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Easy Tres Leches

Stella

5 from 48 votes

Dec 12, 2023, Updated Jan 03, 2024

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If you don’t like soggy cake, this is the recipe for you! This tres leches cake is lightly soaked in three milks and topped with fresh whipped cream and your choice of spices!

Honestly, I am not a big fan of tres leches and most of my Mexican family doesn’t care for it much either. It’s definitely a texture thing. But some people love soggy cake! Haha.

I wanted to recreate a tres leches cake I tried from Porto’s bakery a while ago. My in-laws brought it over and I almost didn’t try it because I knew I didn’t like tres leches. But they said it was their favorite cake ever so I tried it and they were right- it was amazing!

Why you’ll love this recipe

I love this cake because it is not too wet or soggy. I really dislike that texture. This cake is incredibly moist but not mushy, it’s incredibly light, and most importantly- not too sweet!

Another reason you’ll love this recipe is because it’s SUPER EASY. You don’t have to separate egg whites from yolks. No folding ingredients together with the fear of deflating or over-mixing. 

Cake ingredients

• • Whole eggs 
  • Sugar
  • Vanilla extract
  • Flour, baking powder, & salt
  • Milk

Three Milks ingredients

• • Heavy cream
  • Evaporated milk
  • Sweetened condensed milk
  • Brandy- this is totally optional, but if you really want to make a Porto’s Tres Leches dupe, add the Brandy. 

Helpful tips 

• Slowly add the three milks- after poking holes into the cakes, slowly drizzle the milk mixture over it as evenly as possible. Wait for it to soak everything up before adding more milk. This will make a huge difference in the distribution of the milks in the cake! 
• Let the cake set in the fridge for a day- a minimum of 8 hours is required, but a whole day is recommended. The more time the cake has to soak the three milks, the better.

Equipment needed

• Stand mixer- I use the Kitchenaid mixer but any stand mixture will work. 

Can it be made without an electric stand mixer?

If you don’t have an electric stand mixer, you can still make this recipe with an electric hand mixer! It will just take a little bit longer.

More Cake Recipes

If you loved this cake, you should also try my Porto’s Milk ‘n Berries dupe or Mag’s Rum Cake!

The Milk ‘n Berries dupe is also a tres leches cake but it is a layered cake with fresh cream and berries inbetween. 

The rum cake is TO DIE FOR- my sister’s friend Maggie made it for Christmas a couple years ago and she was kind enough to share her recipe.

They’re both SUPER easy like this one, and keeps well too!

5 from 48 votes

Easy Tres Leches

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Ingredients 

Cake Ingredients

• ▢ 4 eggs, room temperature
• ▢ 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned, leveled, and sifted
• ▢ 1 1/4 cups sugar
• ▢ 1/2 cup milk
• ▢ 2 tsp baking powder
• ▢ 2 tsp vanilla extract
• ▢ 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Three Milks Ingredients

• ▢ 12 oz evaporated milk
• ▢ 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
• ▢ 1/3 cup heavy cream, 1 cup if you prefer a more traditional (wet) tres leches
• ▢ 1 tbsp Brandy, optional

Whipped Cream Ingredients

• ▢ 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• ▢ 1 tbsp powdered sugar
• ▢ 1 tbsp your choice of flavored powders (cinnamon, pumpkin spice, espresso, matcha, etc)

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Instructions 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine the eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract in an electric mixer with the whisk attachment. Mix on high for 10 minutes until it is pale yellow and & fluffy.

  *You can use an electric hand mixer as well, but it may take a little longer.
• Meanwhile, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Sift a few times to incorporate evenly throughout.
• After 10 minutes of mixing, reduce the speed to low and slowly add in the sifted flour mixture and milk, alternating a couple of times. Once you no longer see any flour, stop mixing. It should be thick enough to make distinct ribbons and you should see air bubbles in the mixture.
• Pour into a 9x13 baking or casserole dish.
• Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25 minutes. You'll know the cake is done when you stick a toothpick through the center and it comes out clean. Let it cool completely.
• Meanwhile, mix together the three milks mixture- sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, evaporated milk, and a splash of brandy (I used Hennessey).
• Poke a bunch of holes into the cake with a toothpick or fork. The more the better! Then slowly pour the milk mixture over the cakes, letting it fully absorb the milk before adding more.
• Cover with plastic wrap and let it set in the fridge for at least 8 hours. One or two days ahead is even better so the cake has time to soak up as much of the milk as possible.
• The next day, combine heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar until soft peaks form. Careful not to overwhip- it will become grainy. If that happens, you can just add a couple more tablespoons of heavy cream and whip again.
• Evenly spread the whipped cream on top of the cake, then sprinkle over any flavored powders (if using). You don't have to use any, but cinnamon is pretty common and I think pumpkin spice is great for the holidays.
• I recommend refrigerating again before serving. At least another couple of hours- trust me it really makes a difference! You can keep this cake in the fridge for 3-5 days.

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

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