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Strawberry Tres Leches Cake takes the classic combo of strawberries and cream to a new level. Berries are a perfect match for this rich and creamy cake!

Strawberry Tres Leches Cake

Plan to make this cake the day before you want to serve it. You'll need to let it refrigerate overnight before topping with strawberries and whipped cream.
Servings 8 -12 servings (possibly even 16, depending upon your appetite)

Ingredients

For the cake:

  • 6 3/4 ounces cake flour (about 1 and 1/2 cups + 1 Tablespoon)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick, room temperature
  • 8 ounces sugar 1 cup
  • 5 large eggs room temperature
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the glaze:

  • 1 12 ounce can evaporated milk
  • 1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 cup half and half

For the topping:

  • 2 cups chopped or sliced strawberries
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
  • Additional strawberries for garnish

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour a 13" x 9" pan. Set aside.
  2. Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
  3. In a mixing bowl, (using paddle attachment) beat butter on medium speed until fluffy, about 1 minute.
  4. Decrease speed to low and very gradually add sugar (this should take a good minute) scraping sides of bowl as necessary.
  5. Add the eggs, one at a time mixing thoroughly after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix until combined.
  6. Add the flour mixture in thirds and mix just until combined after each addition. Scrape bowl as necessary and don't over beat.
  7. Transfer the batter to prepared pan and spread evenly. This will be thin layer of batter.
  8. Bake for 18-25 minutes until lightly golden. If you have a thermometer, the cake will be done when it's internal temperature registers 200 degrees. Mine took about 18-20 minutes.
  9. Place cake on a cooling rack and allow to cool for 30 minutes. Then, poke the top of the cake all over with a skewer or a fork. I used a skewer this time, but found that the fork was much more effective. Be thorough with poking the cake. Any areas without enough holes will not absorb the glaze as well as the areas that have a lot.
  10. Allow cake to cool completely.
  11. Make the glaze by combining the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and half and half in a liquid measuring cup. Whisk to thoroughly combine, then slowly pour the mixture over the entire cake.
  12. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
  13. The next day, most, if not all of the liquid should have been absorbed by the cake.
  14. Arrange chopped or sliced strawberries all over top of cake.
  15. Place the heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla into a mixing bowl and using whisk attachment or electric mixer, beat to stiff peaks. Spread or pipe the topping on the cake and allow to chill in refrigerator until ready to serve. Garnish with additional strawberries, if desired.

Recipe Notes

*Store cake covered in refrigerator. Once the cake is thoroughly chilled, you should be able to cut pretty clean squares. Mine only chilled for about an hour, so my whipped cream was still a bit soft. (Or, use my tips for pre-cutting mentioned in the post.)

*Even though I baked my cake in a 10" round, I'm recommending that you bake it in a 13 x 9 and therefore, have only mentioned that size in the directions. If you do decide to use the 10", baking time will be a few minutes longer.

*The original recipe is all in weight measurements which is great if you have a scale because you won't need measuring cups. I've provided the traditional measurements that are as close as possible to the weight measurements.

*I just lightly sweetened my whipped cream because the dessert is already sweet. If you like a sweeter whipped cream, you can double the powdered sugar or add even more to taste.

*Make sure you thoroughly poke the cake. I like to use a fork and poke every half inch or so until the top of the cake is covered in tiny holes.

*Update 5-6-16: It tooks us a few days to get through this rich cake (even though we shared it with others.) I thought I'd share that I thought it was better the day after I put the fruit and whipped cream on it and it was possibly even better on the day after that. The strawberries soaked up more of the milk and let out more strawberry flavor. Recipe adapted from Food Network The Merchant Baker Copyright © 2016