The festive season is finally here and lots of festive baking has been happening in my kitchen. Every day feels like bliss, working on delicious fusion recipes with my team for you guys to make in your homes and share with your loved ones!
That being said, making a good old Tres Leches cake has been on my to-do list for quite some time now and I came across something intriguing enough for me to try my hands on, which was the Rasmalai Tres Leches. Who doesn’t love Rasmalai? Count me out because honestly, I can gobble up ten of them in one go. And making a Rasmalai flavored Tres Leches sounded like the perfect opportunity to try out something new and festive in the kitchen. This cake tastes very similar to our beloved Ras malai and that’s exactly why you should be making it this Diwali!
What is Tres Leches?
Tres Leches is a vanilla sponge cake soaked in three different types of milk- condensed milk evaporated milk and heavy cream. “Tres Leches” in itself means three kinds of milk. A tres leches cake is very light with many air bubbles. This distinct texture is why it does not have a soggy consistency, despite being soaked in a mixture of three types of milk.
If you are a lover of milk products and soft moist cakes, then I’m sure you’ll absolutely love a Tres Leches Cake.
The flavors of Ras Malai
In India, these two words don’t need a description! It’s the utmost favorite dessert of every household and the heart of every festive season. Ras malai is nothing but spongy dumplings made out of paneer (ricotta) infused in some delicious saffron milk and topped with chopped pistachios! A dessert that has the heart so many, ras malai makes for the perfect fusion with this Tres Leches make.
Are you a big fan of desserts with an Indian twist? Then you should also check out my Pistachio Cupcakes with Rose buttercream.
Components of Rasmalai Tres Leches
For most people, this dessert might sound like a hefty affair and you must be thinking, would I be making a cake and also ras malai to go with it? But it’s actually really simple once you understand how every component works-
The sponge
As it is the festive season and most of you won’t be consuming eggs, I made a sponge for this rasmalai tres leches eggless! Traditionally, a Tres Leches is made with eggs that incorporate a lot of air and make the sponge more capable of absorbing the milk. But since it’s the festive season and people in India usually don’t consume eggs during this period, I’ve made an eggless version which is equally better! I make this sponge using yogurt and baking soda- which acts as a perfect substitute for eggs! It is light, fluffy, and is the base of this dessert, it takes the softness to another level!
2. The milk mixture
This milk mixture is the essence of our Rasmalai Tres Leches. We infuse our sponge with three types of milk and the goodness of saffron and cardamom
Ingredients for making the milk mixture
The Rasmalai liquid is made with three types of milk- whole milk, condensed milk and heavy cream. This is what adds so much flavor to the cake and gives it the texture needed for a tres leches. I infuse the three milks with saffron and cardamom powder to give it all the festive feels and flavors of rasmalai. It’s important to use warm milk while making this liquid. A good quality heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk are then added to this milk and whisked well. Now now! When you see recipe, you’ll see that there’s A LOT of liquid. Don’t get intimidated by this and add all the liquid, I promise it’ll be worth it.
Process of making Ras Malai Tres Leches
- First, we bake our eggless sponge following the recipe.
- While the cake is baking, we make our milk mixture.
- After taking the cake out of the oven, we prick the cake with a fork and pour the milk mixture, making sure it covers the entire cake.
- We set the cake in the pan for almost one hour.
- After one hour, we demould the cake and garnish it with some whipping cream and chopped pistachios and serve!
Tips for making Ras Malai Tres Leches
- Before making the eggless sponge cake, make sure you line your baking tin with parchment paper. If you don’t have parchment paper, you can brush the pan generously with melted butter/ oil.
- Make sure all your ingredients, are at room temperature when making the sponge. This is important because room temperature ingredients emulsify better.
- The milk mixture needs to be added to the cake while it is still hot and don’t forget to prick the cake before adding the liquid!
- After pouring the milk mixture, make sure you tilt the tin from one side to another so that the entire cake is covered with the milk.
- Don’t be afraid of using all the milk mentioned in the recipe, that’s what makes the cake taste divine!
- Set the rasmalai tres leches in the fridge in the cake tin itself and it has to be demoulded only when it has set!
Rasmalai Tres Leches Recipe
- 1 + ½ cups (180g) all purpose flour (maida)
- 1 teaspoon (4g) baking powder
- 1 cup (285g) yogurt
- ½ teaspoon (3g) baking soda
- ¾ cup (150g) castor sugar
- ½ cup (120mL) vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon (5mL) vanilla extract
- 1½ cups milk
- ½ cup condensed milk
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- ½ tsp cardamom
- 7-8 strands of saffron
- Whipped cream
- Chopped pistachios
- Pre -heat the oven to 180 degree C and line an 8 inch square cake pan with parchment paper.
