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Layered Tres Leches Cake is everything you love about the classic tres leches cake but it’s stunning as a layered cake. This is one of my favorite cakes. A.ma.zing. It’s super moist, not too sweet and incredibly satisfying. We usually make it as a single layer sheet cake but I’ve had so many questions about turning this into a layered tres leches cake that I couldn’t resist.
It worked out beautifully and would make an excellent special occasion cake. I took this cake to my sisters house and brought the cake platter home clean :). Kids seem to really love this cake too. I hope you enjoy it!
Ingredients for Layered Tres Leches Cake:
1 cup all-purpose flour *measured correctly
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
5 whole large eggs, separated
1 cup sugar, divided into 3/4 and 1/4 cups
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup 2% or whole milk
Syrup:
8 oz (about 2/3 of a 12 oz can) evaporated milk
9 oz (about 2/3 of a 14 oz can) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
Frosting & Decor:
2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 lb fresh strawberries
How to Make Tres Leches Cake Layers:
Preheat Oven to 350˚F. Butter and flour two 9″ round cake pans
1. Set up 3 mixing bowls: 1 medium and 2 large bowls. In the medium bowl, whisk together 1 cup flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt. Set aside.
2. Separate eggs into the other two large bowls. Egg yolks into one and egg whites into the other. Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow (approx 2 min). Stir in 1/3 cup milk and 1 tsp vanilla extract.
3. Pour flour mixture over your egg yolk mixture and beat on low speed with the mixer until just combined.
4. With a clean, dry whisk, beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form (1 minute). With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat on high speed until egg whites are stiff but not dry (1 minute).
5. Gently fold egg whites into the yolk/flour mixture until just combined. Divide evenly between two cake pans and bake at 350˚F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake onto a wire rack and allow to cool to room temp.
6. When cakes have cooled, trim the edges with a serrated knife to even out the edges.
Prep the 3-milk syrup:
1. In a large measuring cup with a pouring lip, stir together the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream.
Assembling the Layered Tres Leches Cake:
1. Place one of the layers, flat side down, on a cake platter. Using a fork, poke the top all around, going all the way to the edges and poke through the depth of the cake. Use a spoon to pour on half of the 3-milk syrup. Let cake stand and absorb the syrup while you beat the frosting (see instructions below).
2 Generously frost the top of your first layer, then arrange sliced strawberries over the top of your frosting.
3. Your next cake layer will be placed with the flat side up; so before putting it over the strawberries, use a fork to poke the flat surface all around, going to the edges. Now place your poked cake top over the strawberries.
4. Spoon the remaining half of the 3-milk syrup evenly over your top layer. Let cake stand 10-15 minutes for the syrup to soak in for easier frosting.
5. Frost the top and sides of the cake and smooth out frosting with a cake spatula. I decorated the top with halved strawberries, placed at an angle around the top border of the cake. It was simple and just perfect.
How to Make the Frosting
1. For best results with whipping cream, freeze your mixing bowl and egg beaters or whisk attachment for 15 minutes. Make sure your whipping cream is very cold.
2. Beat 2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream and 2 1/2 Tbsp sugar on high speed until thick and spreadable (about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes). Don’t overbeat or it will turn buttery. Refrigerate Tres Leches cake until ready to use.
Recipe Originally adapted from Ree Drummond’s tres leches sheet cake. Ree is an amazing, genuine and hilarious blogger; definitely one of my role models. If you haven’t yet discovered her, you’re missing out big!
Layered Tres Leches Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake Layers:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 5 whole large eggs, separated
- 1 cup sugar, divided into 3/4 and 1/4 cups
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup 2% or whole milk
For the Syrup:
- 8 oz about 2/3 of a 12 oz can evaporated milk
- 9 oz about 2/3 of a 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
Frosting & Decor:
- 2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 2 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 lb fresh strawberries
Instructions
How to Make the Cake Layers: Preheat Oven to 350F. Butter and flour two 9" round cake pans
- Set up 3 mixing bowls: 1 medium and 2 large bowls. In the medium bowl, whisk together 1 cup flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt. Set aside.
- Separate eggs into the other two large bowls. Egg yolks into one and egg whites into the other. Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow (approx 2 min). Stir in 1/3 cup milk and 1 tsp vanilla extract.
- Pour flour mixture over your egg yolk mixture and beat on low speed with the mixer until just combined.
- With a clean, dry whisk, beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form (1 minute). With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat on high speed until egg whites are stiff but not dry (1 minute).
- Gently fold egg whites into the yolk/flour mixture until just combined. Divide evenly between two cake pans and bake at 350˚F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake onto a wire rack and allow to cool to room temp.
- When cakes have cooled, trim the edges with a serrated knife to even out the edges.
Prep the 3-milk syrup:
- In a large measuring cup with a pouring lip, stir together the evaporated milk, the sweetened condensed milk and 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream.
Assembling the Cake:
- Place one of the layers, flat side down, on a cake platter. Using a fork, poke the top all around, going all the way to the edges and poke through the depth of the cake. Use a spoon to pour on half of the 3-milk syrup. Let cake stand and absorb the syrup while you beat the frosting (see instructions below).
