Ever since the Tres Leches cake became my signature bake, I’ve had requests to make it for every single celebration I’ve been invited to. It, therefore, only made sense that I would do a Tres Leches cake on my own birthday but with a twist. While I remain convinced that the Tres Leches is best baked as a whole in a large pan, I was curious to see how the cupcake version would fare. The Kitchen Mccabe recipe makes 12 regular sized coconut cupcakes but I filled the batter into 7 jumbo muffin cases though I guess I overfilled them slightly to give them that puffed up, bakery-style look. I would admit that I did make the soaking process a tad more complicated so it would be probably best to fill them just up to 2/3 capacity to make way for the cakes to rise to the rim of the baking cups.
For the milk mixture, I swapped half the amount of heavy cream for cream of coconut so it should have been, on all accounts, a quarto leches cake but let’s not worry about that. While these were slightly more dense than my go-to recipe, they did manage to soak up most of the milk sauce without going soggy; I have a good mind to skimp on the butter next time to see if they turn out to have a more absorbent texture. Overall, my birthday cupcakes happened to be quite photogenic, exactly as I pictured them – with a swirl of whipped cream and a candied cherry on top!
TRES LECHES CUPCAKES
Ingredients:
For the Milk Mixture
1 14 oz. can condensed milk
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup coconut cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Cupcakes
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kitchen salt
8 tablespoons butter
1 cup fresh whole milk
4 eggs, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the Cream Topping
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup shredded coconut
16 Maraschino cherries
Method:
- For the milk mixture, pour condensed milk into a large, microwave safe bowl. Microwave 12 minutes.
- Remove and stir at 3 minute interval. Stir in evaporated milk, heavy cream, coconut cream and vanilla.
- For the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two cupcake tins with regular cupcake liners.
- In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Place butter and milk in a saucepan.
- Heat on medium till the butter has completely melted. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs.
- Add sugar and beat together till glossy and pale, for about 5 minutes. Add in half of the flour mixture.
- Add in half of the milk mixture and mix in. Add in the remaining flour mixture and then milk mixture.
- Mix until just combined. Divide the batter between the liners, make sure to keep them under half full.
- If they are filled more than half full, the batter will overflow when cooked. Bake in the preheated oven.
- Bake cakes for 12 to 15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
- Let cool for a few minutes, then poke a large amount of holes in each cupcake, using a wooden skewer.
- The more holes, the more milk will be able to soak. Pour a few tablespoons of milk mixture over each.
- Let each spoonful soak in before adding more. Divide the milk mixture evenly between the cupcakes.
- Refrigerate the cupcakes and allow the milk to really soak into the cupcake, at least 3 hours or more.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread the shredded coconut in an even layer over a baking sheet.
- Place the baking sheet on the top rack of the oven and watch closely. The coconut will brown quickly.
- When most of the coconut is a light brown, remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Place heavy cream and 1/4 cup sugar in a mixing bowl and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Place the whipped cream in a piping bag and pipe a swirling of cream on top of each chilled cupcake.
- Coat sides of whipped cream with toasted coconut and top with a maraschino cherry. Serve chilled.
Happy Birthday to Me!
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