Annette's Cake

Annette's Cake

printable version

Maybe we should call this the Kevin Bacon cake because it's like 7 ways to Kevin Bacon.

When my daughter was in high school she lived with my dad and step-mom.  Daughter's best friend's mom's name was/is Annette.  Apparently my mom went to my dad and step-mom's to celebrate my daughter's birthday.  At that celebration my step-mom made a cake, commonly known as Tres Leches cake - my daughter's favorite.  It seems my mom liked the cake and asked my step-mom for the recipe.  My step-mom emailed her the recipe and called it Annette's cake but referred to it as the "three-milk cake".  

Since this was just a ...bake according to package directions...you don't have to worry about how big the cake box is.  Other recipes that have you add  box of cake mix to a bunch of other stuff are problematic because over the years they have dropped the number of ounces in a box but your recipes haven't automatically adjust down the amount of liquids so you have to add in extra simulated cake mix.

When I'm documenting these recipes I try to make it exactly as directed.  I planned to make this cake a few weeks ago and then it got pushed back a couple of times.  So, I didn't realize that the 1/2 & 1/2 had gone bad.  An appropriate sub is a ratio of whole milk to heavy cream but I didn't have whole milk - only 1%.  So I used as much 1/2 and 1/2 as I had and then added 1% milk to top off the 1 cup measure.

I had a partial can of Eagle brand in the fridge.  Not sure how long it lasts so I topped off the old can with some from a new can and now have the remainder of that new can in the fridge.  I tried to let it get to room temperature because I thought that might be easier to mix in but there wasn't enough time.  The chilled milk actually did not seem to be a problem, though.  I drizzled it in slowly while I was "whipping " with a fork.  I left it unstirred while I got the cake out of the oven and poked holes and there was still no settling.

Maybe I was poking too deep.  The cake got stuck all over the fork so that I had to clean it off twice.  The holes did not stay evenly spaced like the tines are but turned in to large wounds.  

I was really surprised at how quickly the milks sank in.  I expected them to sit on top a bit and soak in overnight.  I wasn't sure at what point to put the cake in the refrigerator.  I didn't like the idea of putting my very warm Pampered Chef pan into a cold environment.  I googled some other Tres Leches recipes and went with the one that said cool 15 minutes then refrigerate overnight.  Mine might have cooled 20 to 30 minutes.

Oh drat!  I forgot to sprinkle with cinnamon before pouring the milk over.  I wonder if that would have pushed some of the cinnamon into the cake.

I really like cinnamon so I put it on anyway and hoped for the best. 

When I served it some of the cinnamon fell off onto my plate.

The sensitive-eater liked it.  I liked it without the whip cream better than with.  The fearful-of-food said cake wasn't supposed to be wet, and wouldn't try it even with his favorite white icing.  There was quite a lot of liquid at the bottom of the pan.  I think that is typical of a tres leches cake.  But it did result in a more dry top and a more wet bottom.  I would've preferred consistency.  That didn't stop me from eating two pieces!