Tres Leches Cake

Cook Time 1 hour (+ overnight setting)

Servings 8

Ingredients

250g self-raising flour

1½ tsp baking powder
3 eggs
220g caster sugar
300ml thickened cream
2 x 395g cans condensed milk
2 x 375ml cans evaporated milk
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 cloves
½ tsp vanilla extract

Berry sorbet
500g strawberries, hulled, halved
125g blueberries
220g caster sugar
375ml water
2 tbsp lemon juice
Pinch of salt

Manjar blanco (sweetened milk caramel)
375ml can evaporated milk
395g can condensed milk
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 cinnamon quills (optional)
Pinch of salt

This recipe needs to be started one day in advance for the cake to absorb the milk mixture and the sorbet to freeze.

Method

To make sorbet, blend berries to a purée. Strain, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible. Place remaining ingredients in a pan over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, add fruit purée and stir to combine. Pour into a 1 litre-capacity freezer-proof container and freeze for 6 hours or until frozen. Remove sorbet from container, roughly chop, then pulse in a blender until slushy. Return to container, cover surface with plastic wrap and freeze for a further 4 hours or until frozen.

Preheat oven to 170°C.

Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar for 15 minutes or until thick and creamy and mixture has reached the ribbon stage.
Whisk cream to soft peaks in a bowl and then fold in the flour and baking powder. Add the egg mixture, and fold until just combined. Pour into a greased, lined 23cm deep square cake pan. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden and the cake comes away from the sides of the pan.

Meanwhile, place condensed and evaporated milks, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat. Heat for 5 minutes, then transfer to a jug. Cool to room temperature.

Using a fork or skewer and pierce cake several times, then pour milk mixture over hot cake; discard cloves. Cover cake with baking paper and place a heavy weight on top. Refrigerate overnight.

To make manjar blanco, place evaporated and condensed milks, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, if using, and a pinch of salt in a saucepan. Bring to the boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Discard cinnamon quills and reduce heat to low. Cook, whisking occasionally for 30 minutes, then continuously for a further 15 minutes or until mixture turns golden and is very thick; to check, drag a spoon along base of saucepan. You should see the bottom of the pan for a few seconds before mixture closes in on itself. Remove from heat and let cool.

Serve slices of cake with manjar blanco and the sorbet.