Coconut Mango Tres Leches Cake - 3 Milk Cake
This coconut mango tres leches cake is a tropical twist on the classic tres leches cake. And it's so so delicious!
If you know anything about me, you know that when I get hooked onto a food, my ADHD will go into hyper-focus mode and I'll make 494392 different variations of it. The recent victim was the one and only tres leches cake.
What is a Tres Leches Cake?
Tres leches cake means 3 milk cake in Spanish and it originated in Latin America. The original version features a sponge cake soaked in a mixture of 3 types of milks: evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and whole milk, and then topped with whipped cream. If you haven't had it, I highly recommend it—its delicious. Despite being soaked in 3 different milks, it's not soggy at all and still remains light and spongy.
This variation of the recipe is equally as amazing as the classic version. It's a delicious combination of coconut and mango.
To get the coconut flavour, the whole milk is substituted with full fat coconut milk to make the milk mixture. The whipped cream for the top is infused with mango pulp–which is cooked to reduce it down. The cake is then topped off with some mango chunks, some more reduced mango pulp and a sprinkle of toasted coconut flakes.
My Tips to Make the Best Coconut Mango Tres Leches Cake
- Beating the egg whites – Make sure the bowl and whisk you use to whip up the egg whites is completely CLEAN. It shouldn’t have any grease, especially. This will prevent the egg whites from whipping up properly. When you separate the whites from the yolks, make sure not to get any of the yolk in the whites.
- Mixing the batter – Once you add the whipped egg whites to the yolk/flour mixture, make sure to gently combine it together. Use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl inwards and cut through the middle. You want to make sure to not deflate the egg whites because that is what will make the chiffon cake rise.
- Prevent cake from deflating – Only line the bottom of the pan and do NOT line or grease the sides of the pan. As the cake bakes, it needs to cling onto the pan to be able to stay up and remain that way as it cools. If you line/grease the sides, the cake will collapse and sink when it cools down. Place the cake pan upside down on a cooling rack as it cools down so it doesn’t deflate.
Coconut Mango Tres Leches Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 5 - eggs room temp
- 1 cup - sugar (200g)
- ⅓ cup - milk (79ml)
- 1 cup - all purpose flour (138g)
- ¼ teaspoon - salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon - baking powder
- 1 teaspoon - vanilla extract
Milk Mixture
- 1 can - sweetened condensed milk (9 oz)
- 1¼ cup - evaporated milk (295ml)
- 1 cup - coconut milk (249ml)
Mango Whipped Cream
- 1 ½ cup - heavy cream, chilled (354ml)
- 6 tablespoon - reduced mango pulp
Reduced Mango Pulp
- 9 tablespoon - mango pulp
- 3 teaspoon - sugar optional
- 1 ½ teaspoon - cornstarch
- 3 teaspoon - water
Topping
- 1 - mango cut into chunks
- ¼ cup - sweetened coconut flakes toasted
Instructions
Make the cake
- Separate the egg whites and egg yolks in clean separate bowls. To prevent a yolk from accidentally breaking into the whites, separate the whites into a separate small bowl each time and then transfer it to the one you will beat them in. Make sure the bowl you add the egg whites in is very clean and has no grease marks.
- Add ¾ cup of the sugar into the yolks and whisk well until pale and light. Whisk in the milk and vanilla extract. Then add in the flour, salt and baking powder. Fold that gently until all mixed together
- Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add in the rest of the sugar while beating and continue until you get stiff peaks.
- Add the egg whites into the flour mixture and fold gently with a spatula by scraping from the sides of the bowl, inwards. Don’t mix too much so you don’t deflate it. Once you no longer see streaks of egg whites, its done.
- In a 9x13 pan, bottom lined with parchment paper, pour the batter and bake at 350F for about 30-35 minutes. Don’t open the oven door until the last 10 minutes. Gently poke the cake with your finger and if it springs back, its done. If it leaves an indent, then bake for another 5 ish minutes.
- Take the cake out and let it cool.
Make the Milk Mixture
- To make the milk mixture, add the condensed milk, evaporated milk and coconut milk and whisk until combined. Poke holes all over the cake with a fork or anything. Pour over all of the milk mixture and cover it and let it soak for a couple hours or overnight in the refrigerator (better overnight)
Make the Reduced Mango Pulp
- To make the reduced mango pulp, add in the mango pulp into a small saucepan. Make the cornstarch slurry with the water and add that to the mango. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until it thickens up. Take off heat and let cool.
Frosting
- In a chilled bowl, pour in your whipping cream and beat it until you get soft peaks. Now add in your mango pulp and beat until you get slightly stiff peaks. Don't over beat the mixture or it will separate
- Spread some reduced mango pulp onto the cake. Using a piping bag with a star tip, pipe the cream onto the cake. You could also spread it with a spatula.
- Sprinkle over the cut mango chunks and drizzle over the reduced mango pulp. Toast some sweetened coconut flakes and sprinkle on the cake! Cut and serve. Enjoy!
Toast the Coconut Flakes
- Add the coconut flakes to a pan and heat up over medium low heat. Slowly toast the flakes and stir to avoid burning. Once they become fragrant and reach a orangey/deep golden colour, remove from heat and let cool.
Huzaifah Sheikh says
I tried it and its incredible. The combination of coconut and mango is delightful. Family loved it. Thank you for sharing a wonderfil recipe