Bizcocho de tres leches (Three Milk Cake)

Many, many moons ago, working at a US military commissary in Germany, a coworker brought in a three milk cake. It was heavenly! Her recipe was a little bit of a secret, but I managed to eventually get her to give it to me, though I wasn’t the first who had broken her down on this.

I haven’t had too many chances to make it, but I found it interesting that my Cook’s Country cookbook has a version as well. One of my kids got assigned to bringing a “bizcocho de tres leches” to school for Spanish class, so I did a bit to meld the two recipes into something very, very good.

There are three parts to the cake – the milk mixture, the cake itself, and the frosting.

Milk mixture:
 
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12oz) can evaporated milk
1      can cream of coconut (NOT coconut milk) 
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Cake:

2 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 c whole milk
8 tbsp (1 stick) butter, cut in chunks and softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 c sugar

Frosting:

1 c heavy cream
2 tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
Toppings of one's choosing (chocolate chips, dried cherries, nuts, cinnamon - your choice)
.
.
In my original recipe, the ingredients of the milk mixture are just mixed together; the Cook's Country instructions want to heat the condensed milk long enough in the microwave to get the "dulce de leche" effect, I suppose it's a matter of taste.  It also makes me wonder, then, if canned dulce de leche could be swapped out for the condensed milk.   In any case, the ingredients of the milk mix should be mixed together and should stand at room temperature.  

Preheat oven to 325F.  Cook's Country uses a 13x9in baking pan, but  have one that is slightly bigger (14x10in or so), which I prefer.  Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together.  Heat the milk, butter, and vanilla together in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter is melted.

In a large bowl, whip the eggs with an electric mixer, gradually adding the sugar and continuing to whip the mixture until it is very thick & voluminous.  This is important to get the cake to rise properly.  Reduce mixer speed, add the butter mixture, and then add the flour mixture in slowly.  

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, trying to make sure that the batter is even.  Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes (mine took at least 10 minutes longer), rotating the pan halfway through baking.  

Cook's Country has one leaving the cake in the pan; my friend's instructions were as follows:  As soon as possible, loosen the cake from the pan and flip it onto the surface from which it will be served, preferably onto parchment paper.  I have a cake transporter box, and this is what I used.  The cake may break into a couple of pieces here, do your best to put them back together.  Poke at least 50 holes into the cake, and while the cake is still hot, pour the milk mixture evenly over the hot cake.  At the point where the cake is saturated (and the milk mixture will start pooling out the edges), stop.  At this point, I tucked the corners of the parchment paper under the carrier, and refrigerated the cake overnight.  

In the morning,  I whipped together the heavy cream, the corn syrup, and vanilla to make the frosting.  I brought the cake out of the refrigerator, tore off the extra edges of parchment paper with the extra milk mixture, and frosted the cake.  After that had been done, I  sprinkled the cake with some chocolate chips, though you can use all sorts of different toppings (or none at all).  

My friend's recipe for the cake included using a boxed mix and instant vanilla pudding - it was very good, but the cake puffed up a lot and then kind of deflates a bit.  Furthermore, not everyone likes using the cake mixes, so I give the alternate way here.    In any case, the baking was a success, and the kids really liked it.  

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