Eggless Saffron Mango Tres Leches Cake… The mango season is incomplete without a mango tres leches, more so if the colours of this dessert reflect the colours of the Indian national flag. With layers deliciousness, here’s a dessert to celebrate India’s 75th Independence Day, a dessert that screams summer!
Any special occasion or celebration on the subcontinent is incomplete without saffron or kesar, the worlds most expensive spice! The flavours and the natural colour that saffron lends to cuisine is unmatchable and really, really pleasant. A little saffron goes a long way, so do buy the best you can find. Saffron is a spice I use often in desserts, perhaps too often but I absolutely love it!
Saffron really makes everything special and this Eggless Saffron Mango Tres Leches Cake is no exception. A never ending supply of mangoes is definitely inspiration to create desserts around the king of fruits.
Here’s my easy and refreshing version of the tres leches with a soft, moist and very thirsty eggless sponge {saffron & pistachio flavoured} that obligingly drinks up the saffron flavoured tres leches milk. Saffron milk is a great match here since I used the Kesar variety of mangoes when I made these, ‘kesar’ that translates into saffron. You can use any vibrant mangoes you find though.
Mangoes with cream are a quintessential summer favourite here in India. Add saffron to the equation and you literally have magic! Desserts like this make summer so worthwhile! Everything is fresh about this cake. The light sponge, the beautifully addictive milk, the sweet mangoes and then the stabilized cream that holds the mangoes together.
For those who might be curious, I stabilize the cream since low fat cream is all that is easily available locally in India where I live. I’ve found a way to stabilize it the way it works for me. Of course it’s not as easy as whipped cream but for me it’s better that non dairy alternatives available locally that have labels of ingredients that scare me. Feel free to use a whipping cream with at least 35% fat if available.
Do tag me on Instagram at Passionate About Baking if you make this, or any other recipe from the blog. I’d love to see it!
- Find more MANGO recipes here
- More EGGLESS recipes here
- A load of recipes with SAFFRON
- More TRES LECHES recipes here
Eggless Saffron Mango Tres Leches Cake
Ingredients
Eggless saffron pistachio sponge
- 140 g full fat yogurt/dahi
- 70 g castor sugar
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- Pinch salt
- Few strands saffron
- 1 tbsp chopped pistachio
- 60 g oil
- 90 g all purpose flour/maida
Tres leches milk
- 80 g milk
- 75 g coconut milk
- 60 g condensed milk
- Generous pinch saffron
Stabilized cream
- 250 g Amul Fresh cream/25% fat cream
- 1.5 tbsp cornflour
- 1 tsp agar agar {Increase by 1/4 tsp if the weather is very warm}
- 2 tbsp castor sugar
- 1 tbsp clarified butter/ghee
- 100-125 g small diced mango {plus extra for garnish}
Instructions
Eggless saffron pistachio sponge
- Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 6″ baking tin with parchment. In a large bowl, whisk the yogurt and castor sugar until smooth.
- Whisk in baking soda, baking powder, salt, saffron strands and pistachios and leave to stand for 5 minutes until the mixture is bubbly.
- Whisk in oil until well blended/emulsified.
- Sift over the plain flour & fold in until smooth. Transfer to the baking tin, smooth out the top and edges.
- Bake for 30 minutes / tester comes out clean. cool completely.
Tres leches milk
- Whisk together in a glass jar or bottle and refrigerate overnight for the flavours to mature well.
Stabilized cream
- Whisk together all the ingredients in a glass bowl.
- Microwave for 30 seconds, whisk again. Repeat until the cream begins to thicken at the edges, 3-4 times. Cool, whisking now and then to keep the cream uniform and to prevent a film from forming on top.
- Note: You can also make this on the stove top. Stir constantly.
- Assemble
- Secure an acetate collar and place the sponge in a compact serving dish.
- Poke the sponge with a skewer/fork right across making sure you poke straight to the bottom.
- Pour over the tres leches milk a little at a time, waiting for it to absorb completely. Top the soaked cake with diced mangoes, then pour over the stabilized cream to cover the mangoes completely.
- Place in the freezer for about 2 hours, then remove to the fridge and leave to set overnight.
- Garnish with freshly diced mangoes, mint and rose petals.