I am so sorry that I turned this delicious and beautiful Mexican dessert into the whitest thing possible– funfetti. It was my friend’s 30th birthday and he wanted Tres Leches and I was thinking of how to decorate it and I thought “let’s just make it funfetti” and so that is what I did. You can leave out the sprinkles if you want this to be more traditional, but I think I am on to something here….
Note: be sure to use clear vanilla extract if you are going the “funfetti” route here. The clear vanilla gives off that artificial funfetti cake from a box vanilla taste, while the brown/pure extract is more of the soft vanilla bean flavor.
what you need:
Cake:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup whole milk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup sprinkles use jimmie sprinkles for best results
“Tres Leches”:
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
- 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1/2 tsp clear vanilla extract
Topping:
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 tsp clear vanilla extract
- Food coloring optional, but this makes it fun!
- A shit ton of sprinkles
what you need to do:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray.
- In bowl of your stand mixer, whip together eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract on medium high speed for TEN (10) MINUTES. Yes, I am serious. This is a sponge cake so we have to whip up the eggs to make them light and fluffy. There is no butter in this cake because the eggs act as the fat.
- While the mixer is going, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.
- After the eggs and sugar have whipped for TEN MINUTES, adjust the mixer to low speed, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add half of the flour mixture.
- Add the milk next, and then the rest of the flour mixture.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix with a spatula for a few seconds, making sure to get the bottom of the bowl.
- Add in your sprinkles and gently fold into the batter, being careful to not overmix.
- Pour batter into the prepared baking dish and bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until the top is lightly golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Leave on the counter to cool to room temperature. Once it has cooled, pop it in the fridge while you prepare the pour over “tres leches” mixture.
- In a large (at least 4 cups) measuring cup or bowl, mix together heavy cream, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, almond extract, and vanilla extract.
- Take your cake out of the fridge and using a fork or a skewer, poke holes all over the top of the cake, making sure to get the edges.
- Pour the tres leches mixture over the top of the cake, waiting for the mixture to soak in before pouring more.
- Pop the cake in the fridge for at least 6 hours (I put mine in overnight).
- When ready to serve, put whipped cream in your stand mixer bowl with a whisk attachment, and whip for about 1 minute.
- Once the peaks start to form, add in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and food coloring.
- Be careful not to over mix or your whipped cream texture will be weird.
- Once the whipped cream is the perfect consistency, spread it all over the top of the cake, making sure to cover all of it. Top with sprinkles!
- I like to let my cake go back into the fridge for a bit after topping just to let the whipped cream chill for a bit, but that is optional.
- Store in the fridge!
