Nothing screams Fall quite like pumpkin spice everything! If you are looking for something a little different than the norm, but still familiar, then you have come to the right place! When I was dreaming up this recipe, I had envisioned a tender, moist pumpkin cake topped with freshly whipped cream, so it made perfect sense to make it a tres leches!
If you have never had a Tres Leches cake before, you are really missing out! The traditional version is a soft vanilla cake soaked with three kinds of milk (hence the name Tres Leches which means three milks in Spanish). It is incredibly tender, moist and oh so tasty! My version here is just as tender and moist but with the added pumpkin flavor of Fall!
To make the Tres Leches Cake we start off with our pumpkin cake base. The cake on its own is super delicious but it’s made even better with the milk soak. Start by mixing together the batter and bake in a 9 x 13-Inch Pan. This makes a great sheet cake as it is topped with buttercream frosting. You could also use the batter to make cupcakes if you felt so inclined, but we are going to add the milk soak and finish our Tres Leches!
To make it a Tres Leches cake, all we do is add the milk soak! The three kinds of milk used in my Tres Leches are whole milk, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk. It is important to have both sweetened condensed and evaporated milk. The difference between the two is very simple one is sweetened, one is not but both are reduced forms of regular milk meaning that the water inside of milk has been boiled off creating a thicker, more concentrated milk product. To make the soak mix together your three milks in a pourable dish like a Pyrex. I used a small dowel or Skewer to poke holes throughout the cake, then poured the milk mixture over the top of the warm cake. Allow the milk to soak into the cake for at least thirty minutes to a few hours. This should be done in the refrigerator.
Once your cake is fully cooled you can take it out and top it with whipped cream, more cinnamon and maybe even some powdered sugar. Slice your cake into generous squares and enjoy!.
Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake
Ingredients
For The Cake
- 1 Cup Butter Softened
- 1 Cup Buttermilk
- 1 Cup Pumpkin Puree
- 2 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 3 each Eggs large
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2¼ Cup Cake Flour
- 2 tsp Baking Soda
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp Ground Cloves
- ¼ tsp Ground Nutmeg
- ½ tsp Salt
For The Milk Soak
- 1 12oz Can Evaporated Milk
- 1 14oz Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
- ½ Cup Whole Milk
For The Topping
- 1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 2 tbsp Powdered Sugar
- ¼ tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- In a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and airy.
- Next, mix in the eggs one at a time, incorporating each until fully mixed and light yellow.
- Next, add in the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients: Flour, Soda, and all spices.
- Alternate mixing in half of the dry ingredients, then the buttermilk, then the rest of the dry ingredients until everything is fully combined.
- Grease a 9×13 cake pan with butter or pan spray. Pour batter into greased pan and spread evenly.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
For the Milk Soak
- Combine all three ingredients into a pourable pitcher or bowl.
For the Topping
- In a mixer with the whip attachment, whip the Heavy cream and powdered sugar together until the cream whips together to a stiff peak.
Assembling the Cake
- Pour the Milk Soak over the baked pumpkin cake in the pan you baked it in. Allow that to fully soak in for at least an hour or overnight.
- Spread the whipped cream over the top of the cake.
- Slice and enjoy!
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