Strawberry Tres Leches

This strawberry tres leches cake is mouthwateringly delicious! The light and airy sponge cake is soaked with a strawberry milk mixture to create the ultimate sweet and fruity dessert. Enjoy the moist cake topped with whipped strawberry cream and - you guessed it - more strawberries! This is the perfect make-ahead cake you can pull out of your fridge for spring and summer parties!

Course Sweets

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword strawberry tres leches, strawberry tres leches cake, tres leches cake with strawberries

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 30

Total Time 1 30

Servings -9 servings

Calories 804kcal

Author Elizabeth Van Lierde

Ingredients

For the cake:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp kosher salt
5 large eggs separated
1 cup granulated sugar divided
1 tsp vanilla paste or vanilla extract
⅓ cup milk
For the milk soak:
½ cup strawberry simple syrup
12 oz can evaporated milk
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

For the strawberry whipped topping:

1 pint heavy whipping cream
¼ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 cup freeze dried strawberries see notes

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan with unsalted butter and set aside.

For cake:

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Separate egg whites and egg yolks into two separate bowls and set aside.
In a bowl fitted with a stand (and paddle attachment) or hand mixer, beat together egg yolks, sugar and vanilla on high speed until the yolks are very pale and fluffy. Add in ⅓ cup of milk and stir together until combined.
Add egg mixture to flour mixture and fold together gently until just combined (do not overmix).
With a stand or hand mixer and a whisking attachment, add the white and beat on high for 4-5 minutes or until very light and fluffy. Add whites to the cake batter and gently stir together once more, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Pour batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and top is golden brown. Remove cake and let it cool completely.

For the milk soak:

In a medium bowl whisk together, strawberry syrup, evaporated milk, and condensed milk until smooth and combined. Once the cake has cooled, poke holes with a fork over the entire surface.
Pour the milk soak evenly all over the cake inside the holes and around the edges. Refrigerate the cake for 1 hour (or best overnight) to soak up all of the liquid.

For the strawberry whipped topping:

In a bowl combine strawberries and ¼ cup strawberry simple syrup and let macerate for 10-20 minutes to let strawberries soak up syrup. Blend freeze dried strawberries in a food processor until a powder forms. Alternatively can be crushed in a plastic ziplock bag until a powder forms.
In a large bowl fitted with a stand or hand whisking attachment, whisk heavy whipping cream on medium speed until medium peaks form. Add in the freeze-dried strawberry powder, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Whisk together for another 2 minutes or so or until a fluffy whipped topping forms (be careful not to overbeat).
Top cake evenly with strawberry whipped topping and soaked strawberries.

Notes

Note: I put about 8 strawberries, halved in a bowl with 1/4 cup of the strawberry syrup as I start the recipe. I let this soak while the cake is soaking and then use it as the yummy topping!

Nutrition