STRAWBERRY TRES LECHES CAKE

Strawberry Tres Leches Cake is made with boxed cake mix, a 3 milk syrup & topped with whipped cream and fresh berries! This Tres leches cake recipe creates a soft and tender cake with delightful toppings in every bite, making it impossible to stop eating.

Easy Tres leches cake recipe is perfect for any occasion, it’s simple to make and can be prepared ahead of time. The combination of the sweet milk mixture and fresh strawberries creates a delicious and refreshing dessert that everyone will love. So, if you are looking for a new and exciting dessert to try, give this strawberry Tres leches cake a try!

Texture and Flavor of Tres Leche Cake

Tres Leches Cake is a delicious dessert that is known for its unique texture and flavor. The cake has a moist and dense texture that is achieved by soaking the cake in a mixture of three different types of milk. The flavor of the cake is also quite unique. The vanilla flavored cake mix is sweetened with granulated sugar and moistened with milk. The addition of all-purpose flour helps to give the cake a good structure that holds up well when soaked in the milk mixture.

The moist and creamy texture combined with the sweet and rich flavor make it a dessert that is sure to please everyone. Whether you are a fan of traditional cakes or are looking for something new and exciting, Strawberry Tres Leches Cake is definitely worth a try.

Why you’ll love this recipe!

• It is versatile to decorate. Decorating this cake to look like an American flag makes it perfect for patriotic holidays like the fourth of July, memorial day, and more, but you can just as easily scatter berries over the top or just use sliced strawberries for a simple dessert perfect for any time of the year.
• It does not taste like boxed cake. While we do use a box of mix to help make the process easier, we also doctor it up by adding in additional ingredients like flour and sugar, which help to make it taste much more like a homemade cake.
• Simple to make. This recipe is also very easy to make since it uses a boxed cake mix as its base. By adding just a few ingredients, you can create a delicious cake that tastes like it was made from scratch.

Tres Leches Cake Ingredients

Cake batter

Cake mix: Use one 15.25-ounce box of vanilla flavored cake mix. You can use white cake mix or yellow cake mix if desired too.

Flour: Add in 1 cup of all-purpose flour to help to build a good structure for the cake.

Sugar: You need 1 cup of granulated sugar to add sweetness and create a nice tender cake.

Milk: 1 cup of milk will help moisten the cake batter and improve the texture.

Oil: Adding ½ cup of vegetable oil will help give the cake more fats needed to stay moist.

Vanilla extract: Help enhance all the wonderful flavors in this recipe by using 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract. For more of an intense vanilla flavor, replace vanilla extract for vanilla bean in a 1:1 ratio.

Eggs: You will need 4 large eggs to bind the cake ingredients together well.

Three milks

Evaporated milk: You will need one 12-ounce sized can of evaporated milk for this recipe.

Condensed milk: Use one 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk to make the mixture sweet and thick.

Heavy cream: Add in ½ cup of heavy cream to make the syrup taste rich and creamy.

Whipped cream frosting

Heavy cream: Using 2 cups of heavy whipping cream for the homemade whipped cream will give you plenty of smooth topping for your cake.

Powdered sugar: Add in ½ cup of powdered sugar to make the whipped cream smooth and sweet. You can replace this with granulated sugar if you don’t have powdered sugar on hand. A sugar free option would be Splenda for a calorie free substitute in a 1:1 ratio.

Vanilla extract: You need 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to make the whipped cream taste great.

Toppings

Blueberries: Use some fresh washed blueberries for the blue part of the flag.

Strawberries: Washed and sliced strawberries will make the red stripes in the flag cake, but you can use any red berry in its place if desired.

How to make Strawberry Tres Leches Cake

Prep

Start by getting the oven preheating to 350 degrees F.

Then spray the inside of a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and then set it aside.

Cake

In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry cake mix, flour, sugar, vanilla extract, eggs, milk, and vegetable oil. Proceed to mix with an electric mixer until no lumps remain.

