Mango Tres Leches Cake

Mango, a tropical fruit claimed to be the king of fruits for its unique sweetness and flavour, indeed a sumptuous feast as a whole. Mango being the national fruit of India has its place in every single soul. As it’s a seasonal fruit, we crave with insatiable hunger for it the entire year. Now, being the mango season, I want to explore and evoke my followers to try my experiments with this yellow beauty 💛. I’m delighted to kick start the 🥭Mango Mania 🥭 for upcoming weeks.

Click here to jump to recipe card!

Mango Mania drives me so crazy that I took the decision of holding my chaat theme for a while as I know well that you all are eagerly waiting for my Dabeli recipe, it’s variations and fusions. I wanted my followers to utilize this 🥭 season and try few interesting recipes with it. That gave me the privilege to intermediately switch the theme. The wait will not be too long, after relishing the Mango Mania for few weeks, I’ll post the Dabeli recipe. I apologize for the change of plans.

I wanted to inaugurate this Mango Mania with an ambrosial recipe. I wanted to experiment with mangoes in all ways possible.This led me to the Latin-American delicacy Tres Leches, also known as Pan Tres Leches.

Intro to Tres Leches cake: – it literally translates to “three milk cake”. Either a sponge or butter cake is perforated, then soaked with a mixture of three milks namely- evaporated milk, condensed milk, whole milk or heavy cream. Topped with whipped cream or frosting and fresh fruits if desired. Though its origin is debatable between Mexico or Nicaragua, it’s a Latin American delicacy…😃😃.

I transformed this heavenly dish to Mango tres leches cake, infused mango in every step, going crazy with its flavour and overloaded it with this tropical fruit in all layers. Yes, sponge cake with mango, tres leches/3-milks with mango, cream cheese frosting with mango, 🥭. Feel the 🥭 fever…🥰😍😍.

Key ingredients-

Sponge cake: this is a very basic sponge cake, consisting of all-purpose flour, leavening agent, sugar, vanilla essence, egg, milk but here the eggs are separated, and egg white is whipped to form stiff peaks but not dry (refer notes) and then folded into the batter as a substitute for butter or oil.

Tres leches/3 milks: a mixture of 3 milks is prepared by mixing heavy cream, condensed milk, evaporated milk.

Whipped cream frosting or cream cheese frosting: whip the cream with sugar to make simple whipped cream frosting or you can make cream cheese frosting by whipping softened cream cheese, butter with powdered sugar and vanilla essence.

Twist: As I promised you that this is a Mango Mania, I tried to incorporate mango in all possible ways, to convert this Latin American delicacy into an ambrosial dish. Thus, I transformed tres leches into Mango Tres leches with mango sponge cake perforated and soaked in 3 milk and mango puree mixture, topped with Mango cream cheese frosting. Can you handle the Mango Mania…😉😍?

Don’t forget to scroll down for notes which help you with the tips and tricks to make this cake a breeze. Also, to my kitchen secret section which will amaze you with the makeover I do to the leftovers and completely give a new look. Here, I created a pudding with bread soaked in Mango 3-milk mixture, then layered with mango coulis, mango chunks, lotus biscuits crumb finally topped with Biscoff Cream Cheese Frosting or Mango Cream Cheese Frosting, drizzled with biscoff sauce…absolutely no bake pudding.  Excited, then don’t skip the kitchen secret section down…gateway to explore new fusion dishes…🥰🥰.

Let’s start the baking…👇

For Sponge cake:

Preheat the oven to 180° C for 15 minutes. Prepare a 9’×13′ ceramic casserole pan (refer notes) by covering the base with wax paper or butter paper. Bring all the ingredients to room temperature, prepare the required quantity of mango puree by grinding fresh or frozen mangoes. Always choose sweet and ripened mangoes for better results.

Separate the 5 eggs into white and yolk.

Be cautious while separating, even a single drop of yolk in white, will destroy the peak formation while whipping the white.

Also, don’t skip removing the eye/chalaza of the egg. (Refer notes for the tips, tricks involved in separating the eggs and chalaza). Few egg yolks have 2 eyes like this…👇

Remove it with a tong and discard it.

Mix all-purpose flour, salt and baking powder.

Sift the dry ingredients and keep it aside.

Whip egg yolk with ½ tsp of vinegar, vanilla essence.

Add ¾th cup of sugar in portions.

Whip till you get a pale yellow, creamy, ribbon like texture (refer the picture and video).

Add milk.

Then add mango puree.

And whisk it together to form a uniform mixture.

Take a wide bowl, whip the egg whites with ½ tsp of vinegar.

And whisk for a minute in high speed.

Then gradually add ¼ cup of sugar in portions.

And whip in medium speed, once all the sugar had been added, whip till stiff but not dry peaks (refer notes).

It’ll take roughly 3-4 minutes with hand mixer in medium speed.

Add sifted flour mixture into the creamy yolk mixture.

