Ooooo…happy to be out of the kitchen tonight. Lately, it has been in the upper 80’s and being on the 4th floor without air conditioning means that we (Aya and I) are roasting. It seems like the only comfortable places in the apartment is in front of one of the three fans I have constantly running. Part of me flinches every time I turn the dial on the oven. But I have a good friend who celebrated his birthday a few weeks ago so on the oven went.
A few weeks ago, I had asked my friend what birthday treat he wanted and after a bit of nudging he replied the “Alexis version” of tres leches cake. WHAT?!! What does that even mean? I am guessed he wanted me to see if the recipe inspired some kind of alterations. After thinking about it for a few days, I did get inspired. I was really proud and envisioning some kind of coconut version because I have used coconut milk before and thought it might be a good substitution. So I did what I usually do and searched to see if someone had already thought of it…of course someone had. While it made changing the recipe a little bit easier I was kind of bummed that it wouldn’t be a novel dessert. Either way the dessert was delicious. Light, super moist, almost custard-like, and really addictive. I think I inhaled three pieces of cake before I had to cut myself off and call that dinner. The great part is that this cake is SUPER easy to make.
One note is that I used coconut milk instead of coconut cream because I had a hard time finding it. I had read on-line that cream of coconut was the white opaque thicker liquid when you open a can of coconut milk that has separated. So, I took a chance and bought the coconut milk and tried to separate the water from the cream…not so much luck. And there wasn’t a lot of coconut flavor. However, from other websites it seems like you can find cream of coconut in the same aisle as alcoholic drink mixes. You really have to try this cake!
Coconut Tres Leches Cake
Ingredients:
1 9×13 yellow butter sheet cake (can use a box mix for this cake!)
15oz cream of coconut (1 can)
12oz evaporated milk (1 can)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp powdered sugar
1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut, toasted
- Prepare a yellow butter cake, either homemade or from a box mix. Allow to completely cool. This will take about an hour.
- Toast coconut, either in an oven at about 300 degrees F, occasionally stirring to prevent burning, or toast in a saucepan on the range. Once the shredded coconut is lightly browned remove it from the pan and cool.
- Combine cream of coconut, evaporated milk, 1 cup of heavy whipping cream, and 1 tsp of vanilla. (*I also added about a ¼ cup of granulated sugar because the mixture didn’t seem to have to much flavor) Set the mixture aside.
- Poke the cooled cake with either a thin wooden skewer, chopstick or the tines of a fork. You want to poke a lot of holes into the cake so that it will soak up the milk mixture.
- With a large spoon or a ladle cover the top of the cake with some of the milk mixture. Allow the liquid to soak in.
- Repeat step 5 until you have used all of the milk mixture up. Don’t be alarmed if there is a pool of liquid on the surface of the cake it will slowly soak in.
- Refrigerate for at least a few hours (I suggest preparing this the night before and letting the liquid soak in overnight).
- Combine the powdered sugar, vanilla and 2 cups of heavy whipping cream in an electric mixer. Beat until stiff peaks form and leave in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.
- When the cake is done cooling, spread the sweetened whipped cream on the cake before topping with the toasted coconut.
- ENJOY! If not keep in the refrigerator.
Some people have topped their cake with raw or caramelized bananas but feel free to go crazy. Maybe top with some other fresh tropical fruit or a little dark chocolate to go along with the toasted coconut. YUM. Again, this dessert was really moist and yummy and surprisingly not cloyingly sweet. It was pretty addictive. Happy Eating!