Sunday, January 20, 2008

Quattros Leches Cake---4 Milk Cake in Latin America

This is my adaptation of a Tres Leches Cake. This is an Emeril recipe for Tres Leches that I have turned into my own Quattros Leches Cake. This cake is to die for!!!!!!!!


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 extract

Cream topping: 1 14-ounce can evaporated milk
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup heavy cream

After the Cream topping:
1 cup dulce de leche (homemade preferrably)***see bottom of the page

Chopped Macademia Nuts and Strawberries

To make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour a 9 by 13-inch baking dish and set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat the egg whites on low speed until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually with the mixer running and peak to stiff peaks. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time, beating well after the addition of each.

Sift together the flour and baking powder and add to the egg mixture, alternating with the milk. (Do this quickly so the batter does not lose volume.) Add the vanilla. Bake until golden, 25 minutes or adjust cooking time to fit your oven....everyone's is different.

To make the cream topping: In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream and blend on high speed.

Remove the cake from the oven and while still warm, spoon the cream mixture over it....or ladle over but don't spoon or ladle until the last ladle has soaked into the cake....this may take a few minutes to get the whole cake to absorb the liquid...be patient it is worth it. Let sit and cool to room temperature. Then drizzle dulce de leche over the cake. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Before serving I top this cake off with chopped macademia nuts, whipped cream or cool whip and a side of sliced strawberries in their own syrup/juice.

***To make homemade dulce de leche you need to take a can of SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK and put it in a saucepan covered with water....make sure you remove the label. Gently bring the covered can up to a simmer with the lid on and simmer ever so slightly for 3 hours. DO NOT BOIL.....just a very gentle simmer. I have never had a problem with the can exploding and I suspect anyone that has has boiled their can instead of just a gentle simmer. Keep an eye on this in case you need to add some water during the 3 hours. When you open your can you will have what they call Cajeta in Mexico or Dulce De Leche in Latin America. You can use store bought sauce but I will guarantee it will not taste as good as this. It will be a dark carmel brown color and if it is stiff in your can just spoon it out and warm it up and it will thin out.

5 comments:

the Jennings secede from the South said...

My mom made that cake & said it was delicioso! I'm going to have to try..

Unknown said...

mmmmm.....this is one of my favorites. thanks for the recipe--i'm passing it on to my much more culinarily talented husband. i can't wait to try it!

Jade Is Green! said...

mmmm condensed milk. Do you have the tubes of it in the states? I love getting that stuff and just sucking it straight out of the tube...and I'm so not ashamed to admit it haha.

Thanks heaps for the rad comments. The creme eggs were totally sugar coma inducing. They make you feel so ill but a strange part of you just wants to go back for more.

I've never heard of a peanut butter tassie before but I do know that it sounds like pure ge-ni-us! As soon as I can get a hold of more PB cups they shall be made and I shall praise your name!!

Obsessive Foodie or Food Addict....You Decide said...

Octavine~this cake isn't a pretty cake but it is soooo yummy. Thanks for stopping.

Jade~LOL, condensed milk in a tube??? No, we don't have it here or I have never seen it. That could be lethal in the wrong hands hahahah!!

Chef Erik said...

Very nice. My mom used to make this for me when I was a child. I'll try your recipe and let you know how it comes out.