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Get the Recipe: Coffee Tres Leches Cake Recipe

Coffee tres leches cake is a coffee-flavored spin on tres leches cake, a classic Latin American dessert. This tres leches cake starts with a light-and-airy sponge cake; the cake is then soaked in a combination of three different types of milk and cold-brewed coffee. Everything is then topped off with fluffy Dalgona coffee cream.
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Ingredients

For the Cake:

  • 1 ½ cups (6.75 ounces or 191 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ cup (4 ounces or 113 grams) whole milk
  • 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 6 large eggs, separated into whites and yolks
  • 1 cup (7 ounces or 198 grams) granulated sugar

For the Coffee Tres Leches Soak:

  • 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
  • ¼ cup (2 ounces or 57 grams) strongly brewed coffee, at room temperature
  • ¼ cup (2 ounces or 57 grams) whole milk

For the Dalgona Whipped Coffee Cream:

  • cup (2.35 ounces or 67 grams) granulated sugar
  • cup (0.85 ounces or 25 grams) instant coffee granules
  • cup (2.65 ounces or 75 grams) very hot or freshly boiled water
  • cocoa powder, for garnish

Instructions
 

For the Coffee Tres Leches Cake:

  • First, make the cake. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously spray a 9 x 13-inch cake pan with cooking spray.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small liquid measuring cup or pitcher, whisk together the milk and vanilla.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites. Whisk on low speed for 1 minute, then turn the mixer up to medium-high. Whisk until stiff peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes. Use a wooden spoon or ladle to carefully scoop the egg whites into a medium bowl—be careful not to deflate them!
  • Pour the egg yolks into the stand mixer bowl (there's no need to clean the bowl!) and add the sugar. Whisk on medium until pale yellow and doubled in volume, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce the mixer to low and slowly pour in the milk mixture, whisking until just combined.
  • Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the egg yolk mixture, then use a rubber spatula to fold in the ingredients until just combined. Scoop half of the egg whites over the mixture and fold them in with the spatula. Repeat with the remaining egg whites and fold them in until no major lumps of egg white remain and the mixture is just combined. At this point, it will be a very light and fluffy cake batter.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared pan and use an offset spatula to smooth the top.
  • Bake the cake. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the top of the cake bounces back when gently pressed and a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out with a few crumbs attached. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack completely before soaking. The cake will shrink as it cools—this is normal!
  • Once the cake is cool, make the soak and assemble the cake. Use a fork to poke holes all over the top of the cake.
  • In a large liquid measuring cup or pitcher, whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, coffee, and whole milk. Slowly pour the milks over the cake, a quarter cup at a time, to allow the milks to soak fully between each pour. It's likely that the cake will stop absorbing liquid about two-thirds of the way through the mixture. This is normal! It will seem like too much liquid, but trust the recipe! Loosely cover the cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours, preferably overnight, to allow the cake to absorb the milks.
  • Before serving, make the dalgona whipped coffee cream. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the coffee and sugar. Add the hot water and immediately whisk on medium-high speed until light, airy, and doubled in volume, 2 to 4 minutes.
  • Use a rubber spatula to scrape the dalgona whipped coffee cream over the cake. Use an offset spatula to make large, sweeping motions across the coffee cream to spread it over the cake. Garnish with cocoa powder.
  • Serve and store. Serve immediately after garnishing with dalgona whipped coffee cream. The coffee tres leches cake will keep, covered loosely in plastic wrap, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Notes

Cake recipe adapted from A Cozy Kitchen by Adrianna Adarme @acozykitchen
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