- In a bowl whisk together flour and baking powder and set a side.
- In a separate bowl add the yogurt and sprinkle baking soda over it and set it aside to foam up.
- Whisk together castor sugar and oil in a separate bowl until pale and well combined.
- Now pour the yogurt mixture to the oil and sugar mixture and mix well.
- Add the vanilla extract.
- Gently fold in the flour and mix until everything is well combined there are no large flour pockets in the batter. Do not over mix at this stage.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan.
- Bake at 180C for 30-35 minutes or only until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, make the milk mixture by combing warm milk with saffron and cardamom powder.
- Add the heavy cream and condensed milk to this milk mixture and whisk well.
- After the cake is baked, prick it with a fork while it's still hot.
- Pour the milk liquid on the cake and tilt the pan so that the milk covers the entire cake.
- Let it set in the fridge for one hour.
- After one hour, demould the cake from the pan.
- Top with whipped cream, pistachios, some more liquid and serve!
Other festive recipes on the blog
This is one recipe which I’ve had the most fun making this festive season and I hope you do too! Do tag me on Instagram using the #Bakewithshivesh, I’d love to see you guys recreating this in your kitchens!
Sheena says
Hi Shivesh
I am ardent follower of your recipes and they turn out perfect everytime. This cake looks divine . I just wanted to know that whether we can use Amul cream instead of double cream as it’s not easily available near my place.
Regards
M says
Hey! What brand of whipped cream and heavy cream do you use in India? I can’t find dairy whipped cream
Abha says
Hi Shivesh! amazing recipe! Can fresh cream be used instead of heavy cream?!
Saleha says
Please share the recipe of the sponge if we would like to use eggs in this recipe.
Neha Arya says
Can I make the tres leche cake in the morning if I plan to serve at night?
Raman Pal says
Hi Shivesh …love your baking skills & fusion of dessert is icing on the top… Love to use your services in my wedding services, have you got any plans to putting dessert counter in indian weddings….Because Indian loves kujh meetha hoan jaye
Sulakasana Ramjettan says
Hi Shivesh! thank you so much for the recipe. I noticed that in your youtube video, you poured the milk mixture over the cake then left it in the fridge. Then you poured more over the single piece of cake in a serving plate. Please could you clarify how much of the mixture gets poured over the cake and how much is used when serving individual pieces. Thank you.
Arushi says
Hi, Shivesh
This recipe looks great and I’m keen to make this for Diwali. Please suggest where do you get heavy cream from? And which brand? Because I can’t seem to find any heavy cream here in Delhi. It’s mostly low fat cream.
Thanks
Akshita says
Hi Shivesh,
Can i leave the cake with milk in fridge overnight and then demould it next morning? Will it affect the taste?
Krithika says
I would like to make this cake for Diwali this weekend and have some questions! Are an 8″ round pan and 9″ by 13″ truly interchangeable here?
Also should we reserve some liquid to serve with individual cake slices at the end?
Ashmeeta says
Hi Shivesh,
Can i let the cake soak in milk overnight? Or 1 hr is the maximum?
Simran says
Is heavy cream and fresh cream same?
Vrinda says
Which brands heavy cream did you use?
ashok says
Guys, Thanks For sharing this Great Recipe. My Family Loved it. I am definitely sharing this recipe and this website with my friend. Hope they also love it. Thank you again for sharing such a great recipe.
sangita jain says
which brand cream did you use? Kindly let me know thanks
Chand says
Hi i need to know it is okay to use normal sugar
Deepa Alva says
Hi ,If I want to use eggs instead of yogurt ,how many eggs would I need .Thanks
Zainab h k says
Instead of vegetable oil can we use melted butter
Aarushi Sehgal says
I think we can!
Vartika Moharir says
Heavy cream is whipping cream or fresh cream…?? Also is it sweetened or unsweetened
shylu says
Seems like whipping cream. Since condensed milk is added
The cream will eventually bevr sweet
Lalita says
Hi Shivesh
Is there a substitute for the saffron we don’t get it in Trinidad
Renuka says
Is heavy milk and full fat milk same
Andrea says
Hii Shivesh…
Can you replace heavy cream in this recipe with fresh cream??
JL says
hi!, the cake came out amazing!