Inspired by the Latin American (namely Nicaraguan) preparation of Tres Leches, a variant that introduces ample amounts of coffee into each element. Both A Cozy Kitchen and Hummingbird High list this as a highly requested variant/twist on the traditional. Mandy Baca has an excellent write-up on food52 about the history of Tres Leches cake, that, like many foods, are a product of vicious colonialism, where Nicaraguans were only allowed access to canned milks which were shelf stable (and were not sold at a premium compared to fresh milks as the dairy industry had not gained much of a foothold). Soaking a cake in milk(s) had some distinct advantages in humid and hot Latin America, you're able to add richness that wouldn't spoil very easily, you can bake a more delicate cake, maybe even have it dry out to a degree, and then soak it to essentially rehydrate the cake if it dries out too far, and it allows you to have excess sugar from sugarcane production in Latin America go to good use (and hey you can even double up on sugars with the addition of rum). Some of this dessert-making wisdom also parallels my experiences growing up with soak cakes, better-than-sex cakes, and the like, where we weren't able to make obscenely delicate or intricate desserts due to humidity and temperature.
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Traditionally, Tres Leches cakes are made with a fatless sponge, so you're using the trapped air from a meringue to form your structure inside the cake, as opposed to creaming butter and sugar together. This type of cake or sponge is suited well for rich and decadent cakes as to not completely overload your mouth with richness, that you have high contrast between textures with a light and airy cake and denseness from condensed milk soak.
Jumping a few cultures over, and similar to banh flan (the Vietnamese iteration of crème caramel), the coffee caramel chunks will sort of "rehydrate" in the whipped cream as it sits, softening it up, but will not completely dissolve as to not destroy any contrast in texture. I made this cake for my birthday this year, because I wasn't really feeling like a proper tiered cake, oddly wasn't craving pastry of any kind, but also wanted something I could toss together some of my favorite flavors (and to feed the unquenchable thirst and need for coffee in my life c. 2020). Shopping List (Coffee Sponge):
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Prep (Coffee Caramel):
In your stainless steel skillet, combine the sugar, espresso, and vanilla, whisking to just combine. Over medium to medium-high heat, without stirring, heat the sugar mixture to 285 deg F and immediately (and carefully) pour out onto silicone mat and top with flaky salt. Allow to cool completely, and then with the back end of a wooden spoon, crack the caramel into shards of your desired size. Dealer's choice on this one, really. Store in an air-tight, dry location until ready to use (moisture will soften this pretty readily). This stuff also dissolves readily into coffee for instant flavor once you've finished the cake. You'll be noticing a coffee theme here, hopefully.
Prep (Condensed Coconut Milk Soak):
In the wide-diameter sauce pot, combine the 28 oz coconut milk and 200 g sugars and heat over medium heat until it boils (it may foam a lot, so be ready to catch it if it starts overflowing). Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue cooking, stirring relatively frequently until it has thickened and reduced by at least half - the more it reduces, the less water content you have and the hotter the sugar will get, which leads to a more rapid boil off of water content, so be careful, it can get out of hand. At this point, the mixture will look significantly darker and will be very viscous. Reserve the condensed milk (you'll need about 10 oz of it total), it stays well in the fridge for a few weeks and goes great in coffee by itself.
Prep (Coffee Sponge):
Preheat your oven to 350 deg F. Prepare your 9"x13" baking pan, and by prepare, I mean take it out of the cupboard and do absolutely nothing to it. You don't want to grease it, because you'll want the meringue-based (think angel food cake) sponge to "grip" onto the edges of the pan and climb as the air pockets expand during baking.
Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, espresso powder if using), and set aside.
Mix the coconut milk, vanilla extract, and fresh espresso (if using). Set aside.
In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment (or hand blender with whisk), make a soft peak meringue out of the cream of tartar and egg whites, and then continue on to make a Swiss meringue by incorporating the sugar slowly while continuously whisking. Remove the meringue from the stand mixer bowl into another bowl, set aside - remember we are using meringue AND baking powder as leavener in this sponge.
Clean the bowl that you made the meringue in, add egg yolks and your sugars and beat on medium-high speed for 5-6 minutes or until a quickly dissolving ribbon forms. The color here should be significantly lighter than you started with and will likely double in volume by the time you're finished. In alternating batches, incorporate the dry ingredients and wet ingredients into your "creamed" egg yolk and sugar mixture. Now, it's time to temper this batter - you'll want to do this by hand.
Take ~1/4 of your meringue mixture and vigorously mix it into the batter, this "sacrifice" of some of your meringue significantly lowers the density of the cake batter as to not completely deflate it when you fold in the remaining 3/4 of the meringue. So then, fold in the remaining meringue. Be gentle about it as to minimize deflation of your sponge, but don't be too anal about it, we have baking powder as an insurance policy.
Immediately pour this into your unprepared baking dish and bake at 350 deg F for 18-20 minutes. You know the drill, test the center with a toothpick, and it should come out clean. You don't *really* have to worry about overbaking this sponge anyway, since you're soaking it in coconut milk, so just go with your judgement. Set this aside to cool for 30 minutes. Poke a generous amount of holes in the cake with either a skewer or a fork with long tines.
