Pastel de Tres Leches

id="recipetitle"class="fn">Pastel de Tres Leches

Tres Leches means "three milks" which is what is required for this cake. It's a lactose intolerant person's worst nightmare.

This recipe is dedicated to my recent trip to Mexico for my bestie's wedding (and also my 25th birthday). I sampled a little bit of baking - a tres leches cake, a very decadent chocolate dessert, a few bites of cheesecake, and I also indulged in a croissant every morning for breakfast.

In addition to food, I sampled copious amounts of tequila and corona and could not start my day until I had ingested a beer. I became a functioning alcoholic. Proud of me.

Weight gain = 0.5 pounds. Nailed it.

This a picture of me with my birthday cake and the best man. He's pretty darn good looking.



Hard to find a picture in which I'm not drinking some form of alcohol

To summarize, here's what I brought home from Mexico:

• The flu & severe digestive problems
• The best man
• Alcoholism
• A tattoo (sans hepatitis)
• Diminished work ethic
• No tan

Now, for my food observations:

Mexican butter is very different from butter here at home. I could pick out the butter in all the food, but especially in the desserts. I kept telling everyone how badly I wanted to bring a truck load of this butter home and try all of my favorite recipes with it, but unfortunately it would have been impossible.

I did however find some decently priced vanilla beans in Playa del Carmen. I find this hilarious after I slandered using real vanilla beans in my last post. Hypocrite. So I used said vanilla beans in this recipe. My brother was impressed with this and commented on how exciting it was to see the "black flecks" in the cake.


INGREDIENTS

Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 eggs, separated
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or one Mexican vanilla bean in my case)
1/3 cup whole milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 heavy cream

Topping
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar


DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. You also want to separate your eggs at this time.

3. In the bowl of your stand-up mixer, add 3/4 cup of granulated sugar and the egg yolks. Whisk on medium-high speed until thick and a pale yellow color. Add the vanilla and whole milk and mix until combined. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and fold together until well combined.



Vanilla bean virginity taken

4. Wash out the mixer and whisk attachment. Add the egg whites and whisk on high speed until soft peaks form. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and continue to whisk until stiff peaks form. Fold the eggs whites into the cake batter in three additions, until just combined. Pour batter into pan and smooth out the surface.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

6. Allow cake to cool completely. Pierce the entire surface with a fork. Mix the "three milks" together (evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream) in something that you can easily pour out of. Reserve one cup of the liquid and dispose of it. This seems like a waste but you can't exactly use parts of a can I suppose. Don't ask, I didn't make the recipe. Pour the remaining mixture over the cake.

7. Whip the cream, vanilla and sugar together until thick with stiff peaks. Top the cake with the whipped cream and garnish with maraschino cherries if desired.