Tres Leches Cake

Are you a big fan of dessert? How about cake? How about cake infused with a delicious three-milk mixture? I don't know about you but I am a big dessert fan and while I was in Peru Tres Leches was one such dessert that rocked my world! As you read through and try out this recipe I hope you too enjoy the savory taste of Tres Leches!

In order to make this delicious dessert you will need a mixer, measuring cups, mixing bowl, a round 8 inch baking pan, a deep-dish round pan (larger than 8 inches), and a sifter for the flour. Along with the above materials you will also need the following ingredients:

Cake Ingredients

• 1/4 cup milk
• Pinch of salt
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour 
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Three Milk Mixture

• 1 cup condensed milk
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

1. Start off by combining the flour and baking powder and sift the two together 3 times. 

2. Next separate your eggs and whip the whites together with a pinch of salt. Gradually add the sugar once eggs are well whipped. Follow the sugar with the egg yokes, adding them in one at a time with sufficient mixing between the two. 

3. Continue by mixing 1/3 of a cup of flour into the mixture followed by the milk and vanilla and beat the mixture while gradually adding the remaining flour. 

4. Pour mixture into a greased round cake pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until lightly brown at 325 degrees fahrenheit. 

5. While your cake is baking mix together the three milks and then let them chill in the refrigerator until your cake is done and cooled. 

6. Once your cake is done and out of the oven let it cool before removing the cake from the pan and place the cake in a deep dish pan that is larger than the cake. Proceed to poke holes all throughout the top of the cake with a toothpick or fork. 

7. Next spoon the milk mixture onto the cake and let it soak in until you have poured the whole mixture on the cake. Once all the milk has been poured on the cake put it into the refrigerator and let it chill.

8. If you would like you can top your cake off with a fresh whipping cream and cinnamon. (pictured above)

After your cake has chilled and soaked up the milk mixture go ahead and serve this delicious dessert to all your friends and family and watch their faces light up with satisfaction! Also if you enjoyed this recipe please comment below and share this link with your friends and family! If you do make this recipe please share a photo of your cake on the Culinary Arts Abroad Facebook page as well! Happy baking to you all! 

Alfajores: Traditional Peruvian Dessert

Finished and ready to serve!

I don't know about you but I am a big fan of trying new foods, especially those in the dessert category. Since I love trying new foods and I like to bake I recently had a get together with some of my Peruvian friends and they taught me how to bake some traditional Peruvian desserts. Today I am going to share with you how to make Alfajores which is two cookies sandwiched together with manjar blanco, a type of carmel sauce. If you are anything like me you prefer making everything from scratch so in this recipe I will provide two methods to make the manjar blanco, also known as dulce de leche, so that you too can prepare this dessert from scratch from start to finish.

In order to complete this recipe you will need a mixer, mixing bowl, cookie sheets, rolling pin, cooling racks, a round 2-inch cookie cutter, and the following ingredients: 

• 1 stick of butter or margarine 
• 1/2 sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 1 tsp baking soda 
• 2 cups manjar blanco
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

First off mix together the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl until well mixed. While mixing these ingredients go ahead and turn the oven on to 350 degrees F (180 C) so that the oven can heat up. 

Next add in the egg and vanilla and mix till it is nice and smooth.

Continue by adding in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda and mix until the dough is nice and firm. Next form a ball with dough and roll it out with a rolling pin until it is about 1/4 of an inch thick. To do this it is helpful to sprinkle flour on your surface you are rolling the dough on so that it does not get stuck. 

Use your cookie cutter to make your cookie cut outs and put them on your cookie sheets. Depending on whether your pan is non-stick or not you may need to spray it so that your cookies do not stick to the pan. Put the cookies in the oven and let them cook for about 12 minutes until they are nice and golden. Let the cookies sit for about two minutes after taking them out of the oven and then put them on cooling racks. 

Finally once the cookies have cooled apply a generous amount of manjar blanco to half of the cookies and sandwich them with another cookie. If you prefer you can wipe the edges of the cookies when they are done so they do not have any oozing carmel on the sides. To top off the cookie sprinkle powdered sugar over them and serve to your guests!

Manjar Blanco Recipe

There are three ways you can come about getting your manjar blanco for your alfajores: buy prepared manjar blanco (dulce de leche) at the store, prepare it in the oven with sweetened condensed milk, or prepare it on the stove with whole milk. Feel free to use whichever method you like depending on your time availability and your cooking skills. 

In order to prepare the manjar blanco with sweetened condensed milk take a look at this recipe and it gives the step by step process. All you will need is a can of sweetened condensed milk, a pie pan, tin foil, a larger pan that the pie pan will fit into, water, and the oven. 

To prepare the manjar blanco with whole milk on the stove follow this recipe and it will set you up to have a delicious carmel sauce! For this recipe you will need 1 liter of whole milk, 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1 shredded vanilla bean (or 1 tsp of vanilla), and 1 tbsp glucose. 

Overall I hope you enjoy this recipe and share it with your friends and family. If you have Facebook please join our page and share your experiences of preparing this recipe as well as others on this website. Please take photos of your cooking/baking experiences as well and share them on the Facebook page! Enjoy your baking!