This Chai Spiced Tres Leches Cake is sweet, creamy, and irresistible. It’s topped with roasted and pears adding a delicious layer of sweetness.
This Chai Spiced Tres Leches Cake was featured in Wendy’s Kitchen Memoir.
Chai Spiced Tres Leches Cake
This Chai Spiced Tres Leches Cake is sweet, creamy, and irresistible. It's topped with roasted and pears adding a delicious layer of sweetness.
Servings: 16 servings
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 9 eggs separated
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Sauce Ingredients:
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 12 oz can evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup Chai concentrate, recipe below
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For the topping:
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
For the Chai Concentrate:
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 1 star anise
- 15 whole cardamom pods
- 2 teaspoons whole cloves
- 3/4 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 5 cups water
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger finely minced
- 1 pinch salt
- 3 tablespoons black tea
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9×13-inch pan, lining the bottom with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit the pan.
- Pour the egg whites into the bowl of your mixer and beat on medium-high speed for 4 to 5 minutes, or until they hold soft peaks. Slowly stir in the sugar and continue beating until they hold harder or stiffer peaks. Turn off the mixer and, with a spatula, move the egg white mixture into a large mixing bowl.
- Rinse the mixer bowl and its whisk. Now, pour the egg yolks into the bowl and beat on medium-high speed for about 5 to 6 minutes, or until the yolks become creamy and puffy and their color has toned down to an almost cream color rather than a loud yellow. Stir in the vanilla and continue beating for another minute.
- Pour the egg yolk mixture onto the egg white mixture and, with a spatula, in circular motions, combine them into a homogeneous single batter. Do so gently, trying not to lose too much volume gained from beaten egg whites. Fold in the flour, scraping the bowl with the spatula so that all the flour is well mixed.
- Pour batter into the prepared cake pan and place into the oven for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. It can be a bit moist, but not wet. The top of the cake should be tanned or golden brown.
- Once it cools down, turn it onto a platter. Remove parchment paper, cover the top with an upside-down platter and invert again. The platter should be large enough to hold the cake and the vanilla sauce you are about to prepare. Using a fork, or two, poke holes all over the cake so that it will better absorb the vanilla sauce.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, milk, chai concentrate and vanilla extract. Pour the vanilla sauce over the cake. It may appear like too much sauce, but it will all be absorbed!
- In the bowl of your mixer, whip up the heavy cream with the confectioners’ sugar on medium-high speed until the mixture holds up stiff peaks. Spread the whipped cream all over the already-wet cake and place it in the refrigerator. You can decorate the cake with berries or any other topping of your choice.
For the Chai Concentrate:
- Place cinnamon sticks and star anise on cutting board. Using back of heavy skillet, press down firmly until spices are coarsely crushed. Transfer to medium saucepan. Crush cardamom pods, cloves and peppercorns and add to saucepan. Toast spices over medium heat, stirring frequently, until fragrant.
- Add water, sugar, ginger and salt and bring to a boil. Cover saucepan and reduce heat; simmer mixture for 10 minutes. Stir in tea, cover and simmer for 10 minutes more. Remove from heat and let mixture steep for 10 additional minutes. Strain mixture through a fine-mesh strainer to remove all spices and tea leaves. Let cool completely (don’t use a plastic bowl for this as it will stain) and refrigerate for up to a week. Note that you will have extra Chai concentrate. Use it to make your own Chai Tea Latte!
Notes
Tres Leches Cake recipe from Pati Jinich
Chai Concentrate recipe from Cook's Illustrated