Free UK delivery on orders over £40

Tres Leches Cake with Coffee Liqueur by Lily Ramirez Foran

Serves: 8Chef: Lily Ramirez ForanCourse: DessertCategory: CakesMachine: MixerTotal time: 55
tres-leches-cake.png tres-leches-cake.png

A classic Mexican showstopper, Lily’s Tres Leches Cake is a light, fluffy sponge that’s soaked in a delicious syrup of condensed milk, coffee liqueur and full-fat milk. Topped with tangy sour cream icing and adorned with fresh blackberries and strawberries, it’s a delicious afternoon treat.

Ingredients

For the cake:

For the tres leches syrup:For the icing:

Tools

Method

For the cake:

  1. Preheat the oven to 200°c and grease a 19 cm cake tin with butter and a dusting of flour. Lily used a square tin cake.
  2. Sift the flour and baking powder 3 times. This is very important as; otherwise, your cake won’t be light. Set aside.
  3. Using the kMix with the whisk attachment on beat the egg whites at high speed until they form stiff peaks. Gradually add the sugar while still beating at high speed. Follow by adding the egg yolks one at a time and leaving time in between addition.
  4. Remove the bowl from the mixer, and using a handheld whisk, fold in a third of the sifted flour and baking powder using gentle folding movements. Don’t over-mix. Repeat this step until all the flour has been incorporated into the egg mixture. Finish off by adding the milk and folding it with the whisk again. Don’t over-mix the batter, as it'll lose all its airy lightness.
  5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin. Bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the top is lightly golden brown and a toothpick or a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.

For the tres leches syrup:

  1. While the cake cooks, make the tres leches syrup; combine all of the ingredients in a jug and mix well with a fork or small whisk until everything is incorporated. Set aside until needed.
  2. As soon as your cake is out of the oven take a toothpick or something thin enough like a cake tester and start pricking the entire cake to make loads of holes in it. These holes will allow the syrup to sip through and soak the cake all through.
  3. Take the cake out of the tin (careful it is still hot) and place it into a serving plate with a bit of a lip. There will be a lot of liquid, so flat plates aren't a good idea.
  4. Slowly and gently, start pouring the Tres Leches Syrup over the cake, making sure you saturate all the little holes with the milky syrup. Go down the edges as well. There is a lot of liquid, don't worry, the cake needs it! It is very important that you do all this while the cake is still piping hot; otherwise, it'll just go soggy on the outside.
  5. Let the cake cool completely before you ice it. – I always leave ½ a cut of the syrup for topping the cake when serving. Keep the syrup refrigerated

For the icing:

  1. Using your kMix with the whisk attachment on, whip the double cream at medium-high speed until the cream starts to thicken a little. Add the icing sugar and continue mixing. When the cream forms soft peaks, add the sour cream. Beat for another minute.
  2. Once the cake is completely cold, put a good amount of the deliciously creamy icing on top of the cake. Top the icing with the fresh strawberries and blackberries and arrange them to your taste. Keep refrigerated until you're going to serve it.

Chef's Notes:

  1. This cake is way better made the night before you are going to use it. I take it as far as step 9 and leave the decorating for the following day. If you have any leftover syrup, top the cake the following day before decorating it.

Related

boozy-tres-leches-cupcakes.png boozy-tres-leches-cupcakes.png

Boozy Tres Leches Cupcakes by Lily Ramirez Foran

Show recipe
mexican-flan.png mexican-flan.png

Mexican Flan by Lily Ramirez Foran

This creamy set custard dessert is topped with a delicious homemade caramel

Show recipe