Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Torta de las Tres Leches -- [a catch-up cake for me]

This marvelous creation was one that I have not baked previously, but when I was informed by a friend last week that it was his favorite cake – what could I do?
A simple mis en place        

The cake, itself, came together very easily – biscuit cake in a 9 x 3” round.








After cooling, place the cake on plastic wrap, wrap it, and place it back into the pan in which it was baked, wrapping the tops over to seal it. Keep refrigerated while wrapped until ready to soak it in leches.

For the leche mixture, boil the milks and sugar, reducing to half.  Cool, add the whipping cream and condensed milk . [Tip to self: Next time, weigh the saucepan to be able to easily guage the reduction].  Refrigerate until ready to pour onto cake.


Because I intended to surprise my friend with it at lunch time today, I completed the whole milk addition last evening, and the cake soaked, refrigerated, over night, more than eight hours.
This morning I carefully inverted the torta onto a tart pan bottom and set it into a large platter with a lip that accommodated it perfectly. I sopped up some excess milk several times by rolling narrow pieces of paper toweling around the base of the cake.
There wasn’t enough of the whipped cream stabilized with cornstarch made the night before, so in the morning I made another batch and the stars I piped were more full.




Not only was my friend surprised, but he was delighted, and there were rave reviews from his friends. The cake was moist, but not soggy, beautiful flavor, and crumb.

This was a very pleasant experience, with an exceptional cake ~~ a nice one to repeat!


13 comments:

  1. Beautiful Joan. And of course, your friend would like it. I mean, cake, tres leches, and more cream on top? :o) Next time, definitely try the caramel whipped cream. It adds another dimension of complexity to the cake :o)

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  2. Gorgeous cake! Your genoise is perfect and I love how you decorate it with stars.

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  3. Thank you Hanaa and Jenn. Darn it, Hanaa I know I told you I was going to do the caramel whipped cream! I just forgot, and as I am having my first piece right now, I can see the other dimension it would have added! Next time I will for sure. You know also, Julie on the Forum did a gorgeous beveled whipped cream with caramel squiggles in the grooves - awesome.

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  4. Joan, beautiful Tres Leches! Did you happen to measure how tall your cake was (before whipped cream)? Or is it only me that does nerdy, obsessive things like that :).

    Thanks for the compliment!

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  5. Great looking cake. Love your recipes.

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  6. LOL! Is anything not obsessive in what we are doing? The cake was just above the 3 inch pan, maybe 3.5". You can see in the oven. It may have dropped a little. I think it was about 3 inches when I poured the milk into it. My husband just measured it and now it's 2 1/4 inches after a day with all the milk in it.

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  7. Beautiful cake. I am having a birthday dinner next week and now am inspired to make this cake. It will be perfect, as I live in Mexico. The caramel whipped cream sounds great. Thanks for the post.

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  8. You made such a pretty design with the topping. This is such a delicious recipe. Well done!

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  9. Thanks Faithy, Lola and Vicki for being so supportive.

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  10. just found your blog when i was commenting someone else's post. this looks delicious and your piping is spot on! well done :)


    http://www.bakingwithfrench.blogspot.com

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  11. Hi - Thanks for stopping by and for the compliment. I love your avatar, and the boiserie. I just put a huge piece of old pink and blue boiserie in my bedroom and put mirror in it...love it!

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  12. ב''ה

    I like your paper towel idea. My wife won't let me make this again as mine came out a soggy mess. ;)

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