Take 10 oz of your condensed coconut milk and combine it with 12 oz of regular fat coconut milk to loosen it up and decrease its viscosity, otherwise it will not penetrate into the sponge. In 2-3 stages, pour a layer of the soak over the top of the cake and allow it to fully absorb into the sponge - you may have to wait 5-10 minutes in-between batches to ensure full-soakage. Be patient or you'll just wind up with a layer of custard on top of the cake, but don't lose hope, the cake may look like it won't accept any more, but trust the process. Besides, it's not a bad thing to have excess sugary milk pouring out the bottom of the cake, that's desirable. Cover this with plastic wrap and toss into the fridge to chill completely. Did I mention you should probably do this all overnight?
Prep (Whipped Coconut Cream):
Whip it. If you're feeling zesty, do it by hand, otherwise, harness the power of machines.
The Business:
I struggle with instructing you on what to do, since so many elements of this cake are made ahead of time, and arguably require a lot of downtime, so:
Take your unassembled but soaked cake out of the fridge, spread with fresh whipped coconut cream, top with coffee caramel shards, and enjoy!
Obviously, serve with coffee.
In your stainless steel skillet, combine the sugar, espresso, and vanilla, whisking to just combine. Over medium to medium-high heat, without stirring, heat the sugar mixture to 285 deg F and immediately (and carefully) pour out onto silicone mat and top with flaky salt. Allow to cool completely, and then with the back end of a wooden spoon, crack the caramel into shards of your desired size. Dealer's choice on this one, really. Store in an air-tight, dry location until ready to use (moisture will soften this pretty readily). This stuff also dissolves readily into coffee for instant flavor once you've finished the cake. You'll be noticing a coffee theme here, hopefully.
Prep (Condensed Coconut Milk Soak):
In the wide-diameter sauce pot, combine the 28 oz coconut milk and 200 g sugars and heat over medium heat until it boils (it may foam a lot, so be ready to catch it if it starts overflowing). Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue cooking, stirring relatively frequently until it has thickened and reduced by at least half - the more it reduces, the less water content you have and the hotter the sugar will get, which leads to a more rapid boil off of water content, so be careful, it can get out of hand. At this point, the mixture will look significantly darker and will be very viscous. Reserve the condensed milk (you'll need about 10 oz of it total), it stays well in the fridge for a few weeks and goes great in coffee by itself.
Prep (Coffee Sponge):
Preheat your oven to 350 deg F. Prepare your 9"x13" baking pan, and by prepare, I mean take it out of the cupboard and do absolutely nothing to it. You don't want to grease it, because you'll want the meringue-based (think angel food cake) sponge to "grip" onto the edges of the pan and climb as the air pockets expand during baking.
Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, espresso powder if using), and set aside.
Mix the coconut milk, vanilla extract, and fresh espresso (if using). Set aside.
In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment (or hand blender with whisk), make a soft peak meringue out of the cream of tartar and egg whites, and then continue on to make a Swiss meringue by incorporating the sugar slowly while continuously whisking. Remove the meringue from the stand mixer bowl into another bowl, set aside - remember we are using meringue AND baking powder as leavener in this sponge.
Clean the bowl that you made the meringue in, add egg yolks and your sugars and beat on medium-high speed for 5-6 minutes or until a quickly dissolving ribbon forms. The color here should be significantly lighter than you started with and will likely double in volume by the time you're finished. In alternating batches, incorporate the dry ingredients and wet ingredients into your "creamed" egg yolk and sugar mixture. Now, it's time to temper this batter - you'll want to do this by hand.
Take ~1/4 of your meringue mixture and vigorously mix it into the batter, this "sacrifice" of some of your meringue significantly lowers the density of the cake batter as to not completely deflate it when you fold in the remaining 3/4 of the meringue. So then, fold in the remaining meringue. Be gentle about it as to minimize deflation of your sponge, but don't be too anal about it, we have baking powder as an insurance policy.
Immediately pour this into your unprepared baking dish and bake at 350 deg F for 18-20 minutes. You know the drill, test the center with a toothpick, and it should come out clean. You don't *really* have to worry about overbaking this sponge anyway, since you're soaking it in coconut milk, so just go with your judgement. Set this aside to cool for 30 minutes. Poke a generous amount of holes in the cake with either a skewer or a fork with long tines.
Take 10 oz of your condensed coconut milk and combine it with 12 oz of regular fat coconut milk to loosen it up and decrease its viscosity, otherwise it will not penetrate into the sponge. In 2-3 stages, pour a layer of the soak over the top of the cake and allow it to fully absorb into the sponge - you may have to wait 5-10 minutes in-between batches to ensure full-soakage. Be patient or you'll just wind up with a layer of custard on top of the cake, but don't lose hope, the cake may look like it won't accept any more, but trust the process. Besides, it's not a bad thing to have excess sugary milk pouring out the bottom of the cake, that's desirable. Cover this with plastic wrap and toss into the fridge to chill completely. Did I mention you should probably do this all overnight?
Prep (Whipped Coconut Cream):
Whip it. If you're feeling zesty, do it by hand, otherwise, harness the power of machines.
The Business:
I struggle with instructing you on what to do, since so many elements of this cake are made ahead of time, and arguably require a lot of downtime, so:
Take your unassembled but soaked cake out of the fridge, spread with fresh whipped coconut cream, top with coffee caramel shards, and enjoy!
Obviously, serve with coffee.
