Coconut Tres Leches
★★★★★
PREP TIME
30 minutes
COOK TIME
30 minutes
MAKES
one 9x13 cake
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups
all-purpose flour
1/4 cup
coconut flour
1 teaspoon
baking powder
1/2 teaspoon
salt
1/2 cup
unsalted butter (1 stick), plus more for the pan
1 tablespoon
honey
5
large eggs
3/4 cup
sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon
vanilla
1
13 1/2 ounce can coconut milk
1 ounce
14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups
whole milk
1 pint
heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons
lime zest (zest from 1 lime)
1 cup
sweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9x13 baking dish. Melt the butter and honey together and set aside.
- Whisk the flours, salt, and baking powder together in a medium bowl.
- Beat the eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a larger bowl until everything lightens in color and is nice and smooth. Now on lower speed or with a gentler arm, beat in the flour in 2 additions until the batter is just smooth. Fold in the butter and mix until it is just fully incorporated. Pour the batter into the pan and bake 25-30 minutes, rotating cake once halfway through, until it is golden and a toothpick comes out clean. This is going to look like a sort of shallow cake. Don't worry.
- While the cake bakes, mix the three milks (tres leches) together and also spread the coconut out on a baking sheet. When the cake comes out, pop the coconut into the oven to toast. Check and stir every 3-4 minutes. It should only take 8-9 minutes to get golden brown.
- Use a toothpick to poke little holes all over the warm cake. Now pour the milk over it—slowly. It is going to look like a LOT of milk and you are going to want to panic. Don't. My cake actually floated up like a raft briefly! But pour it all on and wait -- 95% of that milk is going to adsorb into the cake and the rest is that lake you are looking for. Allow the cake to cool completely, and the toasted coconut as well.
- Now whip the cream, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and lime zest together until stiff peaks form. Spread the cream over the cake, then sprinkle the coconut over top. You can dig in right now, our keep it in the fridge for 3-4 days, though I doubt it'll last that long.
