Pastel De Tres Leches

In March I spent a week in Magdalena, Guatemala where I lived with a host family and another girl from JMU. Luckily she knew a good bit of Spanish because my background in French was not cutting it! During that week I celebrated my birthday and we found out that our host mom was a baker. She surprised me by making a delicious chocolate cake for breakfast.

This is the yummy chocolate cake mi madre, Antonieta, made!

By the end of the week we worked up the nerve (and the vocabulary) to ask our madre for some of her recipes. She gladly gave us the recipes for four of her favorite cake. I promised my friend for her birthday we would make the tres leches cake... So, here it is!

I will let you know now that the recipes were all in Spanish... So after hours on google translator I decided to call up a friend for her translating expertise...

Pastel De Tres Leches
Para el bizcocho: (dry ingredients)

• 9 eggs separated 
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Para el bano: (wet ingredients)

• 1 can condensed milk (14 oz.)
• 1 can evaporated milk (14 oz.)
• 1 cup heavy cream 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 2 tbsp liquor, rum or whisky (optional)

Para la cubierta: (icing)

• 5 egg whites
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• cinnamon to decorate the top

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350.

For the dry ingredients: beat the egg whites til they peak. Add sugar little by little. Add egg yokes one by one, beating until spongy. Incorporate the flour and baking soda, alternating with milk and vanilla. Pour into mold. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes. 

For the wet ingredients: Blend wet ingredients, pour over the cake after the cake has cooled. 

For the icing: Mix sugar and water until a hard ball point forms. Beat the egg whites to a peak. Combine in mixer and let mix for 5-10 minutes or until the icing is firm (be patient, I had to try the icing twice!). Sprinkle some cinnamon on top! 

The wet ingredients soaking into the cake.

Happy Birthday Lindsey! The cake turned out perfectly!