Any time I’ve come across a chocolate version of tres leches cake, it has delivered less chocolate umph than I was hoping for – most simply offer the milky hint of chocolate you find in a simple cup of Abuelita hot chocolate. I’m more of a devil’s food cake guy, so I set out to transform tres leches’ tried-and-true vanilla sponge into one that was devil’s food dark–a task that proved more difficult than I had imagined. The cake had to taste richly chocolatey (I relied on extra dark cocoa powder here–it’s sold as everything from black cocoa powder to special dark), but I needed it to be light enough to absorb the milky infusion (which I was also planning to spike with the cocoa powder, espresso and coffee liqueur for good measure). A dozen or so tests later–and a couple of sleepless nights–produced a cake with the perfect balance of chocolate richness and comforting moistness. I hope you love it as much as I do.
Though lots of tres leches cakes are frosted with a type of meringue, I prefer whipped cream here. If you have time and proficiency, big chocolate curls peeled from a chunk of chocolate with a vegetable peeler are a dressy, special garnish. But so are those cigarette-shaped cookies like Pirouettes. A little extra cocoa over the cream is beautiful.
INGREDIENTS
- For the cake:
- 1/2 cup (60 grams) extra dark cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup (114 grams) hot espresso or strong coffee
- 1 tablespoon (18 grams) coffee liqueur like Kahlua or Mr. Black
- 3 tablespoons (42 grams) vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (125 grams) sugar, divided use
- 3/4 cup (105 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons (5 grams) baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 5 eggs
- For the tres leches soaking liquid:
- 7 ounces (1/2 14-ounce can, 180 grams) evaporated milk
- 3 tablespoons (60 grams) sweetened condensed milk
- 1/4 cup (55 grams) whole milk
- 2 tablespoons (15 grams) extra dark cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons (28 grams) hot espresso or strong coffee
- 1 tablespoon (18 grams) coffee liqueur like Kahlua or Mr. Black
- 1 teaspoon (6 grams) vanilla
- For finishing the cake:
- 1 1/2 cups (340 grams) heavy whipping cream
- A couple tablespoons of sugar if desired
- Garnish for decoration (I like sifted cocoa powder, chocolate curls, or cigar-style chocolate cookies)
INSTRUCTIONS
Prepare the pan, oven and wet ingredients. Cut a 9-inch parchment circle and lay in the bottom of a 9-inch cake pan. (Important: don’t use a non-stick pan and don’t grease the pan.) Heat the oven to 325 degrees and adjust a shelf to the middle. In a large bowl with a flexible spatula, stir ½ cup hot espresso or coffee with ½ cup cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon coffee liqueur until smooth. Into the cocoa mixture, stir the oil and ¼ cup (55 grams) of the sugar, then set aside to cool completely.
Make the cake batter. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Separate the eggs, putting all of the whites into your mixer bowl and three of the yolks into the bowl with the cocoa mixture. (Refrigerate the extra yolks for another recipe or to scramble with more eggs for breakfast.) With the whisk attachment, beat the whites on medium speed until foamy. Increase the speed to medium-high and, when the whites look like they will hold soft peaks, add the remaining sugar 1 tablespoon at a time (you have 5 tablespoons left), beating for 15 or 20 seconds after each addition. Once all the sugar is incorporated, continue beating until the egg whites are nearly stiff. Use a spatula to thoroughly stir the dry ingredients into the cocoa mixture, then gently stir in about ¼ of the whites to lighten the batter. In 3 additions, fold in the remaining egg whites, stopping when there are no visible streaks of white.
Bake the cake. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, slide into the oven and bake until springy to the touch (a toothpick inserted near the middle should come out clean), 35 to 40 minutes. Don’t underbake the cake (an extra minute or two is preferable to a cake that’s too moist in the middle. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan (timing is important here), then run a thin knife around the edge and turn the cake out onto a serving plate.
While the cake is cooling, make the tres leches. In a small saucepan over medium-low, whisk together all of the ingredients for the tres leches soaking liquid. Heat just until warm to the touch.
Finish the cake. Carefully remove the parchment from the bottom of the cake. Poke about 20 holes in the cake with a skewer or large fork (I haven’t found this to be mandatory, but some believe that these holes promote even soaking). Slowly and evenly begin spooning the warm tres leches liquid over the surface of the warm cake, letting one addition be absorbed before adding the next. Have patience: it will take 10 to 15 minutes for the cake to absorb all the liquid; however, if you notice liquid seeping from the bottom of the cake, don’t add any more (the cake has absorbed its max.) Refrigerate until completely cold.
With your electric mixer, beat the cream until it forms stiff peaks. I like unsweetened whipped cream here, but feel free to add a little sugar–or sour cream if you want a tangy contrast. Spread the whipped cream over the cake, covering the sides and smoothing the top. A sprinkling of cocoa powder is a beautiful, simple garnish, but you may want something more elaborate like chocolate curls or Pirouette cookies broken in half and piled “pick up sticks”-style in the middle.
