Tres Leches Cake

For Cinco De Mayo we were having a small party with some friends. We made a wonderful meal chalk full of Spanish Favorites. We had Strawberry Margaritas (virgin of course), Fajitas, Spanish Rice and to top of our meal..... Tres Leches Cake. I am not normally a big fan of Tres Leches Cake but we decided to give this recipe a try. It turned out amazing! Aaron thought it was a lot like bread pudding. Everyone loved it and it was a huge success.


1 cup white sugar
5 egg yolks
5 egg whites
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1 pint heavy whipping cream
10 maraschino cherries


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter and flour bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.

Beat the egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar until light in color and doubled in volume. Stir in milk, vanilla, flour and baking powder.


In a small bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Beat until firm but not dry. Fold egg whites into yolk mixture. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 to 50 minutes or until cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool 10 minutes.

Loosen edge of cake with knife before removing side of pan. Cool cake completely; place on a deep serving plate. Use a two prong meat fork or cake tester to pierce surface of cake.


Mix together condensed milk, evaporated milk and 1/4 cup of the whipping cream. Discard 1 cup of the measured milk mixture or cover and refrigerate. Pour remaining milk mixture over cake slowly until absorbed. Whip the remaining whipping cream until it thickens and reaches spreading consistency. Frost cake with whipped cream and garnish with cherries.

Tips: I would suggest sifting your flour before you add it to the cake. I didn't do this and there ended up being a few lumps that turned into hard little nuggets. Everyone ignored them (lucky for me) but I am my own worst critic!

I used Strawberries instead of the Cherries. I liked the taste of the Strawberries and the freshness that they added.

source: www.allrecipes.com