Tres leche cake and my moms birthday.

So my mom is pretty awesome. She’s gorgeous and sweet and fiercely loyal. She has a fantastic sense of humor and this laugh that’s contagious, and so loud. As a kid, I could always find her in a huge store because of that laugh. She’s so, so smart, and likes to make jokes about Visigoths and John Calvin. She’s full of hilarious contradictions - she loves People Magazine and National Geographic, documentaries about the environment and the TV show Psych. She was raised a city girl, but now thrives in the country. She’s so strong, and everything I want to be when I grow up.



Her birthday was yesterday so I baked her a cake, one she had been wanting for ages, tres leche cake. It’s really perfect for her - not pretentious, and sort of messy. I’d never made it before, so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. It really good! The sponge cake soaks up all of that delicious milk, leaving it gooey and sweet. Definitely a keeper, since she loved it. Happy Birthday, Mom!



Tres Leche Cake
from The Pioneer Woman

1 cup All-purpose Flour
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
5 whole Eggs
1 cup Sugar, Divided
1 teaspoon Vanilla
⅓ cups Milk
1 can Evaporated Milk
1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
¼ cups Heavy Cream

FOR THE ICING:
(I skipped this part, it was great without it)

1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
3 Tablespoons Sugar

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.
Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.
Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Cut into squares and serve.