The Mighty T. Mex Cooks, Part the Dos

The second phase of my Mexican cooking indoctrination involved pastel de tres leches. My main sponsor for Mexicanism and BFF insisted (I believe there were some threats involving knives at one point but that's how we roll. I'll kick him in the teeth and he knows it.) I make this and was adamant that I'd like it.

I did more research for a recipe for this cake since there are so many variations. The choices for the cake part seemed to be a basic sponge cake, angel food type cake or a more sturdy version of the sponge cake. I went with the sturdy cake because I didn't want soggy, gross cake. All of the recipes I looked at used evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk (Pet milk and Eagle brand, respectively, for my Alabama readers) and either whole milk or heavy cream for the third. I opted for heavy cream since I was making a whipped cream topping. I also looked at recipes that used a cooked Italian meringue topping and one with cream cheese in it. Making whipped cream is one of my favorite things to do so that was the topping of choice.

Okay, time to cook! I read over the directions and got a little intimidated. My typical cake baking technique is to dump all the ingredients in one bowl and mix it up, regardless of what the directions may call for. This is an effective method 99% of the time. However, I wanted to do JB proud (even though he wouldn't even get to have a single bite) so I resolved to follow the recipe to the letter. Holy Cheezus, this was going to require a bunch of dirty dishes and effort.

First I had to go all racist and separate the eggs.

Separate but equal, my foot. Tell that to my broken yolks.

Then the whites were beaten until stiff peaks formed and the sugar was incorporated.

Stiff peaks, don't give me limp peaks.

 Next, the yolks had to beaten separately until they lost their color (more racism?) and gently folded in to the whites, so that no volume is lost. Although my recipes typically involve instructions like "mush, smash and crockpot the hell out of," I do know how to utilize proper terms and techniques.

Gently fold the yolks to incorporate them in to the whites, bitches.

After gently re-introducing the egg components to one another, flour was gently added to the mix, a culinary   menage a trois of sorts.

Gently fold in the flour to the white and yolk mixture.

Into to oven for twenty minutes or so, then on the counter to cool completely. Then the poor cake had to be stabbed repeatedly to allow the milks to permeate (HA! another fancified cooking term) all the way through and not just sit in the bottom of the pan and get yucky. Luckily, I had an assistant to do this for me...

Mr. Stabbity, Le Cordon Bleu Class of 2009

This is the part that I messed up a little. The recipe called for a can of evaporated milk but did not specify what size. I went with the 5 oz can instead of the 12 oz and the cake was a little dry. Live and learn. I mixed the leches, uno, dos, tres and made a lovely milk syrup.

Yeah, not much happening here.

Poured the milk over the cake and then popped it in the fridge for a bit to set. While that was happening, the metal mixing bowl and beaters hung out in the freezer for an hour or so to help combat the Fourth of July heat in my kitchen. Through much trial and error, I've learned that an icy cold bowl and beaters make for a better whipped cream. The key to the topping I wanted to make was to beat the cream hard and fast to get it past the Cool Whip stage and more of a frosting consistency.

You know you thought it.

 Right before that stage was reached (it's an intuitive process, I can't tell you how to do it.), I mixed in a little powdered sugar for an oomph of sweetness. Perfect! 

I've edited this 8 times, just turn your head.

As I mentioned earlier, the cake was a little dry in the middle because I didn't use enough evaporated milk. However, I was very pleased with the texture of the cake. Also, the cake was not overly sweet so the milks were not too syrupy. My cake lounged in the fridge for almost a week and retained its integrity (i.e. did not turn in to soggy slime) and flavor. I will definitely be making this again. I saw one variation called pastel borracho (Google translate hehehe) that I really want to try at some point. I didn't take a picture of me trying it but I give it two thumbs up.


Chente agrees with me.