Then pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.

Let it cool completely on the countertop or place it into the fridge for a speedier process.

Milk mixture

In a medium size bowl, combine the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and heavy cream. Whisk to combine well.

Place the bowl into the the fridge until the cake has cooled completely and you are ready to assemble the cake.

Whipped cream

Start by adding the heavy cream to a mixing bowl and beat on high speed with an electric mixer for 4-6 minutes or until the cream has thickened and stiff peaks form.

Then, add the powdered sugar and mix well to combine.

Place the cream into the fridge to chill until the cake is cooled and ready to assemble.

Assemble

Once the cake has been completely cooled, poke holes all over the cake using a fork or the end of a wooden spoon for larger holes.

After the holes are poked, pour the milk syrup over the top, slowly, making sure to cover the entire surface. Feel free to add more or less of the milk depending on how moist you want the cake.

Next, spread the whipped cream evenly over the top of the cake to cover the entire cake.

Decorate the cake

Prepare your berries by washing the blueberries and strawberries well, make sure all stems are removed. Then thinly slice the strawberries.

Start decorating by adding the blueberries to the upper left side of your rectangular cake, covering a section about 3 inches across and 2 inches down.

Use the sliced strawberries to line the top of the cake to help hold the blueberries on top of the cake to create the first red stripe on the flag.

Then, leaving a 1-inch space, make 3 additional lines of strawberries across the cake for more stripes.

Place the remaining whipped cream into a piping bag and pipe white lines on the flag. You can use a 1M star tip or any decorative tip if desired.

Pipe small stars in the spaces between the strawberry’s rows.

Place the cake back into the fridge so that it has time to absorb the milk syrup. We recommend a minimum of 4-5 hours, but overnight works best.

Slice, serve, and enjoy!

How to serve Tres leches cake

Typically the cake is served cold because the cake is placed in the refrigerator to have time to soak up the milk. Serve this cake up for any special occasion like parties, BBQs, Birthdays, and more and it’s sure to be a delicious hit.

Why is it called Tres leches cake?

This cake gets its name because after baking, the cake is then soaked in three types of milk; evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and whole milk or heavy cream. Hence the “tres leches”, three milks!

How do I store Tres leches cake?

Place any leftovers in an airtight container and place them into the refrigerator. It is important to do so because the cake is saturated with the three kinds of milk and covered in whipped cream. It is good for approximately 3-5 days in the refrigerator.

Why is Tres leches not absorbing milk?

One reason could be not giving the cake enough time to completely absorb the milk mixture. It is best to make the cake in advance so there is time for chilling for 4-6 hours or overnight, to have the best results.

Another reason could be not pouring enough milk mixture over the cake. Tres leches require a lot of milk to get that wet consistency. After pouring the mixture, cover it up with a lid to prevent the top layer of the cake from getting dried out. Poking holes on top of the cake can help the milk get absorbed.

Here are more delicious cake recipes to try soon!

• EASY HOMEMADE VANILLA CAKE
• CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKES
• LEMON STRAWBERRY POKE CAKE
• AMBROSIA BUNDT CAKE
• BUTTERY CREAM CHEESE POUND CAKE
• 7-UP POUND CAKE
• CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH WHIPPED CREAM FROSTING
• FRUITY PEBBLES POKE CAKE
• VANILLA BUNDT CAKE
• CARAMEL APPLE DUMP CAKE
• EASY CHERRY CHOCOLATE CAKE
• ALMOND BUNDT CAKE
• APPLE FRITTER CAKE
• KEY LIME CAKE
• PEACH CAKE WITH CINNAMON GLAZE
• EASY PINEAPPLE BUNDT CAKE
• SHIRLEY TEMPLE BUNDT CAKE

This strawberry Tres leches cake recipe is a sweet cake soaked in three different kinds of milk covered in homemade whipped cream topped off with fresh fruits. Try it soon and you’re sure to love it as much as we have!