Pastel de Tres Leches
I love Tres Leches! Just thinking about it is stirring up some cravings. I suppose I’ll need to whip one up for Cinco de Mayo! This is an awesome and authentic recipe that I found on Pati’s Mexican Table (Thank you!). There are many variations, but a vanilla sponge cake, completely soaked in a sweet (but not too sweet) milky sauce, topped with fresh whipped cream is my favorite. I usually serve it with fresh strawberries. It is also good with just whipped cream, or you can add a different fruit or crushed Heath bar.
Pastel de Tres Leches
Fabulessly Frugal

Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 9 eggs, separated
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
For the Sauce:
- 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 12oz can evaporated milk
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For the Topping:
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 360 degrees.
- Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan and line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper, cut to fit.
- Pour the egg whites into the bowl of your mixer and beat on medium-high speed for 4 to 5 minutes, or until they hold soft peaks.
- Slowly stir in the sugar and continue beating until they hold hard or stiff peaks. T
- urn off the mixer and with a spatula, move the egg white mixture onto a large mixing bowl.
- Rinse the bowl of the mixer and its whisk.
- Now pour the egg yolks into the bowl of the mixer and beat on medium-high speed for about 5 to 6 minutes, or until the egg yolks become creamy, puffy and their color has toned down to an almost cream color rather than a loud yellow.
- Stir in the vanilla and continue beating for another minute.
- Pour the egg yolk mixture onto the egg white mixture and with a spatula, in evolving motions, combine them into a homogeneous single batter. Do so gently trying not to lose much volume from the mixture.
- When combined, fold in the flour, scraping the bowl with the spatula so that all the flour is well mixed.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. It can be a bit moist, but not wet.
- The top of the cake should be tanned and feel fluffy if you touch it.
- Remove from oven and let cool.
- Once cool, turn the cake onto a platter.
- Remove the parchment paper, cover the top with an upside down platter and invert again.
- The platter should be large enough to hold the cake and the vanilla sauce you are about to prepare. Using a fork, poke holes all over the cake, especially around the edges.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, milk, and vanilla extract.
- Slowly pour all of the vanilla sauce over the cake, especially on the edges. The cake will absorb it all.
- In the bowl of your mixer, whip up the heavy cream with the confectioners’ sugar on medium-high speed until the mixture holds stiff peaks, about 1 to 2 minutes. Spread the whipped cream all over the cake.
- For best results, cover and refrigerate for about an hour before serving.
Notes
To avoid spilling yolk into the whites, I separate the eggs over an isolated bowl.

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Oh, Melanie! I have been looking for a good Tres Leches cake recipe for like a year now! Can’t wait to try this one!
Yep. This is a good one. This one is my new go-to Tres Leches. Not too sweet like some of the ones you find around here.
I’ve only had tres leches once and it was for my 21st birthday- I absolutely loved it! Your recipe not only looks really good, but it seems pretty straightforward as well; I cannot wait to make it. Thanks for the post~
Thanks, Efrain! Hope you love it!