Happy (late) Cinco De Mayo! Let's eat cake!

So, I made this cake last year around Cinco De Mayo, and just never got around to taking pictures or posting anything about it. I definitely didn't want to let the same thing happen this year!

Years ago, at an old office job, we used to get a layer cake for people's birthdays which I loved! It was super moist and had a whipped cream frosting. I remember going to the actual bakery once and asking the staff about it and they said it was their Tres Leches Cake, or Three Milks Cake. I was intrigued when I looked up that type of cake on the web, since I had never heard of it before. All the recipes I could find were for a sheet cake that you pretty much keep in the pan....no layer cakes....and what was with this pouring a cream mixture over the top and letting it soak overnight? That had to become a disaster, right? Sounded too risky to me, but after years and years of thinking of that one delicious cake we used to get at my old job, I finally decided to try my hand at it, and also relented and used a recipe that called for the sheet cake pan....no layers here. As I was making this cake last year, I thought it was interesting that there is no butter or shortening in the cake, pretty much just eggs, sugar, flour and milk. Don't get me wrong here, the cream mixture that you pour over the cake more than makes up for the fat, but I am used to cakes starting with sugar and butter. Anyway, I made the cake exactly as printed and it is wonderful! It is not overly sweet, which I love! It is incredibly moist, but not mushy, like some tres leches cakes can become....and it's easy! The cake comes together quickly, and bakes quickly too, and the cream mixture is easily whipped up in the blender.

Some notes I have are that I had trouble beating the egg whites and sugar to stiff peaks....mine never got to stiff peaks, but it didn't seem to cause any problems with the cake in the end. Also, once the cake is removed from the oven, it will pull away from the sides of the cake a lot, even more so when you start pouring the cream over, so don't panic. Also, it may seem like you have way too much cream going over the cake, but trust me, it will all absorb into the cake, as the pictures show below.

I like making this cake for Cinco De Mayo, but it truly can be made anytime. Enjoy!!!

TRES LECHES CAKE

For the Cake:

6 large eggs, separated

2 cups granulated sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the Cream Mixture:

1 14 ounce can of evaporated milk

1 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

1 cup whipping cream

For the Whipped Cream:

1 cup whipping cream

1/8 cup granulated sugar

To Make the Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan and set aside. Sift the flour and baking powder into a medium bowl and set aside. Pour the whole milk into a measuring cup and add the vanilla and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the egg whites on low speed until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually with the mixer running and beat to stiff peaks. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Take the sifted flour mixture and add to the egg mixture, alternating with the milk and vanilla mixture. Do this quickly, as you do not want the batter to lose it's volume. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until golden, about 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

While the cake is nearing the end of it's baking time, prepare the cream topping mixture. Simply combine the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and the whipping cream in a blender and blend on high speed.

Remove the cake from the oven, and while it is still warm, slowly and evenly pour the cream mixture over the entire cake. Let cake sit and cool to room temperature. Cover the cake with plastic wrap and refridgerate until well chilled, at least 4 hours, but best overnight.

Once the cake is chilled, whip the cream and sugar and frost the top of the cake as desired.

Back to the Blog....for now....

It's been almost a year since I've posted anything to my blog. I know I always say that I'm going to be better about blogging and then fail miserably, so I'm only going to say that I am going to post whenever I can.

So, while we're on the subject of repeat failure, I thought I could talk about what I'm posting about today. I love banana bread. Like, really, really, really LOVE banana bread. The only problem is that all the recipes I've tried, for one reason or another, have not been great. Some have been okay, some have been really bad, some didn't work although the reviews and comments raved and raved about it....it's been disheartening to say the least. Well, I had some bananas that were getting too ripe and I didn't have the time to make the Hummingbird Cake/Cupcakes that I like making with bananas, so I thought I would give banana bread another shot. I went to my favorite recipe site, Epicurious.com, and started a search. The recipe I found seemed like a sure thing. Easy, had all the ingredients on hand, apparently amazingly delicious and....with chocolate chips? That made me balk. I had never had or made banana bread with chocolate chips. I know of it, and have friends who like it, but that never really appealed to me, since I am not the biggest fan of chocolate. However, I was determined to make a good banana bread. A recipe that could become an old standby....so I made the bread with the chocolate....and it was everything the recipe seemed and said to be. The prep couldn't have been easier, and the bread came out perfectly moist and absolutely delicious! I added a teaspoon of vanilla and a teaspoon of cinnamon to the recipe and also drizzled some melted chocolate over the top of the finished bread. This recipe as printed is very rich and very decadent, which don't get me wrong, is wonderful, but I'm looking forward to making this bread without the chocolate and crossing my fingers that I've found my new standby banana bread recipe. Enjoy!

Original recipe can be found here.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

For the Bread:

4 ripe bananas

1/4 cup melted unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

To Make the Bread:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 6 cup loaf pan and set aside. Mash the bananas in a large bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients in order and mix well with a wooden spoon. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake 60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Once cooled, you may invert the loaf out of the pan and drizzle with melted chocolate, or simply just slice and serve as is.