One... Two... Three!!

It’s our birthday, and we’re turning 3! Of course, birthday means cake, right? I thought for a long time debating what kind of cake to make. Eventually, I decided tres leches cake was fitting for our third birthday.  After all, tres leches is three milks in English.  I grew up in Utah, which has a fairly large Hispanic population, so of course I’d heard of tres leches cake countless times.  Unfortunately, I’ve somehow neglected to ever actually taste it.  So I did lots of research and even got advice from someone who has made it before.  Then, I decided to ignore all of that and do my own thing.  Not sure what that says about me, but whatever, I’m very pleased with the end result. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• 3 egg whites
• ½ cup sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons cream
• 1 cup flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
•  
• ½ can sweetened condensed milk (about ⅔ cup)
• ½ can evaporated milk (about ¾ cup)
• ½ cup half and half
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
•  
• 1 cup cream
• 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• Cinnamon 

I know, the ingredients list is all wonky, but you’ll understand why before we’re done.  Before you begin, make sure your eggs are room temperature.  I like to just pull mine out the night before, but if you forgot, you can do this little trick.  Also, butter an 8x8 pan and preheat the oven to 350°.  Separate the eggs, putting the yolks aside.

The whites can go right into your mixing bowl.  It’s important that no yolk ends up in your whites, though, so you might want to grab an extra bowl. 

Whip the egg whites until you get soft peaks. 

With the mixer running on medium-high speed, slowly add ½ cup sugar.

Stop and scrape everything down, then continue beating until you get stiff peaks.  It should be beautiful and shiny.  Move it to another bowl and set it aside. 

Up next are the egg yolks.  Now, because you did the whites first, you don’t have to clean the bowl before switching to the yolks.  If you had done the yolks first, you’d have to wash the bowl before putting the whites in.  The fat from the egg yolks will sabotage your egg whites and prevent them from getting the volume you need. 

Whip the yolks until they begin to lighten in color. 

Then slowly add ¼ cup sugar just like you did to the whites.  Continue beating them until they become a pale yellow and run in a ribbon from the spatula. 

Add ¼ cup oil (I used canola, but vegetable or safflower would be fine), 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 2 Tablespoons cream. 

Mix until that’s fully incorporated.  In another bowl, measure the flour, salt, and baking powder. 

Whisk them together and sift that over the egg yolk mixture. 

Stir just until the dry stuff is incorporated. 

Add a dollop of the egg whites.  This first bit you’ll just have to stir in.  When that’s mostly combined, add another dollop. 

Gently fold until it looks something like this before spooning in the next addition.  

Continue to add the egg whites, gently folding them in, until you’ve incorporated them all. 

Pour the luscious batter into your prepared pan. 

Level it out on the top and then into the oven.  350° for about 30 minutes.  It will be browned on the top and sides, and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.  I know what you’re thinking, “Taneasha, that doesn’t look like a normal cake.”  Believe it or not, that’s a good thing.  We need a cake that is soft and absorbent, but won’t just turn to mush when it gets soaked with the ‘three milks’. 

Allow the cake to cool completely.  I actually let mine cool, then just covered it and left it overnight, which worked great.  When the cake is ready, use a fork to pierce the top of it. 

Don’t poke all the way to the bottom, just in the top half is fine.  Make sure you go over the entire surface, though, all the way to the edges. 

In another vessel, combine the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, half and half, and vanilla.  I like to use a large measuring cup for stuff like this because it pours well. 

Stir it all together, then slowly pour the mixture over the cake. 

Try to soak the cake as evenly as possible, making sure you get the edges. 

You’re probably going to want to just grab a spoon and dig in, but it’s not ready yet.  Cover the cake and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours.  It needs time to get nice and cold and to absorb all that sweet, milky goodness.  When it’s ready, you can start on the whipped cream for the top.  Pour the heavy cream into a bowl.  (If you put the bowl in the freezer for a few minutes before you start, the cream will whip more quickly.)

Beat the cream until it’s nice and frothy, then sift in the powdered sugar and add the vanilla. 

Continue to whip until the cream is fairly stiff.  Be careful not to go too far, or you’ll end up with sweet butter.  You want it to be a nice, spreadable consistency that will hold its shape when you cut the cake. 

