Mango Pastel de Tres Leches or Mango Three Milk Cake … Daring Bakers soak up cake!

“The great thing about cake is it doesn’t feel like work. You forget about work. Kids, adults, they all get the same look in their eye when they’re decorating cakes… that’s the magic right there.”
Duff Goldman

Mango Pastel de Tres LechesPastel de Tres Leches or Three Milk Cake … a cake that impressed and how! Love the Daring Baker challenge this time. having missed the earlier two challenges, I went straight into it very early this month. I did think it could turn out soggy, but no! Turned out to be one of the best cakes ever!

Inma of la Galletika was our Sept. 2013 Daring Bakers’ hostess and WOW did she bring us something decadent and delicious! Pastel de Tres Leches or Three Milk Cake, creamy yet airy, super moist but not soggy.. just plain delish!

My earliest memories of Tres leches goes back to a visit to Dallas in 2007. The Pastel de Tres Leches or Three Milk Cake was very popular among the Indian community there. Maybe in many ways it reminded folk of a popular Indian sweet, the milk cake. While visiting some Indian friends there, they were very excited to serve it up.

I was disappointed. It was sadly soggy and not worth all the fuss. Thereafter have seen references on and off to the cake, but it’s never been interesting enough to make one at home. Until now of course! Just the introductory lines were good enough for me to take on the challenge. ‘Decadent & Delicious?’ Yes please! Searched my mind for ideas, searched the net for variations. Not much out there.

Tres leches are simple cakes, delicious nonetheless. Me being me, had to go a step further. Fruit had to feature in here somewhere, somehow. I decided to get brave and make a layered Mango Pastel de Tres Leches or Mango Three Milk Cake. Of course I did some important pre planning, some in the head and some on the simmer!

The Pastel de Tres Leches is a cake that is very popular in Central and South America. It is a super moist, light, airy and super delicious sponge cake soaked in the three kinds of milk {evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream}. Tres Leches is a very light cake {especially if made without butter}, with many air bubbles in its crumb. This distinct texture is why it does not have a soggy consistency, despite being soaked in a mixture of three types of milk.

This recipe slightly adapted from an interview given by one of Mexico’s best Pastry Chefs, Paulina Abascal, to the magazine Revista Secretos de la Pastelería Caserais, produces a super moist yet light Tres Leches. True to the word, this was declared as one of the best cakes we’ve eaten. Light, moist and delightfully flavourful, the mango just added the oomph!

The three milk mixture is a combination of condensed milk {I always have some on hand}, evaporated milk and cream. While the west consumes tonnes of evaporated milk every year, it’s not a popular concept in India. It was time to make some. Evaporated milk is merely normal milk boiled down to reduce its water content. Simple!

Simple enough, and with a little pre planning, a cakewalk! Did the sponges on day 1; made the evaporated milk too. Assembled everything on day two, and we cut the cake on day 3! The cake needs a little while to soak in all the good milk, to get matured in flavours. I layered the sponge with fresh diced mango and whipped low cream {stabilized with gelatin}. You can always used canned fruit, peaches, tropical fruit bits etc.

Since it needed an overnight rest, I was kind of confident that the cream would set. Of course I was thrilled to see that it all came together beautifully when I demolded it the next day! It will behave even better in the winter. I’ve got to make this cake again. I did have left over milk mixture as expected, even after giving the layers a generous soaking.

I was tempted to make an iced milk shake out of it, but then a pound cake came to mind. Since it had been flavoured with lemon extract, I made a Tres Leches Wholewheat Lemon Pound Cake, basically soaked the warm cake in the remaining tres leches concoction. FAB!! Even that was appreciated and how! Will share the recipe soon!

Thank you Imma for offering this delicious challenge. We loved it to bits. I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the recent Momofuku’s Crack Pie challenge, maybe more! Thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!! Do stop by here to see what the rest of the Daring Bakers have been soaking up!

[print_this]Recipe: Mango Pastel de Tres Leches or Mango Three Milk Cake 

Summary:  Three-Milk Cake it is a super moist, light, airy and super delicious sponge cake soaked in the three kinds of milk (evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream). Tres Leches is a very light cake (especially if made without butter), with many air bubbles in its crumb. This distinct texture is why it does not have a soggy consistency, despite being soaked in a mixture of three types of milk.

