I know that some milk is supposed to ooze from the cake, but mine’s been leaking continuously since I unmolded it.  The cake carrier dripped all the way to work, it dripped out the back of my car, and it dripped in the refrigerator.  The top of the cake is starting to have a drier texture than the bottom.  What are possible causes of this?

This cake definitely leaks milk, and is usually served either in the deep-sided cake pan or on a plate with a lip to contain the milk.  And any sponge-type cake will continue to have its syrup move towards the bottom of the cake after a day or two.  But I’m not sure what to say, whether your situation is too much leaking.  And I can’t really think of anything that would cause that unless maybe you didn’t reduce the milks enough- but you have good skills and probably did, right?

When I made this I left it in the pan until an hour before serving, then unmolded and frosted it.  It did very gradually increase the amount of leaked milk syrup during the course of about three hours, but by two hours after frosting it, three-fourths of it was gone, so it didn’t sit around for very long.  I’ll admit I was surpised by how much syrup leaked out, perhaps there could have been a little more explicit warning in the recipe.  Maybe it’s obvious if you’re already familiar with this sort of cake.  I had had it in restaurants, but only in little single-serving cakelets that were unmolded when needed.

Julie - 24 May 2011 12:36 PM

And I can’t really think of anything that would cause that unless maybe you didn’t reduce the milks enough

I’m still holding that out as a possibility.  I did reduce the milk by half, but then let sit for a while as it cooled off.  Since I knew it would further evaporate, I added some water to bring it up to 1 1/2 cups.  I’m wishing there were a way to directly measure when a substance has the proper consistency, rather than relying on a particular technique.  Sort of like being able to do a windowpane with bread dough.  I’ve been googling on “viscosity meter”.  They exist, but cost close to two grand for a digital one.

I’ve never eaten this sort of cake before and when I read about it in RHC, I thought “ick”.  But a girl in my office said it was her favorite type of cake, so I made it for her.  She thought it was less sweet than what she had experienced in the past and not fully soaked in milk; she noticed that it was getting drier at the top, but I’m not sure if this was due to the milk making its way from the top out the bottom, or the fact that the soaking liquid was insufficient to reach the top of the cake in the first place.  She also said that the ones she’d had before were split into layers and whipped cream added between.  I’m not sure how well that would have worked, with milk leaking from the top layer into the whipped cream.

I’ve seen so many different versions of this cake, hard to match someone’s specific ideas.  Some add orange, caramel, cinnamon or coconut, etc.  I agree, it would have to have a lot less milk to withstand torting and filling with whipped cream, and the whipped cream would need to be stabilized with plenty of gelatin or starch.  I found it delicious but perhaps just a tad sweet, but everyone I served it to raved about it. 

What did you think of the cake?

Julie - 24 May 2011 01:21 PM

What did you think of the cake?

I thought it was fair, a bit of a pound-cakey taste.  I didn’t really like the cold dampness of it, which is why the first idea of the cake didn’t appeal to me.  For instance, I don’t like salsa on my tortilla chips, because I don’t like the cold contrast to the warm chips.

Honestly, I don’t think Roses recipe for Tres Leches is the best variation. I much prefer Alton Brown’s version. There’s no reducing of milk in his. The tres leche mixture is sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and half and half.

it is an extremely popular cake in Latin America you won’t believe.  I don’t think there is a right or wrong take.  I loved the effect of the sauce on the plate when making RHC version.  definitely when u press the cake, it should ooze like a wet sponge.  reducing the milk gives better flavor than using canned evaporated milk, but in a rush I make the sauce with equal parts of condensed milk and evaporated milk, canned.