This cake was actually a cake order for one of my repeat customers who have been ordering cakes from me sine the pandemic! For the sake of confidentiality, I won’t outright say who they are, but I have made so many cakes for them already, and am grateful as always whenever they reach out for another cake commission. This time, they wanted a sheet of tres leches cake for a 60th birthday, and I wanted to make it special for them, while still honoring the traditional tres leches aesthetic of a large rectangular cake, soaked with three milks, smothered with cream, toped with ground cinnamon, some sort of strawberry, and since it was for a birthday, some edible star glitter for that celebratory feel! While the cake will have a lot of the same visual similarities as a typical tres leches, I wanted to still make this cake unique by using a few different touches and techniques. With the cake batter, it was kind of a hybrid of a chiffon cake and my typical American cake batter, using ratios more in line with my usual American cake batter, but with a lot of whipped egg whites to really aerate the crumb. To also keep the gluten content on the lighter side(which results in a softer crumb), I used masa harina since that creates a dryer, but lighter cake, which makes this specific cake even more ideal for soaking up all of that delicious tres leches mixture.

For my three milks, I used sweetened condensed milk to sweeten the cake, buttermilk to add body and acidic to balance the sweetness in this recipe, and toasted milk powder, just to add a pleasant, nutty flavor that gives the cake caramel-like notes. I learned about toasted milk powder when I was watching videos on a chocolatier in Miami who does that add a nice flavor to her chocolate bars, and started doing that to add another layer of complexity to my baked goods from time to time. The soak also uses cinnamon and nutmeg, just to add a fragrance to the cake once it is bathed in that liquid. With the whipped topping, I made a stabilized whipped cream that is sweetened with condensed milk, which adds another layer of creaminess to the whole thing, and to accentuate the usage of milk even further. Instead of just strawberries on top, I made strawberry gelees, to add another fun technique and because I had made this gorgeous strawberry puree out of Harry’s berries(expensive Californian strawberries), and I wanted to use those since a gelee made out of that puree would taste infinitely better than a regular strawberry.

For the cake batter:
3 eggs, separated
1 cup granulated sugar, in two parts
4oz canola oil
1 cup buttermilk
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup masa harina
1 tsp baking soda

In a bowl, whisk the egg whites with one part sugar until stiff peaks forms. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar, canola oil, whole milk, salt, and vanilla extract. Sift into the buttermilk the flour, masa, and baking soda. Fold into that the egg whites to form your batter. Pour the batter into a lined half sheet tray and spread into an even layer. Bake for 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. Allow the cake to fully cool.

For the tres leches soak:
1/4 cup milk powder
a pinch of ground cinnamon
a pinch of nutmeg
2oz sweetened condensed milk
1 cup buttermilk
a pinch of salt

Toast the milk powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a nonstick pan on low heat for 5 minutes, stirring until the milk powder turns brown and nutty. Transfer the milk powder to a bowl and whisk with everything else until smooth and creamy. Soak the cake with the mixture.

For the strawberry gelee:
1/2 cup strawberry puree
2 tsp agar agar
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp granulated sugar(omit if puree is already sweetened)

In a pot, bring everything to a simmer and the agar is melted into the puree. Pour the gelee mixture into 1/2-inch silicone half sphere molds. Refrigerate until set and cut into wedges.

For the whipped condensed milk:
4oz sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp gelatin powder + 2 tbsp cold water
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, in three parts
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a pot, heat up the condensed milk with gelatin, salt, and one part of the heavy cream until the gelatin is fully dissolved into the other ingredients. Allow the mixture to fully cool before adding to that the remaining two parts of heavy cream and vanilla. Whisk everything to stiff peaks.

To finish:
Edible star glitter
Ground cinnamon

Spread the whipped condensed milk on top of the soaked cake and garnish with the ground cinnamon, the gelee, and star glitter to finish.