- Generously frost the top of your first layer, then arrange sliced strawberries over the top of your frosting.
- Your next cake layer will be placed with the flat side up; so before putting it over the strawberries, use a fork to poke the flat surface all around, going to the edges. Now place your poked cake top over the strawberries.
- Spoon the remaining half of the 3-milk syrup evenly over your top layer. Let cake stand 10-15 minutes for the syrup to soak in for easier frosting.
- Frost the top and sides of the cake and smooth out frosting with a cake spatula. I decorated the top with halved strawberries, placed at an angle around the top border of the cake. It was simple and just perfect.
How to Make the Frosting
- For best results with whipping cream, freeze your mixing bowl and egg beaters or whisk attachment for 15 minutes. Make sure your whipping cream is very cold.
- Beat 2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream and 2 1/2 Tbsp sugar on high speed until thick and spreadable (about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes). Don't overbeat or it will turn buttery. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Y’all have to try this one soon. It’s really really tasty! Have an awesome weekend, friends :).
Also, I want to make this for a birthday lunch on Sunday, would it be ok if I make the cake Friday afternoon or is that too much time in advance? Again, any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Dan! That would be fine. Just wait to add the fruit before serving.
Thank you for the promptly reply, I’m very excited to try your recipe.
Thank you for the recipe, I was wondering if there are any adjustments for high altitude baking I should consider. I’ve tried different tres leches recipes (some more successful than others) and it occurred to me that maybe the altitude had something to do with the results. Any help would be appreciated.
I don’t have any experience with high altitude baking. I would recommend using a resource like this one from King Arthur baking – high altitude.
Love this cake!!! Wondering if it can be made a day in advance? Also is there a chocolate version?
Hi Patricia. I do not have a chocolate version yet but yes, this cake is excellent the next day. To keep the fruit looking and tasting fresh, you can add it on the day it’s served.
This recipe turned out wonderfully! The only changes would make in the future are chopping the inner layer of strawberries (easier for slicing) and adding a little more sugar (or maybe powdered sugar?) to the whipped cream. So delicious!
Hey Natasha! I wanted to make this cake for my friend’s elopement, but when I did a trial run, the cake got very dark by the 20-minute mark and the sides caved in. Is there something I did wrong? I used the correct size cake pan and followed all of the tips. Please let me know what I can improve on, because even though it looked funky when I took it out, it tasted great!
Hi Lowrie! Are you using a convection/fan oven? If so, it bakes faster than a conventional oven so you would need to adjust the time and temp.
Other things to consider- don’t over mix the batter, this causes it to deflate. You want to fold in the egg whites gently.
I use light-colored aluminum pans, if you’re using dark pans they tend to bake unevenly and cause over browning. Also, try not to open the oven during the baking process, this can cause it to deflate due to the temperature fluctuations. I hope that helps.
Thank you so much, definitely will be taking this into consideration
Hey Natasha! I’m obsessed with this recipe. Any advice on scaling it down to 5” rounds? I figure I’d make the same amount of batter, but I’m trying to weigh out temp/duration of the bake. Thank you!!
Hi Cate! I think the temp can stay the same but you’ll have to keep an eye on it in the oven. I’m sorry I can’t be more help, without testing it, I’m not sure how long it will take to bake.
Thanks! I’ll give it a go and I’ll let you know what I come up with! (In case you’re curious haha)
I have made this recipe for years now – pretty sure it’s been since 2013 or 2014 no? I know we used this recipe the first time I made it and this has become a cake my friends know me for and ask me to make for them so thank you! It’s not overly sweet which surprises ppl so ppl who don’t like those kinds of cakes still like this one. But wanted to mention for those that had a sinking issue, I had that for quite a few tries for a while. I couldn’t figure it out either. My guess is though once I started watching Bake Off is that I was likely over-whipping the egg whites which you can do. I didn’t realize that was even a thing and for me at least thought the longer mixing the better. I watch it more closely now and the last few times have been a dream. Certainly could be other issues for other ppl but just wanted to mention that as a possibility. I have now tried a chocolate tres leches, which is kind of odd if you’re used to the white cake but still yummy and tmrrw I’m making a Biscoff tres leches and though they’re both on different websites, your sponge recipe is what I always use because I know it works as well as the guide for the basic milks. As others have mentioned, though I usually use your whipped cream frosting, I’m trying a more stabilized one for tmrrw. But your recipe is the gold standard.
Hi can you tell me how to make the biscoff tres leaches and a mango tresleches with this sponge recipe . Thankyou
I have also always wanted to try making a layered tres leches, so thank you for figuring this out and sharing! It turned out so beautifully, pretty on the outside, slices came out beautifully too, and tasted amazing. I made it all the day before, and put the strawberries on the top on the morning of the event. Traveled well to the location of the party too.
Hi Heather! I’m so glad to hear that. Thank you for the wonderful feedback.
Hi, Can we make this cake with mango or any other fruits? I would like to make this cake but the strawberry season is over.
Hi Rub! Yes, you can make it with any fruit you’d like. I hope you love the recipe!