This rich and creamy Tres Leches Cake is a classic Latin American dessert made with three kinds of milk for an ultra-moist, tender cake. It’s an easy recipe you can make at home for celebrations, holidays, or anytime you want a sweet treat. It’s finished with cinnamon, chocolate shavings, and fresh berries.
Tres Leches Cake is Spanish for “3 milk” cake. It has three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and a little bit of heavy cream. This cake recipe is the perfect make-ahead dessert and it’s even better than the one at your favorite mexican restaurant. The cake base itself is chiffon. It’s spongy and light, which is perfect for absorbing the moisture from all three milks, making it to die for!
Ingredients for a Tres Leches Cake
A tres leches cake is essentially a poke cake, just like our popular lemon jello cake. You’re going to need basic cake-making ingredients, the 3 milks, and then ingredients to make the whipped cream on top and whatever garnishes you might want to add. Here is everything you will need:
For the Cake:
- Flour: Just regular all-purpose flour is all you need
- Baking Powder: acts as a leavening agent to give the cake rise and fluffiness
- Salt: enhances all the flavors
- Eggs: You’ll separate the eggs and add the egg yolks and egg whites separately into the batter
- Sugar: just regular white granulated sugar
- Whole Milk: helps bind all the ingredients together
- Vanilla: adds flavor
Leches
- Evaporated Milk: can be found in the grocery store on the baking aisle
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: can be found on the baking aisle
- Heavy Cream: Whole milk also works if you don’t have cream
For the Icing:
- Heavy Whipping Cream: the base for the whipped cream
- Sugar: adds sweetness
- Vanilla Extract: adds flavor
Decoration:
- Strawberries: sliced thin
- Cinnamon: just a little sprinkle over the top adds a great pop of flavor and warmth
- Shaved Chocolate: see the section below for instructions on how to shave chocolate
The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card down below. Keep scrolling for all the details.
Making This Recipe
This recipe might seem a little over