Eggless Tres Leches Cake recipe

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Moist, spongy, and perfectly soft, this Eggless Tres Leches Cake is perfect for all occasions. This iconic cake has a velvety texture that literally melts in your mouth. And it's so simple to make that you'll feel like you've cheated your way into a delicious dessert.

rectangular cake slice placed on a grey plate with pouring of milk on the side

What is Tres Leches Cake?

Tres Leches Cake also known as Pan Leches Cake; (pastel de tres leches) is basically a sponge cake that is then soaked in three kinds of milk - evaporated milk, condensed milk, and whole milk hence the name tres leches meaning three milk.

In this recipe, we are going to use an eggless sponge base.

Since sponge bases are meant to be airy and very light cake, it soaks all the liquid poured on them without making the base go soggy.

Three parts of making the cake

Part 1 - Cake Base

square shaped vanilla sponge cake placed in a casserole

An authentic tres leches cake recipe uses a sponge base made from flour, eggs, sugar, and butter similar to a genoise sponge so that it has the ability to soak up all the milk mixture and still be sturdy to cut.

In this variation, we are going to use our eggless vanilla cake recipe as the base.

When I first shared the recipe for eggless chocolate tres leches cake, so many of my readers said that their cake tends to harden in the fridge which is natural for a butter-based cake so this time around I wanted to experiment with an oil-based vanilla sponge cake and that is exactly what this recipe is all about.

Even after refrigeration, this cake tastes soo good.. In fact, this cake tastes best when chilled.

Part 2 - Three Milk

Taking a moment here to share the different tweaks we are making to this famous Mexican cake.

As mentioned the three different kinds of milk that are generally used include: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and whole milk

Since evaporated milk is not easily available here in India (and if available is expensive) I choose regular milk which makes for a perfect substitute and in place of whole milk we will be using heavy cream.

The cake still tastes exactly the same and comes out beautifully.

Part 3 - Whipped Cream Frosting

eggless tres leches cake frosted with whipped cream frosting and placed on wooden board

Finally, the fluffy sponge cake is then topped with homemade whipped cream frosting.

I am using non-dairy-based cream here which tasted great.

Have also tried this eggless tres leches cake recipe with heavy whipping cream and it has turned out to be the best cake I have ever had.

That looks like a lot of steps but this eggless version of the moist cake is truly easy to recreate making it ideal for any special occasion.

Ingredients

180 gms (1.5 cups) all-purpose flour
2 tbsp cornflour (also known as corn starch) - adding cornflour is an easy hack for making diy cake flour mix which makes the cake soft and tender.
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
245 g (1 cup) yogurt - use the thick part of the yogurt
170 g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
108 g (1/2 cup) oil
1 tsp vanilla - If you can prefer vanilla extract over essence.

For Milk Layer

ingredients needed to make the three milk to be poured on top of the cake

250 gms (1 cup) Milk - Use Evaporated Milk instead if you can find it
125 gms (1/2 cup) Fresh Cream
200 gms (2/3 cup) Condensed Milk

Also, we would need 250 gms of Whipping Cream to frost the cake - If using heavy whipping cream you might have to add 65 gms of icing sugar to sweeten it.

You can consider printing out the detailed recipe by scrolling down to the recipe card shared at the end of the page.

Step-by-Step Tutorial

Preparatory Steps

Butter and line the base with parchment paper of an 8-inch square pan if you wish to make rectangle slices as seen in the images. If you prefer the classic square shape of tres leches cake then bake the cake in a 7-inch cake pan.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Step 1: Bake the Cake

Sieve together the dry ingredients - flour, cornflour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl. Set this aside.

In a large bowl, combine together the yogurt and caster sugar until homogenous.

Whisking continuously add the oil and vanilla essence. This is your wet ingredients.

final consistency of the cake batter adjusted with water

To this wet ingredients add all the dry ingredients and combine until you have a cake batter-like consistency.
If you find that the cake batter is too thick you can adjust it by adding a tbsp of water.

Transfer this to the prepared cake pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180-degree celsius for 30-35 mins.
Let the cake rest in the pan itself for another 3 mins and then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.

Step 2 - Soaking this simple eggless cake

In a mixing jar, combine together all three milk and set aside.

poke holes in the cake and add milk mixture

Place the now-cooled cake in the pan in which you would want to serve the cake. Poke holes on top of the cake halfway through.

