The Labor of the Tres Leches Cake

When asked to make an exotic dessert for a party recently, the first thing I thought of was the Tres Leches Cake that I tried a very long time ago. I first had this cake at a restaurant in Los Angeles called La Ciudad. I dined there with college friends back in the hay day. I remembered something about "I'm never making this cake again" but I couldn't remember why. And I thought, "Well, maybe I wasn't as proficient of a baker back then...so maybe I'll give it a go now and it'll be easier." Oh HECK NO! I now remember FULL WELL why I stopped making this cake. Any cake where you have to 'pour liquid through cake until completely absorbed' is a time consuming and crazy recipe!


As good as this cake is, my arm nearly fell off after almost an hour of ladling that stupid liquid. Next time I'm doing it the easy way and baking the cake in a 9x13 pan and pouring the whole bowl of liquid in there. It may be mushy a bit but who cares...at least I won't lose another hour of my life to ladling! In the end, it turned out well and the ladies I served it to loved it so much they took all the left overs. (This cake is so rich, there's no way you can eat it all at one sitting...well, there is a way but you won't feel very good about it afterwards.)