Herself’s Recipes

I first had this on a visit to Houston a few years back. It is absolutely delicious and very easy to make. It is a Mexican cake, very sweet and used for very special occasions.

You can make the cake using the below recipe or use any yellow cake mix. Frosting can be canned, or whipped cream or cream cheese.

Yellow cake

Sift together:
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking soda

Cream:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup of butter
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Mix:
1/3 cup milk
The creamed butter and sugar
The dry ingredients
Then beat until well mixed.

Divide between 2 well oiled 9″ round cake pans and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until well set. Set aside to cool

Whipped cream
Beat on high speed until it is stiff and holds peaks:
16oz of whipping cream
1 tablespoon of vanilla
1/4 cup sugar

Cream Cheese Frosting
Beat until well mixed
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla

Milk Mixture

Mix in a bowl:
1 cup milk
1 can (14oz) evaporated milk
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk

Put it all together:
Pour half of the milk mixture into each cake pan and allow cakes to soak up the milk (~15 minutes)

Put the bottom layer on a plate

Spread bottom layer with either thinly sliced strawberries or strawberry or raspberry jam.

Put a layer of whipped cream over the fruit layer.

Put top layer on the bottom layer.

Put a layer of frosting on the top and sides of the cake.

Decorate the top with more sliced berries or jam.

Canned milk became popular in the late 1800s and one of the recipes on the label of canned milk by Nestles in the 1940s was for Tres Leches. It is believed to be derived from popular European desserts involving sweet breads soaked in eggs and creams. It became popular in South and Central America and has spread to North America. It is a favored cake for celebrations now.

On the trail of pastel de tres leches ( Austin Chronicle )