Tres Leches Milk Cake

Cakes have been famous since decades as a dessert, and with each new day, you are bound to find many variations to a traditional cake which make these sweet delicacies even more delightful. I recently tried one such variation at a friend's birthday party, and was totally enthralled by the pure richness of this cake. It is called the Tres Leches Cake, which literally means "3 types of milk" cake. It was so sweet and soft that you put a spoon in your mouth and it melts!! And it is so simple to make too. As the name suggests, it uses 3 types of milk to form a layered cake which is soft to the core. It goes extremely well as a cake, but what I like the most about it is that it can be used to make perfect desserts, especially those to be served in a glass, with fruit toppings, ice cream and chocolate! Try it for yourself.

Ingredients
1 packet of vanilla or yellow cake mix (or you can bake a cake from scratch-Vanilla Cake recipe) 1 cup whole milk
1 cup condensed milk - lightly sweetened
1 cup evaporated milk (method described below)
1/2 cup shredded coconut shavings
For garnish - cherries and whipping cream

Method
For making the evaporated milk:
Pour 2 1/2 cups whole milk into a medium heavy saucepan and bring it to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook 45 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the sugar and continue simmering until reduced to 1 cup. The milk should turn light cream in color. Collect in a cup and keep aside to cool.

Bake the cake as outlined on the cake mix, or follow the recipe here.

In large bowl, stir together the condensed milk, evaporated milk and whole milk.

When the cake is cool, remove it from the pan and trim off the browned top, bottom, and side surfaces of the cake. This way you only have the soft inner core of the cake. Clean the cake pan and line it with two long, pieces of plastic wrap or butter paper. Return the cake to the pan and poke top of cake every 1/2 inch with a fork or toothpick. Slowly pour the Tres Leches Milk over the cake. Fold the ends of the plastic wrap over the top of the cake to enclose it completely so that milk does not drizzle out and instead gets soaked well by the cake. Refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours or overnight, if you have the time.

Right before serving, cut the cake into slices, spread the whipping cream on the top, and garnish with raspberry sauce and a cherry. You can even toss it into a glass, cover it with some strawberry pieces, then pour some chocolate sauce on it and serve like a classic dessert!!