Tres leches, the Tico’s dessert

A few weeks ago, Maelle gave us a recipe for Gallo Pinto. This time, it’s Tres Leches. Costa Rican cuisine may not be the most renowned, but it would be a shame to miss out on this delicious dessert. However, the origins of this cake are disputed by different countries (like the casado).

Nicaragua, Colombia, Peru and Costa Rica are all in line to make the original recipe their own. I have to say, we don’t care where it comes from, we just want to treat our taste buds.

The base is a well-swollen cookie soaked in a mixture of 3 milks: sweetened condensed milk, unsweetened condensed milk and cream.

Tres Leches Recipe

For the biscuit:

– 150 g sugar
– 5 eggs
– 120 ml milk
– 220 g flour
– 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
– 1 tablespoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 200°.

In a bowl, beat the yolks and 3/4 of the sugar until the mixture whitens. Add milk, flour, baking powder and vanilla extract. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold in the remaining sugar. Mix well. Butter a rectangular tin and pour in the mixture. Bake for 45 minutes. Leave to cool and unmould.

For the cream:

– 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 395 g
– 1 can unsweetened condensed milk, 395 g
– 20 g liquid cream
– 1 vanilla pod

Mix all ingredients. Open the pod in half and scrape the pulp into the mixture. Pour this mixture over the warm cookie. The dough should absorb the entire mixture.

For the topping :

• 3 egg whites
• 150 gr of sugar
• 60 ml of milk

Beat egg whites until stiff and fold in 50g sugar. Bring the water and remaining sugar to the boil in a saucepan. Do not let the sugar turn golden. Add the water and sugar to the egg whites, stirring gently all the time.

Spread the mixture over the cake and chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

This cake is even better prepared the day before. It can be kept for up to 3 days in the fridge.

Enjoy!