Long A Latino Favorite, Tres Leches Cake Is Having A Moment

New flavor variations are taking it beyond the original version

I love shopping at international grocery stores, especially in the pastry departments. Whenever I’ve had the chance to visit places with Spanish speaking customers, I look to see if they have pastel de tres leches, or tres leches cake.

In case you’ve never tried it, tres leches translates as “three milks.” The base is a light, airy sponge cake, like those round shortcakes that places sell during strawberry season. It is soaked with a mixture of evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and heavy cream.

The cake is then topped with whipped cream or meringue, and often berries and a dusting of cinnamon. It’s sort of a trifle in cake form. While there’s a lot of liquid involved, the cake should not become too soggy.

The recipe dates back to the 1840s in Mexico, but it became popularized in the U.S. when the recipe appeared on cans of condensed milk in the 1960s, in the same way that German Sweet Chocolate cake spread across the country when its recipe was printed on wrappers of baking chocolate.

I love tres leches cake so much that one of my public radio colleagues brought it to the newsroom for my birthday. I recently indulged in some for this birthday — but it was one of the new variations that are taking tres leches cake to a new level.