Tres leches is kind of a big deal here in Latin America. Everybody and their grandma has their favorite tres leches cake recipe. This coconut tres leches is my current fave, a tropical spin on the traditional tres leches cake that transports you into a cozy hammock beneath a shady beach palm in one forkful.
I made this coconut tres leches for a friend’s birthday last month. He’s a Tico (Costa Rican). His mom was there too. And his brother. All country folk accustomed to hearty homestyle Costa Rican cooking. Talk about tough critics. Thankfully, the cake was a unanimous hit!
If you’ve never tried tres leches, then put aside all prior notions regarding cake. Since this light sponge cake is soaked in milk syrup and coconut rum (totally optional, btw), it has a unique texture similar to the last bits of birthday cake that always seem to sop up the melted ice cream.
The milk syrup is made by stirring together coconut milk, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and coconut rum. Don’t worry, Uncle Ron won’t start telling blonde jokes after he’s finished his slice, there are only a couple of tablespoons in the recipe. Like I mentioned before, you can leave out the rum if you want, but I think it really lends a bright pop of coconut flavor.
As the warm cake is cooling and it’s heavenly aroma is filling your house, that’s when you’ll poke the cake all over with a fork and drizzle all that sweet milky goodness over the sponge. Make sure that you prick holes through the cake all the way through to the bottom so that the entire sponge is evenly soaked.
As far as the frosting goes, the jury’s still out. Some Costa Ricans top tres leches with meringue frosting, but others choose whipped cream. Since I’m all about the creamy dreamy flavor of freshly whipped cream, you can bet I roll with the whipped cream crowd. Whipped cream is low-fuss and quicker to make- no worrying about heating egg whites, I reserve that task for Swiss meringue buttercream. Simply whip and spread the whipped cream frosting right on top of the cake any old way. No need for swirled frosting techniques today!
I finish off my coconut tres leches with toasted coconut flakes. It’s so easy to toast coconut! Just heat a dry skillet on medium, shaking the pan around or gently stirring until the coconut is golden. Yep, it’s that simple to bring out all that nutty flavor.
Here are some tips for pumping out the best tres leches cake ever!
- Fully whip the egg whites. You want them to stand tall and proud.
- Use a gentle hand when combining whites into the batter. It’s best to start out by folding in one third of the whites to lighten the batter before you add the remaining whites. Here’s a short tutorial to perfect your folding technique.
- Prep the cake with milks before it’s cool. Be sure not to forget to run a knife along the edges of the cake.
- Pour in all the milk syrup. You may gasp when you see just how much liquid is going into the cake. Embrace it. The first time I made a coconut tres leches I only used half the can of coconut milk and parts of the cake wound up dry. That’s a major no-no in tres leches territory. It’s better to have a little milk left in the bottom of the baking dish then to have a dry cake.
- Cover the warm cake. Put a sheet of cellophane over the cake after you add the milk syrup. This extra step locks in moisture.
- Frost cake when fully chilled. Avoid whipped cream meltdown this way.
- Use stabilized whipped cream to frost the cake if it will be sitting out for more than an hour in a warm location.
- 1 cup sugar, divided
- 5 eggs, separated
- ½ cup milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar (or a pinch of salt)
- Milk Syrup
- 2 tablespoons coconut rum
- 1 can (13.5-14 oz.) coconut milk
- 1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
- 1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
- Whipped Cream Frosting
- 2 cups chilled whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup toasted dried shredded coconut, for decorating
- Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9x13" baking dish.
- Beat ¾ cup sugar with egg yolks until fluffy, approximately 5 minutes.
- Folk in milk, vanilla, flour, and baking powder.
- Beat egg whites to soft peaks with cream of tartar. Add ¼ cup sugar to beat on high until firm and glossy. Fold whites into batter in three parts.
- Pour into baking dish and bake 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted removes clean. Meanwhile, toast coconut in a dry skillet stirring frequently until it reaches a golden color. Remove from skillet to prevent over-browning and set aside.
- While cake is still warm run a knife along the edge of the pan to loosen up the cake. Use a fork prick holes all over the top of the cake, making sure to get to the bottom of the pan.
- Combine milk mixtures and pour over the top of the cake trying to get the entire cake evenly soaked. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
- Whip cream with confectioners' sugar to stiff peaks and smooth over the cake. Top with toasted coconut.
- Best served the next day. Keep cake refrigerated and tightly covered.
What is that in the background? Did you guess right? You got it! They’re coconuts.
Try this unconventional cake recipe at your next potluck, and while it’s baking, add these scrummy cakes to your baking list!
