Strawberry Tres Leches Cake is the recipe that Teresa makes every Cinco de Mayo and every summer birthday and every occasion where she wants to put a dessert on the table that looks deceptively simple and then produces the most genuinely breathtaking reaction from every single person who takes their first bite and realizes that what they thought was a plain white cake is in fact the most extraordinarily moist and deeply flavored soaked cake they have ever tasted.
She bakes the white cake until golden, pokes holes across the entire surface with a skewer while still warm, blends fresh strawberries with whole milk and sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk into the most vibrant and fragrant pink soaking mixture imaginable, pours it slowly and patiently one cup at a time over the warm cake, and then refrigerates overnight so the milk penetrates every single cell of the cake crumb into the most completely extraordinary and deeply satisfying result.
Strawberry Tres Leches Cake is the most moist and completely refreshing Cinco de Mayo celebration cake made with a white cake soaked overnight in a blended mixture of fresh strawberries whole milk sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk topped just before serving with fresh homemade whipped cream and sliced strawberries for the most beautiful and deeply satisfying make-ahead fiesta dessert. Come follow us on Pinterest where we share beautiful Cinco de Mayo recipes and easy celebration baking favorites from our kitchen every single week.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Strawberry Tres Leches Cake Recipe
This Strawberry Tres Leches Cake recipe is the Cinco de Mayo dessert that makes every gathering feel genuinely and completely festive through the most completely refreshing and deeply satisfying combination of a light white cake base with the most vibrant and fragrant strawberry milk soaking mixture that transforms the entire texture and flavor of the cake overnight into something completely extraordinary. The make-ahead nature of this recipe is one of the most practically brilliant features for Cinco de Mayo entertaining because the entire cake must be made the night before, meaning every stressful day-of preparation is completely eliminated.
The fresh strawberries blended directly into the three-milk soaking mixture rather than simply used as a topping are what make this specific version so completely different and so genuinely extraordinary compared to a classic tres leches. Blending fresh strawberries with the whole milk and condensed milk and evaporated milk produces a soaking liquid that is the most vibrant natural pink and the most deeply concentrated strawberry flavor that permeates every single layer of the cake during the overnight rest. Our Margarita Cake makes a beautifully equally festive and equally Cinco de Mayo-worthy companion for a complete and vibrant Mexican celebration dessert table.
Ingredients Needed for This Strawberry Tres Leches Cake Recipe
For the Cake:
- 2 boxes White Cake Mix (plus ingredients to make per package: 1 cup oil, 2 cups water, 6 eggs)
For the Strawberry Milk Mixture:
- 1 cup Whole Milk
- 2 cups Fresh Strawberries, diced
- 1½ cans (14 oz each) Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 1 can (12 oz) Evaporated Milk
For the Whipped Cream:
- 2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream, cold
- 4 tbsp Confectioners Sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- Fresh Strawberries for serving
How to Make This Strawberry Tres Leches Cake Recipe
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking pan.
Prepare the white cake mix according to the package directions using the oil, water, and eggs. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for approximately 55 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out completely clean.
Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan. Once completely cooled, use a skewer or fork to poke holes generously all over the entire top surface of the cake. The more holes poked the more completely and evenly the strawberry milk mixture will soak into every part of the crumb, cara mia.
For the strawberry milk mixture, add the whole milk and diced fresh strawberries to a blender. Blend until completely smooth. Add the sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk and blend again until fully and uniformly combined. The finished soaking mixture should be the most beautiful and vibrant natural pink color.
Slowly pour the strawberry milk mixture over the hole-poked cake surface approximately one cup at a time. Allow each addition to soak into the cake before adding the next cup. Pouring slowly in increments ensures the most even soaking throughout without overflow. Cover the pan and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and preferably overnight for the most completely extraordinary result. The overnight rest allows the full strawberry flavor to develop and the texture to become the most silky and cohesive.
For the whipped cream, beat the cold heavy whipping cream, sifted confectioners sugar, and vanilla extract together on medium-high speed until medium peaks form, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Do not overwhip to stiff peaks as medium peaks produce the most beautiful soft and airy spreading consistency for this dessert.
Just before serving, spread the whipped cream evenly over the chilled cake. Top with fresh sliced strawberries arranged beautifully across the surface. Serve cold.
How to Serve This Strawberry Tres Leches Cake Recipe
Serve cold directly from the refrigerator for the most completely perfect and deeply refreshing Cinco de Mayo dessert experience. Slice into 12 generous squares and serve on individual plates with a few extra fresh strawberries alongside each piece for the most beautiful and completely festive Cinco de Mayo dessert presentation.
For a Cinco de Mayo party, set the whole decorated cake on the dessert table before the celebration begins for the most beautiful and completely eye-catching centerpiece that makes every guest genuinely excited for dessert from the moment they arrive. Our Tequila Sunrise Cupcakes make a beautifully individual and equally Cinco de Mayo-festive companion for a complete and vibrant Mexican celebration dessert spread.
How to Store This Strawberry Tres Leches Cake Recipe
Store covered tightly in the refrigerator for up to 3 to 4 days. The flavor genuinely improves after resting overnight as the strawberry milk mixture continues to develop and integrate through the cake crumb. Do not freeze assembled tres leches cake as the texture changes significantly upon thawing. Keep the whipped cream topping separate if storing for longer than one day and add it just before the next serving.
Tips to Make This Strawberry Tres Leches Cake Recipe
Allow the cake to cool completely before poking the holes and adding the soaking mixture. A warm cake does not absorb the liquid as evenly as a fully cooled cake and can produce an unevenly soaked result with wet areas at the top and dry areas in the center.
