Happy Cinco de Mayo amigos!

I was realizing the other day that I have not been sharing nearly enough recipes with y’all lately, especially recipes of the dessert variety. That needs to be rectified rápido and today I’m sharing the perfect recipe for the fifth of May in the form of a chocolate tres leche cake!

Because regular leche is delicious, but chocolate is muy bueno.

Also, if you’re looking for an authentic tres leche recipe then go ahead and click away now. First of all, this one starts with a box cake mix to help save time and cleanup. Secondly, this is technically a cuatro leche cake… but you could tweak it if you wanted to. However, if you’re looking for a delicious and simple solution for tres leche cake that you could make today and easily have ready in time for tonight, then please, stick around!

I made this cake for my husband’s birthday cake this past weekend after he said, “I don’t care” when I asked what kind of cake he wanted. Actually, his exact words were, “I don’t care, something good”. I think you’ll agree that this chocolate tres leche cake fits that description.

I mean, look at that chocolate sweetened condensed milk, isn’t that deliciously gorgeous? I could just eat it up with a spoon.

Actually, I did a little bit; so did my kids. It. Is. Amazing.

To frost my cake I just made a homemade whipped cream, with chocolate whipped cream for the filling. For that recipe I used the chocolate whipped cream recipe from The First Year Blog. It’s a good, basic recipe, although my husband who is not a dark or bittersweet chocolate fan said it wasn’t quite sweet enough for his preference.

4.5 from 2 votes

Print

Chocolate Tres Leche Cake

Prep Time

6 hrs

Cook Time

25 mins

Total Time

6 hrs 25 mins

 

A simple solution for a tres leche cake with a chocolate twist.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Mexican

Servings: 8 people

Author: Justine @ Little Dove

Ingredients

• 1 Box of white cake mix and ingredients it calls for on the box. You can substitute the water in the recipe for milk.
• 5 oz evaporated milk
• 14 oz chocolate sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 cup chocolate milk
• 1/4 cup heavy cream You can substitute 1/2 cup of half and half if you prefer in place of chocolate milks and heavy cream. Add chocolate syrup first.

Instructions

1. Mix up boxed cake mix and bake according to instructions. You can either bake in two round pans to stack the cake, or a 9x13" pan for a more traditional tres leche cake.
2. Combine the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, chocolate milk, and heavy cream together in a bowl and put in refrigeration until ready to pour over cake.
3. While the cake is still warm carefully take out of cake pan(s) and trim off the top to make them level if you're doing a layered cake. Then poke holes all over the tops of the cake. If you're baking in a 9x13" pan you can go right to poking holes all over the top.
4. If you took your cakes out of the pans to trim the tops, place them back in the cake pans now. Pour the milk mixture over the cake and then cover with plastic wrap. It is best to allow it to sit overnight to let it soak in thoroughly. If you're in a pinch then 4-6 hours will suffice.
5. I like to fill and frost with homemade whipped topping but any topping will do. Take care as the cake is incredibly moist and can easily fall apart. A lighter frosting (like whipped cream) does much better than a heavier one (like a buttercream).

Have you made a tres leche cake before? How will you be celebrating Cinco de Mayo?