It’s time for another edition of Super Bowl food. Again, Shaun and I had a party but didn’t invite anyone, and our theme was Mexican. Why? What, you need an excuse to eat Mexican food?
First, we had guacamole and chips. Pretty standard.
Next, we spent a lot of time making pork tamales with tomatillo salsa.
My stove is so dirty. Would you believe I cleaned today?
Not pictured: margaritas. Many margaritas.
Finally, I made tres leches cake.
I spent some time the past couple of weeks looking at tres leches cake recipes and deciding what I wanted to do. First, there is this Martha Stewart Recipe, which I admired for its straightforwardness. Also, there was The Pioneer Woman’s recipe, which has a couple of extra ingredients I liked (vanilla extract, baking powder for extra rising). What I liked about both recipes is they do not contain butter. Butter makes cakes heavy; tres leches cake should be light. One concern I had was Shaun and I trying to eat the leftovers of a 9 x 13 inch cake, so I went for half. Here’s what I did.
Tres Leches Cake
- ½ cup flour (I used white whole wheat)
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- pinch salt
- 3 whole eggs
- ½ cup sugar, divided
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
- ½ cup milk (any milk you have on hand is fine)
Preheat oven to 350°. Butter (or spray) a 8 x 8 inch pan.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.
Beat egg yolks with ¼ 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 ¼ 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 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Whisk together condensed and evaporated milk. Save or discard half. (I know, I know, I hate throwing away food, but I hate being fat more.) Whisk in milk and pour milk mixture over cake. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 to 24 hours.
You can frost this cake with sweetened whipped cream (as I did) or with a meringue (or seven minute frosting) as they do at Atlanta’s best place for tres leches cake, Tierra.
