Tres Leches Cake

Ingredients

• 5 large eggs, separated
• 200g caster sugar
• 190g plain flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp fine salt
• 80ml whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 400g sweetened condensed milk
• 350ml evaporated milk
• 250ml double cream, for the soak
• 2 tbsp dark rum, optional
• 300ml double cream, chilled, for the topping
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Before you cook

• Grease a 23cm by 33cm baking dish and line the base with parchment.
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.
• Separate the eggs into two large bowls, keeping the whites free of yolk.

Steps

1. Heat the oven to 180C fan-off.
2. Whisk the egg yolks with 150g of the caster sugar for four minutes, until thick, pale and ribboning off the whisk.
3. Whisk in the whole milk and the vanilla.
4. Fold the sifted dry ingredients into the yolk mixture in two additions until just combined.
5. Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl to soft peaks, then add the remaining 50g of sugar and whisk to a firm, glossy meringue.
6. Fold a third of the meringue into the batter to loosen it, then fold in the rest in two more additions.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared dish and level the top.
8. Bake the cake for twenty-five to thirty minutes, until it is golden and a skewer comes out clean.
9. Set the dish on a rack and leave the cake to cool completely in the tin, which takes about an hour.
10. Whisk the condensed milk, evaporated milk, 250ml of double cream and the rum together in a jug.
11. Pierce the cooled cake all over at close intervals with a skewer, right down to the base.
12. Pour the milk mixture slowly over the whole surface, pausing whenever it pools so it has time to sink in.
13. Cover the dish and refrigerate it for at least six hours, and ideally overnight.
14. Whip the chilled 300ml of double cream with the icing sugar to soft peaks.
15. Spread the whipped cream over the soaked cake in thick swoops.
16. Dust the top with the ground cinnamon and cut it into squares straight from the dish.