Tres Leche Cake

We celebrated my son's birthday this weekend. Per his request he wanted a tres leche cake. I went in search of a recipe and found one on A Farm Girl Babbles which was interpreted from an Alton Brown recipe. I always thought a tres leche cake would be too 'wet' but surprisingly the cake soaks up all that liquid and makes a good cake.

Here is my version.

TRES LECHE CAKE

For the cake:
1-3/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
5 large eggs
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the glaze:
1 12-oz. can evaporated milk
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup half and half

For the topping:
2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

For the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 9 x 13 pan with Pam.
Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.
Place the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed until fluffy, about 1 minute. Decrease the speed to low, and with the mixer still running, very slowly add the sugar. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl, if necessary. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix to thoroughly combine. Add the vanilla and mix again. Add the flour mixture to the batter in three batches and mix until just combined. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread evenly. It will seem like a small amount of batter for a cake. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cake is lightly golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool for 30 minutes. Poke the top of the cake all over a lot with a fork. Allow the cake to cool completely and then prepare the glaze.

For the glaze:
Whisk together the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and the half-and-half in a medium bowl. If you have a bowl with a pour spout, that works great! Once combined, pour the glaze over the cake. It will seem like a lot of glaze. Take your time and let it keep soaking in as you pour. The cake will not completely soak up the glaze until it has sat overnight. Place it in the refrigerator and finish the following day.

For the topping:
Place the whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment on low speed, whisk together until stiff peaks are formed. Increase mixer to medium speed and whisk until thick. Spread the topping onto the cake. Chill in fridge until ready to serve.

Cinnamon Roll Pumpkin Sheet Cake

One of my favorite blogs in my Google Reader is Jenny from Picky Palate. She recently posted a recipe for this Cinnamon Roll Pumpkin Sheet Cake. Pardon the picture, I dropped my camera and it sustained an injury so I took this with my Blackberry. We had a party at work for Halloween and I took this for dessert. Our theme was a Slumber Party and we all wore our comfy pajama pants and slippers to work. We had a popcorn machine and we hooked up a DVD player to a projector and watched Poltergeist. We also had nachos and pizza. It was a fun day and we all decided we'd love to wear our pajamas every day to work!

CINNAMON ROLL PUMPKIN SHEET CAKE

1 box yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk or buttermilk
3.4 ounce box Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix
1/2 cup sour cream
15 ounce can pumpkin
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream or milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and spray a large jelly roll pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Place cake mix, eggs, oil, milk, pudding, sour cream and pumpkin into a stand or electric mixer, beating until well combined, about 1 1/2 minutes. Pour into prepared pan, spreading evenly.
Place butter into a microwave safe bowl and melt, about 30-40 seconds. Add brown sugar and cinnamon to bowl, mixing until combined. Drizzle mixture evenly over cake then take a knife and run it through to swirl.
Bake cake for 30-35 minutes, until cooked through and remove. Place powdered sugar and cream into a large bowl and mix until creamy and smooth. Drizzle over warm cake then let cool for 20 minutes before cutting into squares. Refrigerate if not serving same day.