At a recent gastronomic getaway to Aspen, I had the pleasure enjoy a fantastic Tres leches cake at the Hotel Jerome (photo below). The chief Christopher Keating, crediting his wife to the recipe, explained that he was one of the elements that could not take off the dessert menu. As I made my way through the damp milky goodness, I knew why. - It was a big cake I'm sure I had before, but I could not remember where or when, then it was like tasting for the firs t the time . Normally a soggy cake would not be a good thing, but here it is genius. The cake is soaked with a syrup sweet milk-based condensed milk, evaporated milk and half and half (hence the name, Tres Leches). It is like eating cake and drinking milk, but in the same mouthful!
I will not pretend that this version is better than the Hotel Jerome made-from-scratch recipe, but since this is the version of my mother, it is at least a draw. She would have normally done this from scratch too, but time was short, and the humidity is high (life threatening high), she used a yellow cake mix box, which was very good. Every time I post an ethnic recipe like that, I like looking for the name and history. Here, I did not bother, since the origins cakes are so obvious once you see how it is done. So with no facts to back up my story, here's how Tres Leches cake was born.
Somewhere in Mexico or Nicaragua, someone made a cake. They would serve it with milk because people tend to do, but something happened that caused the milk to spill on the cake. Not wanting to lose a good piece of cake, although it may be wet, the Mexican cook or Nicaragua served anyway. People loved, and possibly a tres leches (three milk) sugar syrup was developed to soak the sponge cake.
This is my story and I'm sticking to it! Whether you make a cake from scratch or use the shortcut Pauline, give this dessert a try! Enjoy.
Ingredients:
For Tres Leches-
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated
milk 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed
milk 1 cup half and half
For the pie servers box
1 yellow hardened mixture
3 eggs
1 cup of water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla coffee
shortening to grease pan