Reserve about 300 ml of the prepared milk in a separate bowl and pour the rest on top of the cake. Within a few seconds, the cake will absorb all the milk mixture.

Wrap the cake pan with a cling wrap and allow it to chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.
Chilling in my opinion is what gives the cake a distinct texture and so much flavor..

Step 3 - Whipped Cream Frosting

Whip the cream using an electric mixer till stiff peaks form and apply it to the cake as you prefer.
The best part is it need not be perfect, choose any design or a simple swipe to give it a neat and tidy cake.
Chill in the fridge for another 30 mins and then serve it chilled in squares or rectangles as you prefer.
Add some more milk mixture to the plate.
Consider topping it with fresh berries, chocolate curls, or tuile. And you are done.
One of the best eggless cakes you will ever have!!

Storage Instructions

Since this is a cream-based dessert, this has to be refrigerated all the time. You cannot store it at room temperature.

I recommend keeping the whole cake covered in a cake box to prevent the cream on top from drying out.

Sliced pieces of the cake need to be kept in an airtight container and then refrigerated.

Fresh Cream Cakes do not freeze well. The temperature changes the texture of the cream which is not very pleasant to eat.

Best Tips

As a general rule of thumb for any cake recipe you are following, make sure to preheat the oven and line the cake pan with parchment paper to make the cake of your dreams.
For this milk cake recipe, an important point to consider is the type of cake pan you are using. Once you pour the milk mixture on top of the cake, the cake would become soft to handle. It is not practical to transfer the cake from the cake tin to a serving platter especially if you are a beginner. So my advice to you is to either choose a springform pan as we did in our chocolate tres leches cake.
Pour the milk mixture only when the cake is cooled down completely.
Chilling the cake is the most crucial step in this cake recipe. It helps in developing the cake flavor.
If you are going to use a butter cake as the base instead of this milk-soaked cake recipe then make sure to bring it to room temperature before serving or else you would find the cake to be hard.
Reserve about 300 ml of the milk mixture separately before adding the entire thing on top of the cake. Yes do not be afraid to do so, the sponge cake is meant to soak all the milk without giving out a soggy consistency.

slice of eggless tres leches cake served in a round plate

Variations

Indian Tres Leches Cake: It is very easy to create numerous variations of this eggless tres leches cake. Use 2 tsp cardamom powder in the base recipe. And add saffron strands to 2 tbsp warm milk and then mix this milk with the milk mixture to make saffron tres leches cake. Add rose petals or rose syrup or rose essence to the milk mixture to make rose tres leches cake. Imagine so many flavours inspired by our base recipe which is this eggless tres leches cake.
Rasmalai Tres Leches Cake: This is the most common and popular fusion dessert ever, especially during the festive season. Use rasmalai cake as the base and add ras malai milk on top of the cake to create this recipe.
Chocolate Tres Leches Cake - Use a spongy chocolate cake base and add chocolate-flavored milk on top. This is every chocolate lover's dream cake. Had made it last year and my family went crazy for this.

Frequently Asked Questions?

Should I use 7-inch pans or 8-inch pans? Will a round baking tin work?

Think about how you want to serve the cake. I mean in a square or rectangular shape? If square then a 7-inch square pan and a 13x9-inch pan would work. If in a rectangle as seen in the video above then an 8-inch pan would be ideal. You can bake it in the round tin too just serve it in triangles then. Basically think about a baking dish in which you can serve the cake too. Like a cheesecake springform pan or a rectangular ceramic baking dish or a glass baking dish.

Is the cake too sweet?

The sweetness of the cake is just perfect and not overly sweet. If you think it is too sweet then serve it with coffee.

Do I have to use three milk?

Yes the name itself indicates that. But you can definitely play around with the type of milk used. Try plant-based milk or simply use regular milk like I have done today in place of evaporated milk.

Can I freeze this cake?

You can definitely freeze the cake base layer. Wrap the cooled cake in plastic wrap and then freeze it for up to 2 months. However, the soaked and frosted cake cannot be frozen. The cream tends to change its texture and becomes unpleasant to eat.

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Eggless Tres Leches Cake recipe

What is Tres Leches Cake?