Milk, Milk, and Milk: Tres Leches Cake

"Are you getting enough calcium?"

I hear that a lot.

Somehow, people around me seem to to worry that perhaps I'm not drinking enough milk or eating a sufficient amount of yogurt on a daily basis.

Let's get things straight: I drink nearly two liters of milk per week, and usually have at least one other dairy product each day. Happy?

Oh, and also: I've been making tres leches cake. I think I'm on the safe side, calcium-speaking. Sounds like I just heard someone add "on the saturated fat level, you're not so bad either" but pssh! Cows are my friends. My friends are not cows, however--that only works in one direction.

Tres leches cake has the most descriptive yet simple name you could possible think of. Three milks. Got it.

What the name fails to capture, however, is the sheer addictiveness of the cake both in taste and texture.

The process by which you achieve this incredible feat of putting three types of milk into one single cake makes it akin to a tea ceremony, crossed with a strange Halloween remake.

Carefully, you prepare each ingredient for the moment the cake is removed from the oven. Sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, and normal milk (in this specific case) stand, aligned, ready for their sacrifice. The cake is greeted at the oven door by a knife, and at this point, it's time to give way to all your secret murder fantasies.

I personally stabbed my cake fifty times, and trust me, it felt really good.

After the cake gets drenched in milk and cream, let it sit in the fridge for a few hours if you can--that's the hard part. Once you suspect it just might be perfect, take a spoonful straight out of the pan. Don't bother with a plate.

The cake is dense yet melts in your mouth, leaving behind the sweet, creamy taste of condensed milk. It's more than that, though: vanilla mingles with a soft caramel, intensifying the impression that you've just landed on a pillow of perfect cake.

Please, help me get the word out to my entourage that calcium is back on the team: tres leches cake is becoming a regular around here.

Tres Leches Cake

serves 6 to 8

for milk mixture:
1/2 can (7 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
6 oz. whole milk
1/2 c. heavy cream
1 TS vanilla extract

for cake:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 TS baking powder
1/2 TS salt
1/2 TS cinnamon
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 TS vanilla extract
2 eggs
3/4 c. sugar

Prepare milk mixture: Heat sweetened condensed milk in a double boiler over medium heat until slightly thickened. Whisk in milk, cream, and vanilla. Set aside to cool.

Prepare cake: Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C. Grease and flour a 8x8 in. square baking pan, or any other pan of comparable size.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon together. In a saucepan over low heat, mix butter, milk, and vanilla extract until combined.

In a large bowl, whip eggs on high speed and gradually add sugar, until thickened and whitened, about 5 minutes. On low speed, add butter mixture and whip until combined. Next, add flour mixture until incorporated and smooth.

Pour into prepared pan and bake approximately 30 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few crumbs attached. Let the cake cool in pan about ten minutes.

Poke around 30 holes in the cake using a knitting needle, skewer, or knife. Pour milk mixture over cake and let cake cool at room temperature. When cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until mixture is fully absorbed and cake is cold, at least two hours.

Serve, alone or with whipped cream. Or simply eat the whole thing straight out of the pan on your own (recommended).