Friday, March 9, 2012

Day 69: Baked a Cake UPDATE!!


SUCCESS!! Just like in Costa Rica.

Today is my wife's 30th birthday. I am not exaggerating when I say that she doesn't look at day over 25. She is as beautiful now as the day that I met her. It is crazy to think back to the first birthday we shared together 6 years ago in Californa (it was a flu ridden disaster) and see where we are now married with a daughter. With all that has been going on lately, I want to do something to brighten up her birthday.

During college, Lindsey lived in Costa Rica on two separate occasions both studying abroad and for fun. In that time, she became addicted to the many different meals that her Costa Rican "mother" cooked for her. One of the things that she absolutely fell in love with was a dessert called Tres Leches (Three Milks) Cake. She always talks up how delicious this cake is, and whenever we are at a restaurant that offers it, there is no doubt she will order it. Today, for my random act of birthday kindness, I am going to attempt to cook her a Tres Leches cake that will hopefully be on par with the ones she has had in the past. This will still be a surprise to her because she typically doesn't get the time to read my blog until the night time. I will post a picture of my cake later to compare to the one above, but my guess is that it won't look anywhere near the same.

UPDATE!!

For those asking, here is the recipe. It came out perfectly.


Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 5 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13 inch baking pan.
  2. Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside.
  3. Cream butter or margarine and the 1 cup sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs and the 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract; beat well.
  4. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture 2 tablespoons at a time; mix until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Pierce cake several times with a fork.
  6. Combine the whole milk, condensed milk, and evaporated milk together. Pour over the top of the cooled cake.
  7. Whip whipping cream, the remaining 1 cup of the sugar, and the remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla together until thick. Spread over the top of cake. Sprinkle cinnamon on top. Be sure and keep cake refrigerated, enjoy!

23 comments:

  1. Very sweet! Happy Birthday to your lady! :)

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  2. What a great act of love! Good luck on your baking and remember even if it isn't perfect - she'll love it. It's so the thought! Happy Birthday to Lindsey!

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  3. Happy birthday to your wife and happy baking to you :)
    Regards,
    Ruby

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  4. What a wonderful gesture.........hope you day is filled with blessings!

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  5. Good luck with the cake and happy birthday to your wife :)

    Universal Gibberish

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  6. Happy Birthday bloggers wife, all the way from Edinburgh Scotland!

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  7. You are so nice!
    http://rubysfairybook.blogspot.com/2012/03/and-award-goes-to.html

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  8. Enjoying your blog! Envious of the cake! Can you publish the recipe please, would it count as a random act of kindness to your blog followers? Keep it up, you're doing great.

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  9. Wow! I'm going to have to look up that recipe and try it myself! Can I get a "YUMMY" in the house?!?! LOL Happy birthday to the wifey!!!!

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  10. You're sweet! Happy bday to the wife!!

    heartsintherain.blogspot.com

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  11. what a sweet thing to do!!!I am sure she will appreciate any cake that tastes nearly as good as that one looks!! You are a brave soul to even try!!!

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  12. Awww! How sweet! Happy Birthday!

    DeeDee
    www.KidNeedsAKidney.blogspot.com

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  13. Oh wow, that looks amazing! But then I have an incredible sweet tooth and I love recipes with more milk than water. Thanks for sharing!

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  14. I love your blog! I haven't been able to read all the posts yet but I love the idea. Hope your cake turns out great and your wife has a great birthday!

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  15. Just stumbled across this blog and I have to say - I am impressed. What a great idea for each of us to do one act of kindness each and every day. You're doing a great thing.

    Olio By Marilyn

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  16. That cake sounds really good! Hope to try it sometime....Happy late birthday to your wife!!!!

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  17. Your wife's a very lucky lady. Lovely blog and I'm sure the cake was yummy :)

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  18. I lived in Costa Rica for two years. I found one place in the us that makes tres leches almost as good as mus mani's had it.(I probably spelled that wrong) lol Thanks for reminding me of great memories. I can almost feel the cool breeze while I sit in the park (by the church) and eat my tres leches. mmmm

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  19. Just last week we ate at a very nice restaurant with some friends, and she let me have a desert from her Tres Leches, since I had no idea how it tasted like -it was so yummy, so I'm so jazzed I see your recipe! Thanks for sharing!! And keep up the good work!

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  20. I tried this recipe for company, and I was a little intimidated when I added the milks to the top of the cake. It came out wonderful though and was delicious. A really unique recipe that tastes delicious. Thanks for sharing...... your posts are really great. I enjoy seeing some of the small things we can all do for others.

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