Schplop it all on top of the cake. 

Spread it to the edges.  An offset spatula is the perfect tool for this job. 

Sprinkle cinnamon over the top.  I may have gotten a little carried away with it, but you get the idea. 

Back into the fridge until you’re ready to serve it.  This cake is really hard to describe.  The words you might think to use just don’t do it justice.  It is wet, but not in a ‘I just spilled a glass of milk over my cake’ kind of way.  It’s tender, delicate, and sweet with the delicious warmth of vanilla and cinnamon.  I guess I’ll just go with my usual, fabulous.  That, it is, and more than fitting for our third birthday. 

 

Update on Saturday, February 1, 2014 at 4:40PM by Taneasha

By the way, use those extra half cans of sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk to whip up an extra batch of the three milks mixture.  Then just pop it into the freezer.  If you don't want to make a second tres leches cake right away, I'll post another way to use the mixture in the next couple fo weeks.  

It's Our Birthday Today, and We're This Many!

That’s right, we’re turning 2 today!  Can you believe it?  And of course with birthdays, come cakes!  As you know, here at Author’s Kitchen, we rarely follow tradition, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I decided to steer clear of the usual layer cake covered in frosting.  Instead, I opted for pineapple upside down cake, and even better, for little individual cakes.  Well, you know, two year olds aren’t very good at sharing. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 3 Tablespoons butter
• ⅔ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon molasses
• 6 pineapple slices
• ½ cup butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅓ cup pineapple juice (from the canned pineapple)
• ⅔ cup buttermilk

The first thing you want to do is butter the sides of your baking dishes.  For this I used 14 ounce ramekins.  That’s what I have, and it was a good size for the pineapple slices.  Use whatever size you have, or even put it all into one 9x13 pan.  Just keep in mind that you might need to adjust the baking time slightly. 

In a pan over medium-low heat, melt 3 Tablespoons of butter. When it’s about melted go ahead and add the sugar and molasses.  (If you don’t have molasses, but do have brown sugar, go ahead and substitute brown sugar for the sugar and molasses.  I just don’t keep brown sugar on hand because I always end up with a useless brown brick.)

Stir until everything comes together, then remove it from the heat. 

Scoop out a level tablespoon. 

And drop two of those into each dish. 

Tap it down, spreading it to the edges of the dish.  Place a slice a pineapple right on top and repeat until you’ve done all 6 ramekins. 

Now onto the cake part.  First, go ahead and preheat your oven to 350°.  (After 2 years, we’re finally starting to get the hang of the preheating thing.)  Place your softened butter into your mixing bowl.  (If you forgot to get all of your ingredients to room temperature, see how to do it quickly here.)  Give it a quick stir just to make sure it’s nice and soft. 

Add the sugar and beat those together for about 2 minutes. 

Scrape everything down and add the vanilla. 

Once that’s mixed in, add the first egg. 

Wait until that one is completely incorporated before adding the next one. 

Once all three of them are in, it should look something like this. 

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, soda, powder, and salt. 

Add about ⅓ of the dry mixture to the bowl. 

Stir that in and add half of the wet mixture.  I did tell you to mix the buttermilk and pineapple juice together in a measuring cup, right?  No?  Well, go ahead and do it now, then pour half of it into the mixing bowl. 

Continue alternating with the remaining dry, then wet, then dry, until you have a gorgeous cake batter. 

Scoop ⅔ cup of the batter into each ramekin, and place them all onto a sheet pan.   

Level them out on top, then into the oven for 35 – 40 minutes.  A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean, and they should be a beautiful golden brown on top.

Allow the cakes to cool for 7 minutes.  Yes, I know 7 minutes sounds picky, but trust me.  Invert each cake onto a plate and behold the fabulousness it’s been hiding below.  Look at that sumptuous, caramel, pineapple, sticky, cakey goodness.  (Pardon me while I wipe the drool away.)  

Eat just as it is, or garnish with whipped cream or a scoop of really good vanilla ice cream.  Who says birthday cakes need frosting? 

These are a bit big to really be called individual servings, but whatever, it’s our birthday and we don’t want to share.