Easy Lemon & Coconut Tres Leches Cake

Easy Lemon & Coconut Tres Leches Cake

This lemon and coconut tres leches cake is the perfect combination of flavours. The lemon and coconut go so well together and the cake itself is lemony, soaked in a coconut milk mixture and topped of with lemon curd infused whipped cream and toasted coconut flakes.

Lemon Curd

This lemon curd recipe is the same on I use in my Raspberry Lemon Rolls and it's absolutely amazing. (if you haven't tried the rolls, you're missing out BIG TIME, they're SO GOODDD)

People usually think that making any type of curd seems intimidating and complicated, but I promise it’s really simple! I’ll walk you through all the steps to ensure you do well 🙂

Here are my tips to making lemon curd:

• Use fresh lemon juice. Most bottled lemon juice have a bunch of different ingredients and this affects the taste of it. By using freshly squeezed lemon juice, you’re ensuring that the only ingredient is just the juice itself. It also tastes way better and will determine how the lemon curd tastes.

• Use a silicone whisk to mix the ingredients. Once you add the lemon juice, make sure to not use a metal whisk because the lemon reacts with the metal and results in a metallic taste in your curd.

• Cook curd in a double boiler–a heat-proof glass bowl over a saucepan with water. I find that using any metal utensils while making the curd results in a metallic tasting curd. The acidity of the lemon reacts with the metal and leaves an unpleasant metallic taste. Using stainless steel pans also leads to this so I use a double boiler to prevent any metallic taste. Make sure the bowl is bigger than the pot so it can cover the opening and sit securely.

• Cook the curd over low heat and stir constantly. Don’t let the mixture bubble. This prevents it from burning and sticking to the pan. By not letting it bubble/boil, you’re preventing it from overcooking.

• Place the plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd when putting away to cool down. This prevents a ‘skin’ from forming on the top of the curd as it cools. Which is not appealing and once you mix it, it becomes lumpy instead of smooth.

• Let it completely cool down before using. The curd thickens as it cools, so if you use it while it’s still warm, it’ll be much more runny. Cooling it down helps to spread it better and makes sure it doesn’t ooze out everywhere when you cut the rolls.

My Tips to Make the Best Lemon & Coconut Tres Leches Cake

• Sugar and lemon zest – Make sure to massage the sugar and lemon zest together to get the most flavour out of the zest as possible. Doing this releases the oils in the peel, into the sugar and amplifies the lemon flavour—way more than if you only used the zest itself. You can use a food processor to do this OR a silicon spatula to rub the sugar into the zest.

• 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.

Lemon & Coconut Tres Leches Cake

Nabeah Wahab

This coconut and lemon cake is going to leave you amazed. It's so soft, moist and the lemon and coconut go so well together. You will not be able to stop eating it!

5 from 3 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 40 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Resting Time 5 hours hrs

Total Time 6 hours hrs 25 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Servings 9 squares

Ingredients

  

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Chiffon Cake

• 3 - eggs room temp
• ⅔ cup - 133g sugar
• 1 ½ tablespoon - lemon zest
• 44 ml - 3 tablespoon milk
• 1 ¼ teaspoon - lemon extract
• 1 teaspoon - baking powder
• 82 g - flour
• ⅛ teaspoon - salt

3 Milk Mixture

• ½ cup - coconut milk (125ml)
• ⅔ cup - sweetened condensed milk (162ml)
• ¾ cup - whole milk + two tbsp (212ml)

Whipped Cream

• 1 ⅓ cup - whipping cream (354ml)
• ¼ cup - lemon curd
• 3 tablespoon - icing sugar
• ½ tablespoon - lemon zest
• 2 tablespoon - lemon curd for top

Lemon Curd

• 2 – eggs
• 1 – egg yolk
• ⅓ cup – lemon juice 78mL (78g)
• – zest of 2 lemons
• ¾ cup – sugar 150g
• 4 tablespoon – unsalted butter 56g
• – pinch of salt

Instructions

 

Make the Chiffon 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 7 tablespoon of the sugar into a bowl and the zest and rub it together for a few minutes. Add into the yolks and whisk well until pale and light. Whisk in the milk and lemon extract. Then add in the flour, salt and baking powder. Fold that gently until all mixed together
• Beat the egg whites in the separate bowl, until soft peaks form. Gradually add in 3.5 tablespoon sugar while beating and continue until you get stiff peaks
• Add that 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 them.
• In a 8x8 pan, with ONLY the bottom lined with parchment paper, pour the batter and bake at 350F for about 40-45 minutes. Don’t open the oven door until the last 10 minutes. Gently poke the cake with your finger and if it springs back, it’s done. If it leaves an indent, then bake for another 5 ish minutes.
• Take the cake out of oven and let it cool. Take the cake out of the pan and take off the parchment paper. Line the pan with new parchment and put the cake back in the pan.

Make the Milk Mixture

• To make the milk mixture, add the condensed milk, whole milk and coconut milk and whisk until combined. Poke holes all over the cake with a fork or a knife. Pour all of the milk mixture over the cake and cover it and let it soak for a couple hours or overnight in the refrigerator (better overnight)

Make the Whipped Cream & Frost

• In a chilled bowl, pour in your whipping cream and lemon zest and beat it until you get soft peaks. Now add in your lemon curd and powdered sugar and beat until you get stiff peaks.
• You can choose to leave the cake in the pan or take it out and remove the paper. Top with the cream and smooth out the top and sides. Add a few dollops of the lemon curd all over and swirl it out with the cream.
• Toast some sweetened coconut flakes and sprinkle on the cake! Top with some lemon zest. Cut and serve. Enjoy!

Make Lemon Curd

• In a heat-proof glass bowl, massage the sugar and lemon zest for a few minutes to extract the oils.
• Whisk in the eggs, yolk until light and most of the sugar is dissolved.
• Add in the lemon juice and whisk well.
• Heat up a saucepan quarter-way filled with water over medium low heat and place the bowl over it.
• Cook, while stirring constantly, until the the curd thickens up. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon in a thick layer and if you run your finger down it, it leaves a clear path.
• Remove saucepan from heat and mix in the butter and salt until fully combined.
• Let it slightly cool and then place the curd in a heatproof container and cover with plastic wrap or cling film- directly touching the surface of the curd, to prevent a skin from forming. Let this cool to room temperature and then place it in the fridge until its completely chilled and thicken

Keyword Cake, Coconut, Lemon, Milk Cake, Tres Leches Cake

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