Coconut tres leches cake
This cake works on one principle: you prick the warm sponge with a fork and pour coconut milk over it. Warm cake drinks the liquid within minutes and turns into something between sponge and custard. Once cold it soaks it up more slowly and less evenly, so pour it on straight after baking.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Sponge 15 min
- Baking 35 min
- Soaking 30 min
- Chilling 60 min
- Cream and flakes 10 min
Step by step
0 / 5 doneWhisk the eggs with sugar
Whisk the eggs with the sugar and vanilla for 6 minutes until tripled in volume and pale. This is the only aeration in this cake — the baking powder only supports it.
Ingredients: 250 g plain flour · 180 g sugar · 4 pcs eggs · 120 g butter · 120 ml milk · 2 tsp baking powder · 2 tsp vanilla extract · ½ tsp salt
Fold in the rest and bake
Sift the flour with baking powder and salt and fold it in with a spatula in three additions. Finally add the lukewarm melted butter with the milk. Pour into a lined 22×30 cm tin and bake at 175°C for 30–35 minutes, until a skewer comes out dry.
Ingredients: 250 g plain flour · 180 g sugar · 4 pcs eggs · 120 g butter · 120 ml milk · 2 tsp baking powder · 2 tsp vanilla extract · ½ tsp salt
A light, aerated batter — without whisking there is nothing to soak.Prick and soak while hot
Mix the coconut, condensed and plain milk. Take out the cake and prick it densely with a fork, then pour the mixture over slowly. Start at the edges — the middle absorbs faster.
Ingredients: 400 ml coconut milk · 200 g sweetened condensed milk · 100 ml milk
TipPrick every 2 cm and go deep, right to the base. Shallow holes leave the liquid sitting on top.
Warm cake drinks the soak before your eyes.Wait half an hour
Leave the cake for 30 minutes at room temperature, then chill for an hour. The liquid spreads evenly and the cake ends up moist throughout, not just at the bottom.
Ingredients: 400 ml coconut milk · 200 g sweetened condensed milk · 100 ml milk
Whip the cream and finish
Whip the very cold cream with icing sugar to stiff peaks and spread over the cake. Scatter toasted coconut flakes — toasted ones have a far deeper flavour than raw.
Ingredients: 400 ml whipping cream (30%) · 40 g icing sugar · 80 g coconut flakes
TipToast the flakes in a dry pan for 3 minutes, stirring. They burn in seconds, so do not walk away.
Toasted flakes give colour and a nutty aroma.
Before you start
Better the next day
After a night in the fridge the cake is evenly moist and slices better, so it is worth making a day ahead. Keep it in the fridge — up to 2 days.
With pineapple
Arrange drained canned pineapple pieces on the cream. Their tartness balances the sweetness of the condensed milk beautifully.
Less sweet
Reduce the condensed milk to 150 g and add 50 ml more plain milk. The moisture stays the same.
