Happy mid July everybody! It’s been a minute since I last posted but I have an excuse I swear. So basically, I was getting back on track with my recipes but there has since then been a minor setback. We adopted two puppies last week, which is super cute and all, but if you’ve ever had puppies then you know that they sort of require constant supervision and attention. That basically put everything on halt.
However, it’s been over a week now and I’m starting to be able to start to get stuff done again. However, I’m now officially very behind. Not so much on the recipe testing, more on the recipe writing and editing. But don’t worry because I can always get it all sorted eventually.
But enough about all that boring stuff, let’s get into this recipe. Now I’m personally not a huge fan of tres leches to be 100% honest with you. I mean I like it, I would have to considering I now have 3 different tres leches recipes. But it’s not my very favorite thing to have. However, this cake is pretty delicious and perfect for summer. Plus, it’s gotten a lot of praise from the people who’ve tried it.
Describe this Cake to me
Taste: This cake has a subtle tart passionfruit flavor, that’s perfectly complimented by the vanilla and lemon zest. The passionfruit isn’t overpowering to any of the other flavors, but brings a brightness to a usually more plain color palette.
Texture: The main identifier of a tres leches cake is the texture. The cake is very light and fluffy, which allows it to soak up all of the milk from the tres leches soak. This balance allows the cake to keep it’s structure without becoming mushy.
Ease: Nothing about this cake is difficult, but it does generate a lot of dishes. Concentrating the passionfruit juice at the beginning is an initial extra step, but not a difficult one. The batter itself also has three different mixtures, but they are all very necessary in giving the cake the right texture. The easiest part is the tres leches mix, which comes together very quickly, as does the whipped cream on top.
The Cake
The cake itself is a basically a big sponge. We whip the egg yolks and the egg whites separately to make this sponge especially light and fluffy. This allows it to soak up the tres leches, while still holding its shape and structure. The cake itself has some passionfruit flavor in it, but most of the flavor is going to come from the tres leches.
The Tres Leches
The tres leches soak for this cake still has the three key ingredient: whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk. However, it also has more of that concentrated passionfruit nectar. This allows it to keep the key texture of a tres leches cake, but also maintain that passionfruit flavor.
Lemon Passionfruit Tres Leches Cake
Ingredients
Method
- In a medium sized saucepan, add the passionfruit nectar and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, turn down the temperature and let the nectar simmer on low heat, covered, until reduced to half its volume (about 1 cup). This can take up to 30 minutes, so keep checking on it and giving it a stir every 10 minutes or so. Once concentrated to 1 cup, remove from the heat and let it cool in the saucepan.
- Grease a 9×13 inch baking sheet with butter and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350℉.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the egg yolks with the sugar until they turn pale yellow and roughly double in volume. Add the vanilla and ½ cup of the concentrated passionfruit nectar and whisk until just combined. Pour into the dry ingredients and use a large rubber spatula to fold it in.
- Rinse and dry the bowl you used for the egg yolks. Make sure there is no water or egg yolk left, or else the egg whites may not whip properly. Using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form (when you lift the whisk out of the bowl, the egg whites should hold shape). Carefully fold half of the egg whites into the batter, trying not to deflate them too much. Repeat with the second half.
- Pour the batter into the previously prepared baking dish and bake for 18-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for 30 minutes before adding the tres leches.
- In a medium sized bowl with a spout, whisk together the remaining ½ cup concentrated passionfruit nectar,sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and whole milk until just combined.
- Poke the slightly cooled cake all over with a fork. You want a lot of holes, so poke around 20-25 times. Pour all of the tres leches evenly over the cake. It may look like too much to absorb, but don't worry! Cover with cling wrap and chill for 3 hours, or preferably overnight. Letting the cake soak overnight will enhance the flavor and make sure it's really set.
- In a large mixing bowl using either a hand or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream and confectioners sugar on high speed until it reaches stiff peaks. Add the lemon zest, vanilla, and salt, and whip until combined.
- Spread the whipped cream on top of the fully chilled cake (it will be a relatively thin layer of cream). Slice the cake into desired slices, serve, and enjoy! Leftover tres leches lasts up to 5 days covered in the refrigerator.