COCONUT TRES LECHES

4 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
¼ Cup Vegetable Oil
1 ½ Cups Sugar
7 Egg Yolks
1 Cup White Rice Flour
1 Cup Sweet Sorghum Flour
¼ Cup Tapioca Flour
1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
¼ Teaspoon Freshly Grated Nutmeg
1 Cup Unsweetened Coconut Milk
1 Teaspoon Coconut Extract
5 Egg Whites (about ½ Cup)

For the Tres Leches Syrup:

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Can Evaporated Milk
1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream



Preheat oven to 350°F and lightly grease an 8” square baking pan with 2” sides and set aside.



In a stand up mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, oil and sugar until the sugar looks very wet, about 45 seconds. Add the egg yolks and continue folding the batter until smooth. Turn the machine onto the lowest setting and add all the sifted dry ingredients. When you can no longer see any dry ingredients, turn the mixer on high and continue to mix for a couple minutes more; you should be able to see strong beautiful folds at this point.

Pour in the coconut milk and the coconut extract and mix until the mixture is again very smooth. Add the egg whites and mix on high for 3 minutes. Pour the cake batter into your prepared pan, cover with aluminum foil and bake for 50 minutes – 1 hour or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.

Just before the cake is ready to come out of the oven, make your tres leches syrup by stirring together the heavy cream, the sweetened condensed milk and the evaporated milk until smooth.

When the cake is done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for only a few minutes. Then take a long wooden skewer and poke a couple dozen holes into the cake. Immediately pour the tres leches mixture over the cake until it has absorbed all of it. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate over night.

The next day, make your icing:

SEVEN MINUTE ICING

2 Large Egg Whites
1/8 Teaspoon Cream of Tartar
Pinch of Kosher Salt
½ Cup Granulated Sugar
¼ Cup Water
1/2 Teaspoon Mexican Vanilla
1 Cup Sweetened Shredded Coconut

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, boil the sugar and the water over medium high heat until it reaches the soft ball stage or 239°F/115°C on your candy thermometer. This will take several minutes.


While the sugar is coming to temperature, whip your egg whites, cream of tartar and kosher salt until thick and foamy. Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated. Set aside.

When the sugar has reached 115°C, immediately pour the hot sugar into the egg whites with the mixer on high speed and whip for 5-7 minutes.

*I always err on the side of caution with my seven minute icing so that I don’t over work the egg whites. When this occurs, the egg whites literally begin to fall apart. If you have noticeable air bubbles in your icing, it is ruined—you can use it, but it will begin to slide off your cake if you do, so I advise against it. After making seven minute icing a couple of times, you’ll get the hang of it, as is the case with all things culinary. *

Fold in the shredded coconut and immediately ice your coconut tres leches. Return to the refrigerator and chill until ready to serve. The gorgeous thing about this cake is that it keeps on getting better the colder that it gets, so it may take an extra shot of patience to make it, but after the first bite, you suddenly forget any complaint you could of possibly had as you try to decide your next bite…will it be one with or without icing? Either way, you’ll be beside yourself with satisfaction.

	2 comments
Lillie says Mar 27, 2007 - 10:45 pm	Karen- I cannot even begin to tell you how beautiful your site has turned out to be. I have book marked it on my internet and check it many times a week It helps me to feel closer to home with your stories, and the creativity and thoughtfulness of how you post all of your items is so meticulous and wonderful. I love you so very dearly, and I am so proud that you are in my family.
Karina says Mar 29, 2007 - 5:01 pm	I have always wanted to try a tres leches recipe. Now I have no excuse not to! It looks fabulous! You are a gluten-free goddess [if I do say so]. Karina
Write a Comment Blackbird Bakery reserves the right to restrict comments that do not contribute constructively to the conversation at hand, contain profanity, personal attacks or seek to promote a personal or unrelated business.	NAME EMAIL (WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED) WEBSITE COMMENT