Professor Butter Beard’s Tres Leches Cake
One 9” by 13” meringue-topped cake
Cake:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ¾ cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla paste
3 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp fine sea salt
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 ½ cups buttermilk
Tres Leches:
¼ cup whole milk
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
Meringue:
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla paste
½ tsp fine sea salt
1) Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and spray a 9/13” baking pan with baking spray with flour.
2) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and soda, salt and grated nutmeg. Set aside.
3) In a standing mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed. On a low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, to fully incorporate. Add the vanilla and mix to fully combine.
4) Alternately, add the dry mix and the buttermilk (ending with the dry mix). Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes until a wooden skewer comes out clean.
5) While the cake bakes, whisk together the “tres leche.”
6) Remove the cake from the oven and let it stand for 10 minutes. Using a wooden chop stick, poke holes into the warm cake (all over). Use a small ladle to slowly pour the “tres leches” all over the cake, letting it soak into the warm cake. Once the cake has cooled to room temperature, loosely cover the cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least four hours.
7) For the meringue: In a small saucepan, bring the sugar and 1/3 cup water to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until the mixture reaches 250 degrees on a candy thermometer. In the bowl of a standing mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Increase the mixer speed to high and slowly pour the hot sugar mixture into the egg whites in a slow steady stream. Beat until smooth and glossy peaks form. Beat in the vanilla and salt. Spread the meringue over the chilled cake and brown with a kitchen blow torch.
