This Mexican dessert is nothing short of amazing - and it's perfect for Cinco de Mayo!
Try this tropical tiramisu next!
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
White chocolate and lime tres leches cake is such an unusual flavor combo - absolutely delicious.
Making this Mexican dessert is so easy!
The most difficult part is waiting while it sits overnight soaking up all that milky goodness. It will take about 40 minutes to make the cake then you'll need to refrigerate it for at least 8 hours.
🧾 Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Butter
- Limes
- Key lime juice
- Vanilla
- Heavy cream
- Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk ( I recommend it - it's what I use)
- Evaporated milk
- White chocolate chips
- Rum
- White chocolate
- Powdered instant pudding mix
🔪 Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the green recipe card below.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
This takes between 2 and 5 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each.
Beat in the vanilla and the zest from one lime.
Add the flour, then the lime juice with the mixer running on slow.
Mix just until well blended.
Pour into a greased pan and bake.
Remove from the oven when a toothpick comes out clean.
Poke holes in the cake with a skewer. No need to let it cool.
Pour the cream mixture over the top, a little at a time, pulling the edges away from the pan and letting the cream flow underneath.
Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Next Day
Just before serving drizzle some lime juice over the cake and then top with the whipped cream frosting.
Keep leftovers in the fridge.
👩🏻🍳 Frequently asked questions
Here are the most commonly asked questions about this recipe. If you don't find the answer to yours here leave a comment below or email me - I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Yes. It needs to be refrigerated overnight to let the cream mixture soak into it - and any leftovers should be stored in the refrigerator as well.
It's a dense butter cake, sometimes called milk cake, that's been soaked in a mixture of evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and cream plus whatever flavor variation you've chosen.
🥫 Storage
Your yummy tres leches cake should be kept in the refrigerator until serving time. Any leftovers should be covered tightly and refrigerated promptly.
It will be fine for about 3 to 4 days but the quality starts to deteriorate after two days.
You can make this and freeze it without putting the milk mixture or topping on. Once you're ready to finish just thaw and poke the holes in it and proceed with the recipe.
Once you've put the soaking mixture on the cake you can't freeze it, you'll need to go ahead and serve it. This isn't a dessert that can be made more than a day in advance.
💭 Tips for success
Expert Tip: This dessert is supposed to be very moist but not soggy. That's why you need a dense cake. Don't let anyone tell you a mix cake will work. It will be mush.
- Some people make a lighter, fluffier cake for Tres Leches but I think that it needs to be dense - with almost a pound cake texture. If it's too fluffy it just turns into a wet, soggy mess.
- You can make this up to two days ahead of time but no more than that.
- I love strawberries with lime and white chocolate. They make a great garnish!
- Since you bake and serve this easy dessert right in the same pan it's perfect for potlucks.
- Serve it cold!
This iconic Mexican dessert reminds me of pig pickin' or holy cow cake, honestly - it's got that same richness and decadence!
I think that the recipe surfaced sometime in the mid-1950s or 60s, right along with Frito Pie and other brand created foods - at least in the United States.
I know that it was on the back label of evaporated milk cans for years.
📚 Related recipes
Mexican food is absolutely one of my favorite cuisines! I love the smoky, spicy flavors and rich textures that make up those great South of the Border dishes!
Here are some of my favorite recipes for when I'm celebrating Cinco de Mayo or just enjoying dinner with the family. I hope you love them, too.
- Mexican Street Corn Soup has to be one of my favorite comfort food recipes. It has all the flavor of elote.
- Tequila Lime Chicken Tacos are SO easy to make in the slow cooker.
- The BEST Chicken Enchiladas with homemade cream sauce are one of our favorites.
- Homemade Sopapillas are cinnamony sweet and totally addictive.
- This pitcher of margaritas is a necessity on any fiesta table!
This is my very favorite flavored tres leches cake. It's just the right combination of tangy and sweet to go with beef fajitas, smoky and spicy on the grill.
It's one of those things that you can take to a church picnic and walk away with a licked out cake dish.
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need. Don't forget that you can click on "add to collection" to save it to your own, private recipe box!
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 Recipe
Lime and White Chocolate Tres Leches Cake
Print Add to CollectionEquipment Needed
Ingredients
Cake
- 1-¾ Cups all-purpose flour
- 2 Teaspoons baking powder
- ½ Cup butter
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 Cup granulated sugar
- 4 eggs
- ½ Teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup key lime juice
- Zest from one lime
Tres Leches
- 12 oz. evaporated milk
- 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk, , I use Eagle Brand and recommend it
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup white chocolate
- 1 tablespoon rum, optional
- Lime juice for sprinkling cake
Topping
- 2 cups heavy cream, very cold
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon rum, optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ⅓ teaspoon powdered instant pudding mix, white chocolate
Instructions
Cake
- Blend the flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each.
- Add the vanilla and the zest.
- Add the flour, quickly mixing in.
- Now add the lime juice.
- Mix carefully.
- Spoon into a 9×9 inch pan or a 7x11 pan, or a 9-inch round pan and bake at 350F until done, about 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven.
Tres Leches
- Heat the heavy cream to a simmer.
- Add the white chocolate to the cream and stir until smooth.
- Mix the cream mixture, Eagle Brand condensed milk, rum, and evaporated milk.
Assembly
- Poke the cake with a fork in several places.
- Pour the cream mixture slowly over cake, stopping to let the cream be absorbed now and then.
- Repeat until all of the cream mixture is gone. The cake will be covered in liquid.
- Cover tightly with plastic wrap.
- Place in the refrigerator overnight.
- Just Before Serving
- Next day turn out onto a cake plate.
- Sprinkle with about ¼ cup more lime juice.
Topping
- Whip the cream with the vanilla and rum until it just begins to thicken.
- Add in the ⅓ teaspoon of instant pudding powder and begin slowly adding the sugar while whipping.
- Whip the topping until it holds soft peaks - don't overwhip or you'll have butter.
- Top the cake with the whipped cream and serve.
Notes
- I added shards of white chocolate to the top of my cake for a garnish. The nutrition info is not included in this recipe.
- It needs to be refrigerated overnight to let the cream mixture soak into it - and any leftovers should be stored in the refrigerator as well.
- It's fine to eat for up to 4 days but the quality starts to deteriorate after 2.
- You can freeze the cake itself before adding the cream mixture - then remove from the freezer, thaw, and finish the recipe. You can't freeze the cake once the cream mixture is on it.
Nutrition
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We'll never share your email or send you spam. Pinkie swear.First published: August 21, 2010 Last updated: February 3, 2021
Melissa Moran
Your earlier recipe calls for 1 can Evap, 1can sweetened condensed, and 2 Cups Whole milk...so, yeah I can see the need for a little more liquid.
I just remembered today that I have a ladies thing Thursday evening....I think I need to take this cake and pour half of the batter in a pan to leave here and half in one to take with me. I have a really pretty pie plate that is clear and delicate. I'll pour the other half in a loaf pan 'er something.
1 lb key limes?
maryeaudet
yep...and the white chocolate thickened things up too.
melissa moran
Nice! I was wondering how you were going to keep the lime juice from curdling the cream! You put it in the cake! I love it. Will try it this week, much to my lower half's detriment.
maryeaudet
Melissa, I really suggest increasing the tres leches ingredients by half. 🙂