 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
    heating milk and sugar in a pot to make milk syrup
  • Reduce it to a little less than a half; 400g | 14.1 oz to be exact. (It is the amount after straining the liquids.) Strain it.
    straining homemade milk syrup in a bowl
  • Pour it all over the sponge cake evenly once the syrup cools down to warm.
    pouring milk syrup all over the sponge
  • Wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for at least a few hours or up to overnight.
    sponge soaked with milk syrup covered with a plastic wrap

Whipped Cream Topping

  • Whip heavy cream and sugar and make a stiff & fluffy whipped cream.
    10.6 oz heavy cream, 0.6 oz Granulated sugar
    whipped cream in a bowl
  • (Take out the cake from a pan and) spread the cream on top of the cake evenly.
    frosting whipped cream on top of tres leches cake
  • Trim the edges of the cake if you like, cut it into a desirable portion, and decorate it with fruits on top. Now... enjoy!
    Some Fruits or any ingredients you like
    cutting tres leches cakes

Extra Tips

  • Sponge Cake:
    Sugar has a powder to prevent the egg white from whipping a lot when you add a lot of it at once in the very beginning, especially when egg whites are not heated. That is why we add the sugar after we whipped egg whites for some time for French meringue. 
    If you can, whip egg yolks and egg whites at the same time so that you can use them right away while both of the conditions are the best. But if that's difficult, always start by whipping egg yolks first and whip the egg white next. Never start with egg white first and leave it for a while because French meringue separates quickly in a short time. And if it's separated too much, the texture will not be quite the same even if you re-whip it.
    If you're not confident about how to fold the cake batter, watch the video tutorial and check the movement.
    I like to slice off the baked skin on the surface because it creates a mushy, not-so-pleasant texture when it gets very wet. The sponge can soak up the milk syrup a lot better without it as well. Even when you don't poke it with a fork!
    By laying the parchment paper on a pan, you can take out the cake easily to slice it at the end. 
    Milk Syrup:
    It is important to mix the milk constantly while heating so that it's not going to get burned, and also to make smooth syrup.
    It takes about 30 minutes to cook down the liquids (with one batch), but it can fluctuate, depending on the heat strength and the size of the pan. You can also make it ahead and store it in the fridge.
    Use warm syrup ideally. The sponge soaks it up better than the cold one.
    I like to leave the soaked cake overnight when I have time. The liquids go all the way into the flour and the sponge cake gets more evenly moistened, which gives a better texture.
    Whipped Cream Topping:
    Warm your knife with hot water or a torch and cut the cake with a fast zig-zag motion to get a clean sharp cut. 
    Cut to any sizes and shapes you like. One batch of the recipe is enough for about 6 - 8 people. (depending on how hungry they are!)

Video

Notes

** For best results, measure ingredients with a scale. All recipes are designed with weighed ingredients using grams/ounces. Cup measurements are provided for your convenience. **

A quick milk syrup

when you want to use condensed milk and evaporated milk, mix:
  • Evaporated milk  250 g | 8.8 oz (1 US cup)
  • Condensed milk 100 g | 3.5 oz (⅓ US cup)
  • Heavy cream 60 g | 2.1 oz (¼ US cup)
  • Vanilla extract 1 teaspoon (or more as you like)
  • Vanilla beans ½ pod (optional)

How to store it

The cake needs to be refrigerated since it contains lots of milk and heavy cream. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and store in the fridge for up to four days.

Nutrition

Calories: 402kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 154mg | Sodium: 86mg | Potassium: 253mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 33g | Vitamin A: 935IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 172mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!