The Suze is back with another delicious baking recipe.  And this one is even more Hispanic than the last one! If you are into that sort of thing.  We'll be making a Tres Leches cake, aka the Three Milks of Melquiades Estrada.

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 6 eggs (or, as Suzi calls them after a night of karaoke*, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeggs....)
  
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 13 oz can evaporated milk
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• Fresh strawberries (or other fruit, so long as its FRESH)
• 9" springform pan
• Either a high-speed mixer, or a mixing attachment for your robotic hand
  

I had never heard of a springform before, but you can apparently buy them anywhere around here for pretty cheap.  I think it might be Spanish.  They'll be distinguishable from other pans because there will be a buckle around the outside, as you can see in the picture below.  Take your springform and spray it down with some Pam.

First we're going to prepare the batter. Combine the eggs and sugar into a bowl. You are going to need to set your Kitchenaid mixer/robotic arm to mix these ingredients on high for about five minutes. The aeration from the mixing action will cause the volume of stuff in the bowl to double.  I suppose you could try to do it by hand, but you might want to schedule yourself for Tommy John surgery now to save some time. 

While the ingredients are mixing, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Once your five minutes are up, set the mixer to low, add water and one teaspood of vanilla, and then slowly add in the flour.  Once the ingredients are combined, your batter is done. 

Pour the batter into your springform and put it in the oven for 35-45 minutes at 350 degrees. You will know that it is done when you have a firm center and the cake starts to pull away from the edges of the springform.

Baking done? Then its time to take the cake out of the springform. Flip the cake over onto a pan, undo the buckle, and pry the cake out. You may need to use a knife to pry it away from the edges before it comes free.

While the cake cools, we will prepare the three milks. In a bowl, mix together 1 cup of heavy cream, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and remaining vanilla. 

Now flip the cake back over, and slice away the top crust (which you may, from this point forward, feel free to snack on. Yum!) Use a toothpick to poke holes into the cake. Poke everywhere. Poke poke!

Put the cake into a serving dish with a little bit of lip, unless you want to cover your counters and floors with three milks.  Ladle on the three milks slowly, allowing the milk to seep into the cake. Refrigerate.

Just before you are ready to serve it, take the cake out of the refrigerator and cover it in whipped cream and fresh strawberries. You can use Redi-Whip if you want to, but I recommend pouring the remaining 2 cups of heavy cream into your mixer and whipping up some fresh whipped cream.

Slice up the strawberries and garnish. Now, take it to work with you AND DON'T LET ME HAVE ANY DELICIOUS CAKE SUZI WHY?!?!?!

tres-leches-13, originally uploaded by craftj2.

*Hey, speaking of karaoke, an old man told a joke on Saturday before singing: "Have you heard about the Octomom breakfast? It's 8 eggs, no sausage, and somebody else pays for it."  That made me think of another joke: Have you heard about the Heath Ledger breakfast? It's an entire bottle of sleeping pills. (I'm having trouble deciding if its too soon or too late for Heath Ledger jokes.)