Tres Leches, Trilece, three milks... This cake is known around the world in different variations of the three milk soaked sponge. It is a popular dessert in Latin America and Spain, but Italy and even Albania (as I learned this week) have their own versions. Traditionally it is made by soaking a sponge cake in a mixture of milk, evaporated milk and condensed milk and topped with cream; it is a dessert that I grew up with in Colombia although I must confess that I never much enjoyed it, it was usually sickly sweet and tasted of UHT milk (commonly used in Colombia, but I never grew to like it).
A few weeks ago I was on Instagram and began following the Michelin guide page where during the 2020 lockdown many Michelin starred chefs have been sharing recipes - this is where Helena Rizzo's coconut cake comes in. Helena is a Michelin starred Brazilian Chef, and when she shared her recipe, which looked stunning with the snowy white coconut on top, I decided I had to try it!
I looked at the recipe and I was struck by how simple it looked but also because it was an interesting sponge base, it has a lot of eggs and no butter or oil, as such the end result is very dense and rich - which is perfect for soaking up all the milk. The only struggle I had with the recipe was the amount of sugar specially as it is then partially soaked in condensed milk. I read through all the comments and saw people had commented that it was quite a sweet cake, and I decided that in a restaurant I would be happy to have a slice of cake that contained that much sugar, but that for baking at home, where I was likely to have more than once slice I couldn't possibly justify that amount of sugar. So this recipe is my adaptation - a little less sugar and half the mix as I didn't have a pan that would be big enough for the whole mix. While cooking it I was very nervous about messing with a Michelin recipe but the cake turned out delicious and perfectly sweet!
Before you begin.. I made this cake in a 20x15 pyrex dish - most of my cake tins as loose bottom or springform which will not work for this recipe. The baking tin needs to be quite deep (around 2 -3 inches) and have a solid bottom.
Ingredients
For the Cake
3 eggs
90g sugar
210g plain flour
125ml orange juice
9g baking powder
For the Topping
500ml of milk
250g coconut milk (good quality with good flavour)
250g condensed milk
50g shredded coconut
Method
Preheat the oven to 176C or 350F and grease a 20x15 pan. (if you don't have this size pan use a different one with the same area, just make sure it's deep and has a solid bottom)
Beat the eggs at medium to high speed. Once they have doubled in size add the sugar and mix.
In a separate bowl combine the baking powder and the flour and mix well to combine.
Slowly incorporate the flour mix and the orange juice into the eggs and sugar - by alternating. (about a third of the ingredients at a time). Once the batter is homogenous put into the baking tin and spread out evenly.
Bake for 30-40 minutes and until a toothpick comes out clean. If the cake rises a bit unevenly it doesn't matter too much as it will equal as it absorbs the liquid.
While the cake is in the oven mix together all of the liquid ingredients for the topping (milk, condensed milk and coconut milk), until the condensed milk has dissolved.
Once the cake comes out of the oven poke lots of holes into with a fork, I did rows of wholes and spaced them out about 1cm apart.
While the cake is still warm pour over the liquid and let it absorb - this could take up to a couple of hours. If your cake rose very unevenly you might want to coax some of the liquid onto the top. This is where having a deep dish is important, the liquid needs to sit on top of the cake for a while, and the cake will continue to rise as it absorbs the liquid.
As soon as all the liquid is absorbed sprinkle generously with coconut and refrigerate until cool. This is one of those cakes best served the next day if you have the patience!
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