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30mins plus chilling
Ingredients:

  • Vanilla sponge cake
  • 5 large eggs (separated)
  • 125g vanilla sugar
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp lemon extract
  • 140g all-purpose (plain) flour (sifted)
  • For three milks syrup
  • 1 can (400 gm) sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 can (340 gm) evaporated milk
  • 240g low fat cream {20% fat}
  • 2 teaspoons lemon extract
  • Topping and filling
  • 400g low fat cream {20% fat)
  • 50g icing sugar
  • 1 tsp gelatin {dissolved in 2 tbsp milk}
  • 1kg mango, peeled diced {to fill and decorate the cake)

Method: 

  1. Vanilla Sponge Cake
  2. Preheat oven to 180°C. Prepare 9” (23 cm) round cake pan
  3. Separate the egg whites from the yolks.
  4. Beat the egg whites on medium speed, 3 – 5 minutes.
  5. When soft peaks form slowly add the sugar in small batches.
  6. Whip until stiff peaks form about 5 minutes. Set aside.
  7. In a medium bowl beat egg yolks at medium-high speed for about 5 to 6 minutes, or until the egg yolks become pale colored, creamy and puffy. Stir in vanilla.
  8. Pour the egg yolks over the egg whites, gently fold until just combined trying not to lose any volume from the mixture.
  9. Fold in the flour little by little in the form of rain. Mix until just combined (over-beating will result in a denser, flatter cake).
  10. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
  11. Bake in the preheated moderate oven for 25 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean
  12. Let it cool
  13. Once cool, split the cake in half, flip the top of the cake and place it on a base. Poke using a fork holes all over the cake to better absorb the three milk soaking liquid.
  14. Three milks syrup
  15. In a saucepan add the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream and cinnamon stick, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and continue boiling for 5 minutes. Remove it and let it cool.
  16. Once it is cool, add the rum or any other flavoring you are using
  17. Gradually brush all the milk soaking liquid into all sides of the cake (including the cut surfaces) until all absorbed. Best to rest the cake in the fridge overnight to complete the soaking process.
  18. Topping
  19. Whip the cream, when soft peaks form, add the sugar little by little, continue whipping until stiff peaks form about 2 mins.
  20.  Decoration
  21. Layer some whipped cream on the bottom layer and cover with canned or fresh fruit and decorate the top layer with whipped cream and the fresh or canned fruit.

[/print_this]

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

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Deeba @ PAB

About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.

28 thoughts on “Mango Pastel de Tres Leches or Mango Three Milk Cake … Daring Bakers soak up cake!”

  6. The cake looks delicious but where did you get mangoes at this time of the year?

    Reply

    1. I made this very early in September while I still had 3 kilos of mangoes stashed away in the fridge. Until last week we were getting mangoes from across the border in our local bazaar.

      Reply

  10. Deeba this looks glorious and you know how we eat with our eyes! It looks like a very straightforward recipe (which is totally my thing!) and breaking the assembly down over a few days makes it very manageable. Mangoes not as widely available here in the UK at the moment so I was thinking of raspberries (the last hurrah before autumn really kicks in), a drizzle of runny chocolate icing and sprinkle of toasted almond slivers…

    I second a post on photography – your pictures are so utterly gorgeous. And how I would love to see your props cupboard!!

    Reply

  11. Love your cake – the height is fabulous and I think mango would be a great match to the tres keches!

    Reply

  13. I missed doing this, but now I want to, may be really soon! Envy you for the mangoes, can imagine the milky cake would have tasted fabulous with them, yumm!

    Reply

  16. Hi Deeba,
    To get this quantity of evaporated milk how much milk do u start with and for how long do u boil ( or simmer) it for?

    Reply

    1. Hi Kamal, you have to basically reduce the milk to around half the quantity. I began with about 750ml of full fat milk since I was using low fat cream in the end.
      Simmered for about 45 minutes at least I think. Use a large open saucepan as it evaporates faster, and reduces chances of bubbling over. Hope this helps.

      Reply

  22. Amazing recipe Deeba. One question though, did you whip the gelatin with the low fat cream for the topping? Also, which Indian brand of low fat cream did you use? Amul? TIA

    Reply

  23. really no baking power or levening. Mine came out at an inch height made it hard to layer. Picture looks like more than a single cut in half for a two layer?

    Reply

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