Tres Leches Cake (Milky Girl Cake)

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350°F with the baking rack in the middle. Line a jelly roll baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Step 2

Add 1 can condensed milk to a bowl. In a separate bowl stir together 1 cup flour and 1 tbsp baking powder. Add 2 eggs to the condensed milk and stir until smooth. Add flour mixture and stir until smooth again.

Step 3

Draw a 9-inch circle on the parchment paper. If using the jelly roll pan you can probably fit to circles. Flip the parchment upside down. Pour ⅓ cup batter int he middle of the circle and spread into a thin layer, trying to stay within the drawn circle. Bake for about 5 minutes, or until the middle is baked through. It helps if someone can help you hold the parchment in place while you spread the batter around.

Step 4

Remove from parchment paper as soon as you get the cake out of the oven, scrape off any stuck bits of cake. Reuse the parchment paper to bake the remaining batter in the above manner. You should have 7 cake layers total.

Step 5

Add 2/3 cup powdered sugar, 16 oz cream cheese and 2 tsp vanilla to a bowl and whip until smooth and no chunks of cream cheese are visible; stop several times to scrape the bottom of the bowl.

Step 6

Add 3 cups heavy whipping cream and continue whipping until the whipped cream is fully incorporated and the cream is fluffy.

Step 7

Reserve 1 cup of frosting until later (for decorating).

Step 8

Put a dab of frosting on your serving board/platter. Place the first cake layer on top and press to adhere. Spread ⅕ of frosting into an even layer, place the second layer and do the same. Repeat until all frosting and cake are used up. Adding about ¼ of halved raspberries to each layer would be great, but it is optional.

Step 9

Use about ⅔ of a cup of the reserved frosting to cover the sides and top of the cake. Put a thicker layer around the sides, but a very thin layer on top.

Step 10

Fit a pastry bag or a sandwich Ziploc bag with a star tip (#35 Ateco) and fill it with the reserved ⅓ cup frosting.

Step 11

While holding the cake in one hand (or on a raised surface such as cake stand), fill the other palm of your hand with unsweetened shredded coconut and press it against the sides of the cake. Have something to catch the coconut shreds when they fall back down, like a baking sheet or a large plate. Go all around, covering the sides and around ½ inch of the top edge of the cake with coconut. Pipe stars all around the edge of the cake with the prepared piping bag.

Step 12

Put a layer of raspberries, open side up all inside the piped edge. Fill each opening with raspberry sauce or strained jam.

Step 13

Cover the cake and refrigerate overnight, for the cake layers to soften.