The dessert of desserts: Tres Leches- The Red Headed Hostess

All desserts are not created equal. And this dessert will give all others a major complex. It is a complete blow to their self esteem.

I am not a big fan of most cakes. I prefer cookies or brownies or something hot and fruity – in my world, cakes are too bland and fluffy and boring.

But this cake has redeemed its kind. And it gives my other favorites a major run for their money. Introducing: Tres Leches – 3 milks.

And it is easy to make! But telling others that is completely up to you. Do you remember that old Rice Krispies commercial, where the mom was in the kitchen throwing flour all over herself and the counters to feign the belief that she had slaved over the rice krispie treats? …I’m not saying you should do this. But you COULD. And your family will volunteer to clean up the feigned flour for another cake.

Feign: To represent fictitiously. Put on the appearance of.

Here is what you need:

1 cake mix. Prepared according to package directions.

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1 cup of evaporated milk

1 cup of milk

Whipping cream (plus sugar)

Strawberries (or other fruit toppings)

And here is the step by step:

Prepare a yellow cake mix. Make it from scratch if you wish. But then you will be actually getting flour all over for real. You won’t get to feign.

I’m pretty sure I bought this for $1. (not feigning)

Prepare according to package directions. And bake.

As the cake is baking – mix the following together:

1 Cup of milk

1 Cup of Evaporated milk

(sometimes I use half-n-half, sometimes I use fat-free half-n-half, and sometimes I use Whipping Cream)

And 1 can of Sweetened Condensed Milk

(sometimes I use fat-free sweetened condensed milk)

And whisk together

While your cake is still hot, poke holes all over with a skewer or a fork

And then slowly, allowing the liquids to soak in, pour your tres milks over the cake. All of it.

And then refrigerate for a long time. It needs to sit and chill and become yummy. At least 3 hours. Preferably overnight.

This is the perfect dessert for company because you can make everything but the topping long ahead of time.

P.S. I was given this cake pan and lid when I got married. I love this invention. Not only does it make transfering the cake’s locations effortless, but it also allows me to stack things on top of the cake as it chills – which came in super handy since this was Easter weekend with 2 separate family get-togethers and 3 food assigments.

It also kept this exact recipe intact once when picnic-ing with the family.

* I guess I should have stayed awake in physics the day we learned about sitting the faster eaters on one side of the picnic table, and all of the slower eaters on the other side. And I should have learned that when the faster eaters all get up and sit around the camp fire, the minute the fastest slowest eater attempts to get up from the table that is just slightly off balance on what we all thought was flat ground, the entire table will tip over, and what once was the bottom of the table is now all that the faster eaters can see from their chairs at the fire. And when they all jump up and run over to the other side, they will see the 4 slowest eaters on their backs with the food from the table all over them. And the oldest slowest eater (Grandpa) is covered in pickle juice since he was sitting on the end where all of the condiments were. And this cake was found a couple feet beyond the slower eaters heads. Therefore, this didn’t slide down the table – it flew through the air. Which is an act of angels, since it is heavy and would have knocked out someone’s consciousness (or tooth).

*And the cake with this lid on it was still in tact.

This cake is disaster-proof.