This is the best cake in the world! It combines the soft, sweet milks soaked Tres Leches Cake made with the wonderful, tropical coconut and pineapple flavors. Tres Leches Cake means “three milks cake,” and this wonderfully moist cake is soaked with a sweet mixture of sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and coconut milk.
TRES LECHES CAKE
Oh boy, this cake is trouble, trouble, I tell ya!
Memo to myself: “make sure that next time you make this out-of-this-world Tres Leches Cake, you are making it for a party of a holiday dinner. That way, there are many people to share it with.” Making it just for fun, is not cool. I’m like a shark, circling that fridge, taking bite after bite. Even editing the photos sent me straight to the fridge for another bite.
And it’s not surprising at all. After all, this is my favorite cake and I combined it with my favorite flavor combination of coconut and pineapple. It was like a cruel joke on myself. Not only do I have a weakness for most cakes in general (I have quite a sweet tooth), but I also have the biggest weakness for Tres Leches. It’s the soft, soft cake drowning in sweet, creamy combination of three milks (evaporated milk, sweet condensed milk, and in this case, coconut milk).
I just put together a nice collection of Pina Colada dessert recipes over at Community Table last week and it got me craving something with coconut and pineapple flavors. That, in combination with Cinco de Mayo approaching, I got this brilliant idea to make this Pina Colada Tres Leches.
The recipe I used for the cake is by Marcela Valladolid, on Food Network. I used her cake recipe and made my own adjustments to make it into what I had in mind. The cake is SUPER easy to make and is FABULOUS!
Some More Coconut Recipes:
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Pina Colada Tres Leches Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 4 eggs separated
- 1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 cup crushed pineapple drained
- 1 tsp rum extract optional
Sauce for soaking:
- 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
- 12 oz can of evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup coconut milk canned, not Thai
Topping:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 Tbsp white granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup crushed pineapple drained
- 1 1/2 cups sweet coconut flakes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Spray and flour a 9x9 baking dish that has at least 2-inch high sides.
- Mix flour and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside.
- Using a whisk attachment on your electric mixer, whip egg whites until frothy, on medium-high speed. With the mixer running, slowly add sugar and beat until stiff peaks appear. Beat in egg yolks, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Add flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with milk. Scrape sides and bottom of the bowl, mix a few more seconds to combine.
- Pour the batter into prepared pan. Spread pineapple chunks all over the top of the batter (it's okay if they start to drown.). Bake for 38-43 minutes. Use a toothpick, inserting it into the center of the cake to see if it comes out clean.
- Cool the cake for about 10 minutes. Run a lightly greased butter knife between the cake and the pan, to separate it. Gently invert onto a large platter and cool to room temperature.
- Pierce the top of the cake all over with a large fork.
- Mix sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and coconut milk. Start pouring the mixture very slowly, all over the cake. Taking breaks for the liquid to soak through a bit.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. (You can refrigerate overnight and finish the cake the next day.)
- Whipped Cream: Add the cold heavy whipping cream in the cold mixing bowl. (Use a whisk attachment for your electric mixer.) Starting at low speed, start whisking, gradually raise to speed to high. Slowly pour in the sugar. Beat until stiff peaks appear (don't walk away far, this will be quick). Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- Spread whipped cream evenly over the top of the cake. Spread coconut flakes all over the top and then, crushed pineapple chunks over that. You can also decorate with some cherries.
Recipe Notes
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have a slight variation
Liz
April 11, 2016 at 10:18 pmMore lovely desserts. Thanks Lyuba. Have a good week.
Lyuba
April 18, 2016 at 11:22 pmThank you, Liz, you too!
Hala
April 12, 2016 at 1:08 amNever tried Tres Leches cake before.. I think it’s about time.
Thanks for sharing this beauty.
Lyuba
April 18, 2016 at 11:23 pmYou must! Thank you, Hala.
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way
April 12, 2016 at 6:57 amI totally understand. Your photo is tempting me to go the fridge — but I don’t have anything sweet in there :-(. I love the flavor combinations — sounds so delicious!! Now I’m a little belligerent when it comes to May 5th I don’t celebrate. See, the Mexicans down in Mexico don’t celebrate July 4th — so I just treat it as another day but THEN the following day I go hog wild on Mexican food. Yep!! I’m a sucker for Mexican food but I can say that about great Thai, Chinese, French and of course Italian. Have a great day!!
Lyuba
April 18, 2016 at 11:24 pmThank you, Marisa, you too! It is no secret that I admire many foods, myself!
Christine
August 7, 2016 at 3:50 pmHi…what kind of coconut milk…regular or the really thick canned type? I just made it and use the regular..hope it turns out okay…also I couldn’t get stiff egg peaks in the first step…any tips?
lyuba
August 7, 2016 at 9:22 pmHi Christine! Yes, it is the canned type. I normally use Goya one. (Not Thai one in desserts.)
Were the egg whites thickened, white and frothy at all? The only thing I can think of is that you may have accidentally gotten some egg yolk in it. That’s the more common problem. Another thing is to make sure that yo are adding sugar very slowly as the eggs are whipping and not just pour it in fast.
I really hope it turned out well for you!!
Christine
August 7, 2016 at 11:56 pmThe cake turned out great…the egg whites did thicken just no peaks but didn’t really affect it. I used silk coconut milk not the canned and it was fine..but what I was asking about the canned Goya type you used, was it like the thick condensed kind or more milky consistency? It doesn’t say which to use and its a bit confusing..luckily it turned out..lol…also it doesn’t say whether or not to use sweetened vs. unsweetened pineapple or if you need to drain it or leave it as is. I used unsweetened and drained most of it. Only one person thought the cake was too sweet.. I thought it was perfect!
lyuba
August 15, 2016 at 10:52 amOh, I think I know what you’re talking about. There is a canned “coconut milk” and a “coconut cream.” I use the coconut milk one, which is mostly clear. The coconut cream one, I do use sometimes but mostly in like frozen drinks and such. I hope it clears it up.
Yes, thanks for letting me know, the pineapple for the topping should be drained and I honestly didn’t realize they made sweetened or unsweetened. I use Dole crushed pineapple in a can.
I’m so glad the cake turned out well for you!
NORMA
November 9, 2016 at 9:42 amDELICIOUS11 I MADE FOR MY CARDS GAME AND I GET A LOT OF COMPLEMENTS AND EVE3RYBODY ASK FOR THE RECIPE. THANK FOR SHERING.
lyuba
November 16, 2016 at 7:14 pmI’m so happy to hear that, Norma! Thank you 🙂