May's COOK-N-CRITIQUE

Welcome to another episode in the series Cook-N-Critique©   For May, the group picked Mexican foods.

The dish I drew was Dessert.   Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a authentic Mexican dessert when you haven't a clue what  authentic Mexican is?  LOL

But my friend came through for me.  I went to the source.  The only authentic source I knew. Imelda immediately said "Tres Leches Cake".   Great!  Now I have a name, I just need to find an actual recipe in an actual cookbook.  I'm all about following rules, ya know...not!  (giggle) 

Have you ever had Tres Leches Cake? (Three Milks) I hadn't so I didn't know what to expect.  I used to make a (non-alcoholic) Pina Colada cake and it was on the same order.  You poke holes and soak the cake with milk but that one was a heavy consistency. The Tres Leches cake wasn't like that at all. It was very light.  The three milks were evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and heavy cream.  Except for the sweetness of the milk, it wasn't "rich"  and heavy.  I'm not really sure how I feel about it.   You know how you're about to taste something and have in your mind how you expect it to taste, then you taste it and it's not at all like you imagined it would be.  You are either immediately "wow!  This is better than I expected"  or you're  "oh, hmm... not what I was expecting.  Not bad, just not what I was expecting".  Well the latter was what was going on in my head. 

I gave the rest to my niece's husband, who is of Hispanic descent.  He called later to tell me it was great.  I asked him it if tasted authentic (because I had nothing to gauge it by).  He said absolutely!  It brought back memories of having Cafe con Leche and Tres Leches when he was younger.  I felt better about it...that it did taste authentic, and that he liked it.  (he said I could make it for him anytime I felt like it! LOL)

The "frosting" is whipped cream.  I'd never made whipped cream from scratch before, and kind of got   caught up in the "stiff peaks" thing...  I almost made BUTTER!   ROFL!

Here's the recipe...If you try it yourself, do come back here and let us all know what you thought!

4 eggs - separated

2/3 cup sugar, divided

2/3 cup cake flour

Dash salt

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

3/4 cup evaporated milk

3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp rum extract

TOPPING

1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream

3 TBSP sugar

let eggs stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

line a 9 inch spring-for pan with wax paper; grease and flour the paper.  Set aside

in a large bowl, beat the egg yolks for 2 minutes.  Add 1/3 cup sugar; beat for 3 minutes or until mixture is thick and lemon colored.  Fold in flour, a third at a time.

In another bowl, and with clean beaters, beat egg whites and salt on medium speed until soft peaks form.  Gradually add remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating on high and until stiff peaks form.  Stir a third of the whites into the yholk mixture.   Fold in remaining whites.

Spread the batter into prepared pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched.   Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack to cool completely.

In a small bowl, combine cream evaporated milk, condensed milk and extracts.  Transfer cake to a serving plate.  Poke holes in top of cake ith a skewer.  Slowly spoon the milk mixture over top.  Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.

For topping, in a small bowl, beat cream until it begins to thicken.  Add sugar, beat until stiff peaks form.  Spread over cake.

tah-dah!