I’ve always loved a slice of pound cake, especially after it’s fresh from the oven. And, in our family, we even freshen up leftover pound cake by warming it in a toaster oven, so we get a hot and delicious experience over and over again until the last slice is gone.

My mom also makes an icebox cake with coconut milk that I’ve loved so much it’s become my annual birthday cake every time my special day rolls around each fall. That cake is so moist and sweet, more so with every day it sits in the fridge.

Tres Leches Pound Cake is the combination of those two cakes, a tasty pound cake with the added punch of sweetness from the combination of three different milk ingredients that soak in after it comes out of the oven.

I’ve seen quite a few recipes for a similar pound cake, and most also use toasted coconut shavings in the batter. My wife Molly doesn’t enjoy the texture of coconut, so our recipe doesn’t include it. You can easily add it back in and experiment with how much you like.

When I started thinking about making this recipe, I couldn’t get it out of my mind for weeks. In our house, we generally prefer pie to cake, but this cake kept coming back to me. That’s exactly the kind of recipe that finds its way to #FoodieScore for you to make and enjoy, too!

 

Tres Leches Pound Cake

What you need:

1 ½ cups butter (three sticks)

2 ½ cups sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

3 cups all-purpose flour, divided in half

8 large eggs, divided in half

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

½ can (6 ounces) evaporated milk

1 cup coconut milk (about ½ can)

 

What you do:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a Bundt or pound cake pan.

2. Beat butter, sugar and cornstarch in your stand mixer until fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can mix by hand. It will just take longer and more elbow grease.

3. Add 1 ½ cups of flour and 4 eggs to your mixture and beat until combined. Scrape down sides of the bowl.

4. Add remaining 1 ½ cups of flour and 4 eggs and beat until combined. Scrape down sides of the bowl.

5. Spoon cake batter into prepared pan.

6. Bake for 1 hour.

7. Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 15 more minutes.

8. In another mixing bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and coconut milk.

9. Using the handle end of a wooden spoon or skewer, poke holes in warm cake. Slowly pour milks mixture over cake.

10. Let cake cool at room temperature for 1 hour before serving. (It will remain nice and warm for a while after it’s done baking.)

I turned the cake onto a cake plate for serving and storage. I have seen multiple recipes suggest you cut and serve this cake right from the pan. Our photo above shows the cake still in the pan after pouring the milk mixture over it. You can see the soak holes in the cake. This particular cake wasn’t necessarily my prettiest dessert creation, but it was absolutely delicious!

You can cover and refrigerate the cake for a week (if it lasts that long).