And mix gently with the spatula to form a uniform batter.

Now gently fold this egg whites peak into the prepared batter without letting the air formed in the peaks to escape.

Make an 8 movement with the spatula in the batter. Scrape the sides and bottom for even mixing.

Pour the batter into the prepared casserole.

And even the surface by spreading gently with the spatula.

Bake at 180° C for 40-45 minutes (time varies depending on your oven’s temperature) or till a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the cake.

Let the cake cool down for 15- 20 minutes. Avoid outdoor air while cooling.  As any egg-based cake will take on eggy smell and taste when exposed to outside air.

Meanwhile let’s prepare the 3-milk mixture.

For 3-milk mixture:

Take a deep bowl, add in the evaporated milk.

Heavy cream.

Sweetened condensed milk.

Mango puree.

Whisk till it combines well.

Add milk gradually if you feel the mixture is too thick or sweet (depends on the sweetness of the mango) or you can skip adding it.

Once the cake has cooled down, take a fork or any sharp kitchen tool poke throughout the cake (refer notes) gently.

Pour 2/3^rd of mango 3- milk mixture generously on to the cake covering all sides evenly. Reserve 1/3^rd of the milk mixture for serving.

Cover with cling film and store it in refrigerator for minimum 6 hours-overnight (refer notes). More the time more the moist.

Assembling the Tres leches:

After the overnight soaking, take the cake from the refrigerator.

According to your requirements, leave the frosting at the room temperature. I preferred to slather the frosting. I made Biscoff Cream Cheese Frosting.

And Mango Cream Cheese Frosting (for the recipe, click the hyperlink).

Then I slathered both to give a marble effect by mixing Biscoff Cream Cheese Frosting and And Mango Cream Cheese Frosting.

Then top up with mango slice.

Sprinkle some ground lotus biscuits.

To serve, cut rectangular pastry slices

And transfer to a deep plate, pour little of the reserved mango 3-milk mixture around the slice as a pool.

Melt 2 tbsp biscoff spread, drizzle it across the slice. Top up with mango chunks if desired.

Serve immediately. The heavenly Mango Tres Leches, a soaked beauty indulged in Mango in all ways is a sin I’d commit to happily…🥰😍😋😋.

Recipe card

Preparation time: 30 minutes (including 2 frostings)

Cooking time: 45- 50 minutes

Cuisine: International, Latin American

Category: Desserts

Serves: 12-13 medium servings

Author: Manimala

Ingredients:

For Sponge Cake:

All-purpose flour – 1 ¼ cup

Sugar – ¾ + ¼ cup

Egg whole – 5

Milk – 1/3 cup

Mango puree – ½ cup

Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

Baking powder – 1 ½ tsp

Salt – ¼ tsp

Vinegar – ½+½ tsp

For Mango 3 Milk Mixture:

Evaporated milk – 1 cup

Sweetened condensed milk – 2/3 cup

Heavy cream – ½ cup

Mango puree – ¾ cup

Milk – ½ cup (optional)

For Assembling:

Mango Cream Cheese Frosting

Biscoff Cream Cheese Frosting

Mango slice/chunks

Ground Lotus biscuit

Melted Biscoff Spread

Mango 3 Milk Mixture

Instructions:

For Sponge cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 180° C for 15 minutes. Prepare a 9’×13′ ceramic casserole pan (refer notes) by covering the base with wax paper or butter paper.
2. Bring all the ingredients to room temperature, prepare the required quantity of mango puree by grinding fresh or frozen mangoes. Always choose sweet and ripened mangoes for better results.
3. Separate the 5 eggs into white and yolk. Be cautious while separating, even a single drop of yolk in white, will destroy the peak formation while whipping the white. Also, don’t skip removing the eye/chalaza of the egg. (Refer notes for the tips, tricks involved in separating the eggs and chalaza).
4. Sift the dry ingredients- all-purpose flour, salt and baking powder. Mix and keep it aside.
5. Whip egg yolk with ½ tsp of vinegar, vanilla essence, along with ¾th cup of sugar till you get a pale yellow, creamy, ribbon like texture (refer the picture and video). Then add mango puree and milk and whisk it together to form a uniform mixture.
6. Take a wide bowl, whip the egg whites with ½ tsp of vinegar and whisk for a minute in high speed. Then gradually add ¼ cup of sugar in portions, and whip in medium speed, once all the sugar had been added, whip till stiff but not dry peaks (refer notes). It’ll take roughly 3-4 minutes with hand mixer in medium speed.
7. Add sifted flour mixture into the creamy yolk mixture and mix gently with the spatula to form a uniform batter. Keep it aside.
8. Now gently fold this egg whites peak into the prepared batter without letting the air formed in the peaks to escape. Make an 8 movement with the spatula in the batter. Scrape the sides and bottom for even mixing.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared casserole and even the surface by spreading gently with the spatula. Bake at 180° C for 40-45 minutes (time varies depending on your oven’s temperature) or till a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the cake.
10. Let the cake cool down for 15- 20 minutes. Avoid outdoor air while cooling.  As any egg-based cake will take on eggy smell and taste when exposed to outside air.
11. Meanwhile let’s prepare the 3-milk mixture.

