Tres leches, or "three milks", adopted by the Cubans as a favorite, originated in Nicaragua. I made one using a recipe from a cuban freind of mine (it was her mother's recipe). I made this cake at home and brought it into work to get it on the menu of our national award winning restaurant. Chef went for it. Bottom line, it's just a sponge cake soaked in 3 milks and topped with Italian meringue (the kind where you cook sugar to soft-ball stage then pour it hot into stiffly beaten whites). Basically the cake starts by making a meringue and setting it aside, then beating yolks and sugar till light and fluffy, then alternately adding in the dry and the liquids, then folding in the meringue. Basic white sponge cake, use your favorite recipe. The soaking liquid for a 13x9" cake is a can (14.4 oz) of sweetened condensed milk, a can (12 oz) of evaporated milk, and a half-pint (1 c, 8 oz) of heavy (whipping) cream. I went the tropical route, and subbed coconut milk (not Coco Lopez, but the milk) for the evaporated milk. I serve it with a ring of fresh, poached pineapple (in water, sugar, and peppercorn milange), and Key Lime Sherbet that I make myself. When I make the meringue, I add a little Jet Puff Marshmallow Fluff to prevent the meringue from weeping. Per each 3 egg whites recipe, I stick 3 clean fingers in the bucket and get the stuff into the bowl. the total volume looks to be about the size of an Everlasting Gobstopper (about 3/4 the size of a golf ball). It doesn't make it too marshmallowy, and will make it keep for a good week without breaking down. The dessert made it into Saveur Magazine No. 68 (US orders call
800.429.0106). I've had it on the menu for 2 months now, and we call it "Creamy Coconut Cake". It's got that "slurp factor", like when you try to drown a cookie in a glass of milk nearly till it wants to fall off in the glass, then you pill it out and put your mouth under it to get all that milk and slurp, having the cookie squish off into your mouth, in every bite. You have to pierce the cake, and baste it often for about 2 hours (rest periods in the fridge) to get this maximum effect. Top it with at least an inch of the meringue. We blow-torch ours to get that baked alaska look--it's pretty cool."Peach" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com...