Bake 52: Tres Leches Cake

I have had this cake once in my life.  At a restaurant.  I actually wasn't that impressed with it.  Couldn't figure out what all the hipe was about.  So, I was a little unsure about this one.  Curious really.  Curious to see how this would turn out.  Curious to see what I'd think about this cake.

The cookbook explained that for the best flavor, the cake needed evaporated milk, cream and dulce de leche (a caramel made by boiling an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk for an hour.)  But to cut bake on time, you could microwave the sweetened condensed milk in the microwave until slightly darkened and thickened... about 15 minutes.

Slight mishap occurred here.  It explains the need for stirring occasionally.  Guess my occasionally wasn't occasional enough.  Even melted the plastic wrap.  Thankfully I had decided to half the recipe, so I had the other half of the sweetened condensed milk, just longingly waiting to be used for something.

Here's what it looked like as it cooked in the microwave.

 Stir it and then place it back in the microwave.  Keep doing this until it's slightly darkened and thickened.

I'm not sure if I allowed my "dulce de leche" to get too dark or what, but it was a little hard to get it to mix in with the other milks.  Eventually it did.  Set aside.

Dry ingredients... flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon.

Heat the milk, butter and vanilla, until butter is melted.

Here are the beaten eggs, with the sugar being added, slowly.  Then the continue to be whipped until they're thick and voluminous, 4-8 minutes.

Add the melted butter mixture, and then the flour mixture.

The batter goes into a greased and floured pan.  Bang the pan on the counter a few times to release some of those air bubbles.

Once the cake is cooked, poke holes all over the top with a skewer.

Pour the 3-milk mixture over the top of the cake.

Let it soak in the fridge for about 3 hours.

Then we frost with a slightly sweetened whip cream.  And... it was yummy.  It was fun to make.  I love moist cakes.  I really liked the soft flavor of the cinnamon.  Not too strong, but just right.

Check out Amanda's blog for the full recipe.