Pour the milk mixture slowly in increments of approximately one cup at a time rather than all at once. Pouring too quickly causes the liquid to pool on the surface and overflow the pan rather than soaking evenly through all the holes into the cake crumb.
Helpful Notes for This Strawberry Tres Leches Cake Recipe
Use ripe and fragrant fresh strawberries for the most vibrant and genuinely deep strawberry flavor in the soaking mixture. Underripe or pale strawberries have significantly less natural sweetness and less flavor concentration and produce a noticeably less flavorful soaking liquid. For Cinco de Mayo, pick up the brightest and most fragrant berries available at the market.
The overnight refrigeration step is the most important step in this entire recipe. The texture of the tres leches cake at the 4-hour mark is good. The texture after overnight refrigeration is completely extraordinary. Always plan to make this Cinco de Mayo dessert the day before serving.
Variation of This Strawberry Tres Leches Cake Recipe
Maria made a version adding a tablespoon of strawberry jam blended through the milk mixture alongside the fresh strawberries for an even more deeply concentrated and complex strawberry flavor that was completely extraordinary for her Cinco de Mayo gathering. Teresa tried adding a layer of sliced fresh strawberries inside the cake before pouring the soaking mixture for a vibrant berry layer visible in every cross-section slice that was deeply beautiful.
For a mango tres leches Cinco de Mayo version, substitute fresh mango puree for the blended strawberries for the most vibrant tropical and deeply festive alternative that pairs beautifully with the three-milk soaking mixture for the most completely extraordinary summer celebration. Our Churro Cheesecake Bars make a beautifully festive and equally Cinco de Mayo-appropriate companion for a complete and vibrant Mexican celebration dessert table.
FAQs About This Strawberry Tres Leches Cake Recipe
Why must I poke so many holes in the cake?
The holes are the channels through which the strawberry milk mixture soaks from the surface down into the deepest layers of the cake crumb. Without sufficient holes the mixture sits on the surface and cannot penetrate evenly into the interior, producing a cake that is wet on top and dry in the center rather than the most uniformly and deeply moist tres leches texture throughout.
Can I make this with a homemade sponge cake instead of boxed mix?
Yes. A homemade vanilla or white sponge cake works beautifully as the base for this Cinco de Mayo tres leches recipe. A sponge cake made with egg whites produces a particularly light and airy crumb that absorbs the soaking mixture with the most extraordinary and completely effortless efficiency.
Why is my tres leches cake too soggy?
Excess sogginess is usually caused by either too much soaking mixture relative to the size or structure of the cake, or a cake with insufficient structure to absorb the liquid without collapsing. Ensure the cake is fully and properly baked with a clean toothpick before soaking, and add the mixture gradually one cup at a time rather than all at once.
Conclusion
This Strawberry Tres Leches Cake is the most completely extraordinary Cinco de Mayo celebration dessert that makes every fiesta feel genuinely special and makes every person who takes their first bite of the most moist and strawberry-fragrant and cloud-topped soaked cake feel genuinely and completely transported to the most delicious and festive celebration imaginable. We hope it brings the same deeply joyful Cinco de Mayo table and the same completely satisfied gathering to your kitchen that it has always brought to ours. Make it, share it, and come back to tell us all about it. With all our love, Maria, Lucia, and Teresa.
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Strawberry Tres Leches Cake The Most Moist and Easy Cinco de Mayo Celebration Cake You Will Make
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes plus overnight chilling
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
The most moist and refreshing Strawberry Tres Leches Cake perfect for Cinco de Mayo made with two white cake mixes baked in a 9×13-inch pan cooled completely poked all over with a skewer soaked overnight in a blended mixture of fresh strawberries whole milk sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk refrigerated at least 4 hours and topped just before serving with fresh homemade whipped cream of cold heavy cream confectioners sugar and vanilla and fresh sliced strawberries. A completely extraordinary Cinco de Mayo make-ahead dessert recipe.
Ingredients
2 boxes White Cake Mix plus 1 cup oil 2 cups water and 6 eggs per package
1 cup Whole Milk for soaking
2 cups Fresh Strawberries diced for soaking
1 1/2 cans 14 oz each Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 can 12 oz Evaporated Milk
2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream cold
4 tbsp Confectioners Sugar sifted
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
Fresh Strawberries for serving
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 9x13x2-inch pan.
2. Prepare cake mix per package using oil, water, and eggs. Pour into pan.
3. Bake 55 minutes until toothpick clean.
4. Cool cake completely.
5. Poke holes generously all over surface using skewer.
6. Blend whole milk and diced strawberries until smooth.
7. Add sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk. Blend until combined.
8. Pour soaking mixture over cake 1 cup at a time allowing each to absorb before adding more.
9. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours preferably overnight.
10. Beat cold heavy cream, confectioners sugar, and vanilla on medium-high until medium peaks form 3 to 4 minutes.
11. Just before serving spread whipped cream evenly over chilled cake.
12. Top with fresh sliced strawberries. Serve cold.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Mexican American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 760
- Sugar: 68g
- Sodium: 320mg
- Fat: 36g
- Saturated Fat: 18g
- Unsaturated Fat: 15g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 95g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 12g
- Cholesterol: 95mg
Keywords: strawberry tres leches cake, Cinco de Mayo strawberry tres leches cake recipe, easy moist strawberry tres leches cake, fresh strawberry milk soak cake Cinco de Mayo
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