Tres Leches Cake

Pin It Tres Leches cake is a sweet and delicious cake. It is made with, as you may have guessed, three milks. There are many recipes out there for this wonderful treat, most of which involve making the cake portion from scratch. That is wonderful, but in this recipe, I wanted to keep things simple. I purchased a box cake mix, and went from there. This is proof that you can make a stellar dessert, which will impress family and friends, without a lot of slave labor :)

Tres Leches Cake

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix, prepared following package directions.
1 cup half-and-half
1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
sugar

Preparation:

Allow baked cake to cool for 30 minutes. Using a sharp knife, poke holes all over top of cake. (Literally all over. You don't want any surface area not covered by holes. This is how the milks soak into the cake) Let cake cool completely. Mix the half-and-half, condensed milk, and evaporated milk with a whisk. Pour over the cake, making sure to cover the whole surface of the cake. This is the hard part: cover and put cake in fridge for 8 hours, or over night. I promise it's worth it! An hour before serving, whip heavy cream and vanilla (using stand mixer or beaters) to stiff peaks, adding sugar for taste. (I added 4 Tbsp, as this doesn't need to be overly sweet. The cake is plenty sweet on it's own). Smooth whipped cream over surface of cake. Chill until ready to serve. Enjoy!

Spiced Strawberry Shortcake

Pin It I love strawberry shortcake passionately. It is a fresh and simple dessert, and very easy to make. And if you do it right, it looks beautiful as well. My mom has made this terrific dessert for as long as I can remember, and it is perfect how she makes it. But knowing me, I just had to change it up. Adding a few simple spices really enhances the strawberries, and will impress your guests!

Spiced Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients:

2 lbs fresh strawberries
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
sugar to taste
store bought angel food cake

Preparation:

Cut green ends off of strawberries, preserving as much fruit as possible. Slice berries up any way you like (after I gut off the green, I lay them flat on that end and slice downward). Dump these into a bowl. Sprinkle sugars and spices over berries, and mix well. This will need to sit for at least a couple hours, and up to 5 or 6 hours max. Don't be worried if the berry/sugar mix seems too dry, when they sit, the juice comes out making a nice sauce. Put this bowl in the fridge, covered, until you are ready to assemble the dessert. Stir occasionally (every half-hour or so).

Once everybody's dinner has settled, get the strawberries and cream out of the fridge, and get the sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla ready to go. Pour the cream, vanilla, and cinnamon into a mixing bowl (or your Kitchenaid mixing bowl), and start whipping it up! Start slowly, and increase speed as the cream thickens. Your goal is to have relatively stiff peaks.Add sugar a tablespoon at a time as you mix, tasting it after it is mixed in. You want it to be sweet, but not too sweet, as the strawberries have a lot of sugar. Once the cream is whipped and sufficiently sweet, you are ready for assembly!

Slice the angel food cake into generous slices, and lay sideways on individual plates. Scoop a mound of strawberries on top of the cake. Drizzle some of the sauce from the bottom of the bowl on top. Top this off with a cloud of freshly whipped cream, and another slice of strawberry. Drizzle a little more of that yummy sauce around the edge of the plate, and voila! You have made an easy, inexpensive, and very impressive dessert!

Enjoy!

** I was just sitting here thinking (here comes trouble!), and I decided you could easily do this as a trifle as well. Just chop the cake into chunks instead of slices, and layer the cake chunks, strawberries, and whipped cream into a pretty glass bowl. This would be excellent at summer barbecues!