Pastel de Tres Leches with Dulce de Leche

Another Mexican favourite today and it is a dessert cake; Pastel de Tres Leches ( pronounced pahstayl de tray laychays ) means Cake in Three Milks.

When you come across some recipes you wonder if it is really worth the try. I mean, a sponge cake soaked in three milks; how appetizing could it be? It read good and looked good too. And the recipe is oh so simple! So finally, after years of putting off this recipe, I finally geared up to give it a go only because I am hosting this Mexican Cuisine event in my blog for Julie; and can any meal be complete without a dessert!

The cake is a butterless sponge cake soaked in a mixture of condensed milk, evapourated milk and full-cream milk, topped with whipped cream and refrigerated to serve cold with glaced cherries. And since we are not cream lovers I substituted it with Dulce de Leche ( meaning caramelized milk) which is not actually Mexican but a South American version of the Mexican Cajeta, which is prepared using goats milk and sugar. The glaced cherries were replaced with fresh berries.

The verdict: This is an ultra moist cake that holds on to the moisture with elegance, without sogging or falling apart and feels like you are in a dream for every bite you take! It is sinfully delicious!

Pastel de Tres Leches
 
Serves: 20
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Baking Time: 35 - 45 minutes
Recipe Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Ingredients

• 125g plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 5 x-large eggs, yolks and white separated
• 170g + 55g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 75 ml full cream milk
• 1 x 395g can condensed milk
• 1 x 375ml can evapourated milk
• 100 ml full-cream milk
• 1 qty dulce de leche (recipe below)
• fresh fruits of your choice, mangoes, strawberries, raspberries, to serve

Method
1. Pre-heat fan-forced oven to 170ºC. Spray with oil and line with baking paper a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. (I used a pyrex dish).
2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt and keep aside. Beat egg yolks with 170g caster sugar on high until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla and keep aside.
3. In a different bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks forms. While beating, add 50g of sugar and beat until egg whites become stiff but not dry. 
4. Add sifted flour mixture into the yolk mixture and stir very gently until the batter is smooth. To this fold in beaten egg white mixture very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread out evenly. Bake for 35 - 45 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Turn out cake and let it cool. 
5. Combine condensed milk, evapourated milk and full-cream milk. Set aside 1 cup of this milk mixture. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork. Then slowly drizzle the milk mixture on all sides and the middle. Let the cake soak the milk in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Then slowly drizzle the remaining 1 cup milk mixture on all sides. 
6. In the meantime, prepare dulce de leche (recipe below). If it is too thick add some extra milk and stir it until smooth. Spread this as a thin layer over the cake. Decorate with fresh fruits. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Dulce de Leche

Serves: Topping for 1 Pastel de Tres Leches
Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 x 395g condensed milk

Method

1. Pour condensed milk into a sauce pan. Place it over low heat (small flame in your stove top) and keep stirring continously for around 15 minutes until condensed milk is caramelised. Take care it doesn 't burn and stick to the bottom. It is essential to keep stirring continously.

Dulce de Leche is ready to serve.

Sending this to Julie's Mexican Cuisine event hosted by me.