Cuban Three Milks Cake Recipe

How to make it

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• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Cake:
• Grease and lightly flour a 9 x 13 baking dish.
• Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together.
• Separate the egg yolks and whites.
• Beat the whites until very foamy and frothy.
• Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, cream the sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer.
• Continue mixing and slowly add the milk.
• Then start adding the flour mixture, a little at a time, until all the flour is incorporated and the batter is smooth.
• Finally, use a spatula to gently fold in the beaten egg whites until completely mixed.
• Pour batter into a greased and lightly floured 9 x 13 baking dish.
• Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.
• Allow cake to cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes.
• Now it's time to get fancy.
• Invert the cake onto a jelly roll pan or a baking tray with a raised edge on it – something to catch the syrup!
• Use a fork to repeatedly pierce the top of the cake.
• Milk Syrup Whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream and rum in a mixing bowl, until well blended.
• Pour syrup over the cake a little at a time, until it soaks through.
• This is a cake that demands patience!
• Pour the milk syrup slowly and let it soak in.
• Use your fork to help it along a bit, piercing here and there through the syrup until it soaks in.
• Keep doing this until most of the milk syrup is absorbed.
• Don’t worry if there is still a pool of syrup around the bottom of the cake, it will gradually soak in.
• Cover the now syrup-drenched cake in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least three hours before frosting.
• Frosting: Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar in a large bowl until they form stiff peaks.
• Set aside. In a separate pan, mix the water, sugar, and
• corn syrup.
• Cook over a high heat, stirring constantly until a candy thermometer reads 230°F.
• Remove from heat. While beating the egg whites
• with an electric mixer, immediately pour the hot syrup into the egg
• whites; continue beating for about five minutes.
• Let frosting cool in refrigerator.
• With a wet spatula, spread a thick layer of the frosting on the cake.
• To serve, cut individual squares, top with a red maraschino
• cherry, and serve cold.
• Variations
• Banana Variation To make a Banana Tres Leches Cake, add 1/3 cup banana liqueur to the milk syrup, omit rum and reduce the evaporated milk to 3/4 can.
• Cuatro Leches
• This is the basic tres leches cake with a toping of dulce de leche (a caramel sauce).
• If you want to serve this, follow recipe instructions above. Serve the cake in a bowl or round sundae dish.
• Add a layer of dulce de leche around the sides of the cake in the bowl.