Ginger Pear Cake
Chocolate Mint Brownie Cheesecake
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No wonder this passed your tough critic test! Coconut and caramel, whoo hoo! Love that milk caramel and the whipped topping. Each layer is packed with coconut! Pinning this cake, my not so Tico siblings will have to suffice 😉 I bet they love it even more!
I’m sure your family would be game for testing out this recipe. Do note that it’s not caramel I used here (dulce de leche) but rather sweetened condensed milk. You definitely just gave me a great idea though. Hope you find time to try it soon, Mary Frances.
This looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it.
This recipe looks amazing and so do your pictures! Awesome tips on getting it right. I have made it twice but didn’t get the results I was looking for. We had tres leches for our wedding cake, and it was so amazing! I will be trying this. Pinning!
Charlee, what a great idea to serve tres leches at your wedding. With all those delicious milks that go in, I imagine it’s not a low-budget wedding cake (depending on the # of guests) but what a perfectly yummy and original idea. Hope you do give this a try soon. I’ve never had any problems with this recipe not coming out, so if you’d like to pick my brain wherever you might have troubles or questions, go for it!
Jelli, this cake is beyond INCREDIBLE! I made it for my daughters birthday a few weeks ago, and everybody devoured it! My husband’s Argentine family AND my husband’s friend from Mexico could not believe how authentic it tasted. The friend loves coconut and gave the cake a 10/10! I can’t wait for the next time I need to make a birthday cake, because you know this will be the one. I think what made the difference from other recipes I’ve tried is definitely your tips. I poked a million holes in this cake, and the other times I have made tres leches I poked only a few holes. Thank you a million times over for sharing this perfect recipe!
Yay! I am so excited that it got rave reviews. Blushing. Your review made me want to make it again for my birthday next week. So so happy that you and your family and friends loved the cake. Thanks so much for stopping back to let me know how it was for you.
What a tasty looking cake!
There is a Peruvian restaurant down the road with a “Cuatros Leches” cake that is literally the best thing I’ve ever eaten. I’ve been on the hunt to find a similar recipe to no avail…Until yours! This looks just like theirs and I’m gonna try it ASAP. Found you through the SITS linkup and so glad I did, thanks!!
Emily, I can’t wait for you to try this. You must absolutely come back and let me know what you think of the recipe. We love it! I’ve posted a cuatro leches recipe here before but the photos are so terrible that I’m almost embarrassed to share it with you 😉 Thanks so much for stopping by.
No picture shame at all! I just recently, as in the last couple of weeks, started using PicMonkey and learning how to use my new DSLR. My site is full of stinkers still 🙂
Congrats on learning the DSLR, Emily! It takes a while to get the hang of using one in manual mode, but I’d highly recommend this book if you need a little instruction like I did!
Ok, finally got to make this and OH.EM.GEE!!! It is just like the restaurant’s and everyone raved about it, it’s definitely going into frequent rotation. Thank you so much for sharing this!!!
Yay! I’m so happy you went ahead and made it Emily, and even more excited that you loved it. Thank you SO MUCH for coming back to report to me on the recipe. It’s the best thing ever when readers get great results with my recipes. Have a beautiful day and be sure to enjoy a big chunk of cake for me!
Wow, this looks and sounds so good Jelli! 5 eggs?! That’s a lot of eggs in a cake. I love coconut… I would be afraid I would devour this before it hits the table.
I went to get the ingredients for the PB brownies and the avocados were all hard! So I bought the brownie mix and decided I would get the avocados soon. I visited a couple more store this week and can not find ripe avocados! I desperately want to make those brownies… and now I want to make this cake.
I’m going to have to work out 3 times a day if you keep on posting recipes like this!
Wishing you a lovely week.
xoxo
I know what you mean, Jen. I feel like my dessert to-make list is endless. If you lived nearby we could definitely go jogging together 😉 Keep a lookout for the avocadoes, as they’ll be in season soon. Sponge cakes do take more eggs than most cakes, but the end result is worth it!
This sounds and looks amazing. I absolutely love coconut. There is only one problem, though. I’m the only one in my family that likes coconut…so there lies the dilemma. OR I could cut ingredients down and make just a few cupcakes?? What do you think??
Ann, since tres leches is generally made with heavy cream instead of the coconut milk, you could go the traditional route for your family and also appease your coconut love by dividing the cake batter into two pans- one 8 or 9″ round and a small loaf pan for yourself. Then mix the evap. and sweetened condensed milks together, save a little for your cake. Mix in heavy cream for your family’s cake into the larger bowl of milks and into the small bowl of milk syrup for yourself, use coconut milk. Does that make sense?