For 3-milk mixture:

1. Take a deep bowl, add in the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, mango puree, whisk till it combines well. Add milk gradually if you feel the mixture is too thick or sweet (depends on the sweetness of the mango) or you can skip adding it.
2. Once the cake has cooled down, take a fork or any sharp kitchen tool poke throughout the cake (refer notes) gently.
3. Pour 2/3^rd of mango 3- milk mixture generously on to the cake covering all sides evenly. Reserve 1/3^rd of the milk mixture for serving.
4. Let it rest for minimum 6 hours-overnight (refer notes). More the time more the moist.

Assembling the Tres leches:

1. After the overnight soaking, take the cake from the refrigerator.
2. According to your requirements, leave the frosting at the room temperature.
3. I preferred to slather the frosting with a marble effect by mixing Mango Cream Cheese Frosting and Biscoff Cream Cheese Frosting (for the recipe, click the hyperlink).
4. Then sprinkle some ground lotus biscuits, top up with mango slice.
5. To serve, cut rectangular pastry slices and transfer to a deep plate, pour little of the reserved mango 3-milk mixture around the slice as a pool.
6. Melt 2 tbsp biscoff spread, drizzle it across the slice. Top up with mango chunks if desired.
7. Serve immediately the heavenly bite of Mango Tres Leches, soaked beauty indulged in Mango in all ways is a Sin to indulge happily…🥰😍😋😋.

Notes:

• Selecting the pan is most crucial. The most ideal pans for baking sponge cake are ceramic, aluminium and glass. Non-stick should be your last choice or better avoid it. The first three pans hold and spread the heat evenly on all sides letting the cake to cling and rise properly.
• Do not grease the pan instead place a parchment paper or wax paper only on the bottom (I did a mistake of covering the sides of the pan which caused the cake to pull away after cooling). Greasing will affect your cake by shrinking after cooling.
• Always fill halfway or 60% of your pan depth, giving space for the cake to rise. Choose the size of the pan accordingly. I used 9×13-inch pan.
• Sponge cake has the tendency of giving out egg smell due to its more egg content. Few tricks to avoid getting the egg smell are-

1. Add flavouring agents like vanilla essence, lemon juice, orange juice. Roughly add 1 tsp of this juice per egg you add.
2. Adding vinegar while beating the egg will also reduce the egg smell.
3. Adding lemon zest will help to reduce the egg smell.
4. Most important and easy step to get rid of the egg smell is to remove the eye of the egg. It’s also known as Chalaza, a white string kind of attachment found in the egg yolk. It helps the egg yolk to stay in place. Use a tong to separate it from the egg yolk, check the picture and video for reference. This is the major culprit in contributing the egg smell, thus removing it will reduce the egg smell to a big extent.

• While separating the eggs, not even a single drop of egg yolk should mix with the white. While beating, fat will prevent the egg whites from forming peaks.
• Adding vinegar to egg whites help to stabilize the peaks formed without deflating over time.
• To ensure stiff peaks are formed, hold the whisk attachment upside down, egg white peaks stuck to the whisk attachment shouldn’t fall or bend. Another trick is to tilt the bowl upside down, peaks formed shouldn’t fall from the bowl, should stay intact.
• Here, I mentioned stiff but not dry peaks, which means the surface of the egg whites in the bowl should still appear glossy.
• While folding the egg white peaks into the batter, do gently with a spatula (no whisk). As the air incorporated into the egg whites while beating is essential for the cake to rise well. Therefore, gentle treatment is required while mixing it with batter, over-mixing will remove the air incorporated and ruin the cake turning it deflated.
• As it was a mango tres leches, inclusion of mango puree, makes the cake extra moist. While perforating with fork, be gentle, as it may tear the cake.
• Soaking the sponge cake with 3-milk mixture for overnight pays off in the outcome. Actually, I let my cake to soak for more than 2 days, I’m out of words to explain its moistness…😍😋.

Now time for my kitchen secret…😉😍.

As I mentioned early, my kitchen secret section will amaze you with the makeover I do to the leftovers and completely give a new look. Here, I was left with mango coulis, cream cheese frosting, mango 3-milk mixture. I wanted to utilize them and thus created a Mango Bread Pudding with bread soaked in Mango 3-milk mixture, then layered with mango coulis, mango chunks, lotus biscuit crumb finally topped with Biscoff Cream Cheese frosting or Mango Cream Cheese Frosting, drizzled with melted biscoff sauce…absolutely no bake pudding.  This is an easy, no cooking, instant, dessert with bread, also wanted to satisfy my vegetarian viewers and friends...hit two mangoes 🥭🥭, with one stone…😉😅.