Coffee Tres Leches Cake Shots

There's so much to love about these coffee tres leches cakes made into a cake shot recipe: Little bites of sweet, spongy cake, soaked in milk and coffee, topped with a swirl of cream, served in fancy glasses. And boy, do they ever look sexy! Black tie sexy.

Why I ❤️ it • Recipe • Ingredients • Preparation

Tres leches cake shooters.

Why I ❤️ it

Tres leches (three-milk) cakes are a Latin favorite. A poke cake soaked in sweet milk sauce, topped with whipped cream. It’s the kind of dessert one never says no to.

Now, imagine a bite of sweet sponge cake, soaked in milk and coffee, topped with a swirl of cream, and served in your fanciest glasses. How can your guests not love this coffee tres leches cake with rich coffee flavor?

This free recipe contains Amazon affiliate links, and I receive a small commission when you purchase, at no cost to you. Thank you!

Utensils and tools

• 8-inches [20 centimeters] baking pan
• Oven
• Stand mixer with the paddle attachment
• Spatula
• Saucepan
• 8 Champagne flutes

Ingredients

To make the cake

• 1 tablespoon of butter, to grease the pan
• 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour, to dust the pan
• 2 eggs (medium) separated eggs whites and yolks
• ½ cup of white granulated sugar, divided
• 3 tablespoons of salted butter, (¼ stick) at room temperature
• ½ teaspoon of baking powder
• ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
• ¾ cup of all-purpose flour

To make tres leches sauce and cream

• ½ cup of evaporated milk
• ⅓ cup of sweetened condensed milk
• ¼ cup of whole milk
• A pinch of salt
• ½ tablespoon of Instant coffee or decaf
• ½ cup of heavy cream thoroughly chilled
• 1 tablespoon of cream cheese (optional, see notes)
• ½ cup of powdered white sugar

Preparation

Before starting, please make sure you have all the ingredients and utensils ready.

Step 1: Prepare

Grease with butter the baking pan and dust with flour.

Heat oven to 350 °F [175 °C].

Step 2: Whisk

Using the wire whisk attachment of your mixer, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add half the sugar and whisk until the sugar crystals have dissolved and formed stiff peaks.

Pour into a large bowl and set aside.

Step 3: Beat the batter

Combine butter and egg yolks in the electric mixer mixing bowl, and using the paddle attachment, beat butter and egg yolks for 3 minutes at medium-high speed.

Add the remaining sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy and has a very light yellow color (about 5 mins). Add vanilla extract, then slowly add the flour until it's well-mixed. Remove from the mixer.

Step 4: Add egg whites

Add ⅓ of the egg whites. Using a spatula, fold the egg whites into the flour mix. Add the remaining white in two steps folding in each time with the spatula. Note that the batter will be very thick, almost like for cookies. It is fine like this.

Pour the batter into the baking dish.

Step 5: Bake

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, and it has a golden color on top (about 25 mins).

Let the cake cool to room temperature before removing it from the pan.

Step 6: Make sweet sauce

To make the sweet sauce, combine the evaporated milk, whole milk, condensed milk, and salt in a saucepan. Heat over low heat until it starts to form bubbles. Stir in the instant coffee until it's dissolved, and remove from the heat.

Let it cool to room temperature.

Step 7: Place in the glasses

Cut 8 circles of cake the size of your flute glasses (use a dough cutter or one of the same flute glasses).

Place the cake circles into each flute glass, and bathe with the three-milk mixture divided into equal amounts. Chill the cake in the glasses while you continue with the next steps.

Step 8: Whip cream

Chill the mixer bowl and wire whisk for 15 minutes.

Once they are chilled, whisk the whipping cream over medium-high speed until it starts to form peaks (about 3 mins). Add the powdered sugar and cream cheese and beat until it is mixed in, but be careful not to overdo it, or the cream will turn into butter. It should form peaks.

Step 9: Cover with cream

With a spatula, spoon the whipped cream into a piping bag with a star tip. Pipe a swirl into each glass.

Keep in the refrigerator until it’s time to serve.

Variations

You can dust them with cinnamon powder before serving for extra flavor. Another option is to dust with cocoa powder or garnish with chocolate shavings.

You can make this into the regular tres leches cake by just keeping the cake whole instead of dividing it into flute glasses.

Top tips

The bit of cream cheese added to the whipping cream helps keep the swirls stiff for longer; it doesn't noticeably affect the taste of the cream.

Nutritional information

Calories: 397kcal - Carbohydrates: 44g - Protein: 7gFat: 18g - Saturated Fat: 11g - Cholesterol: 111mg - Sodium: 148mg - Potassium: 164mg - Fiber: 1g - Sugar: 31g - Vitamin A: 670IU - Vitamin C: 0.4mg - Calcium: 106mg - Iron: 1mg

FAQs

Print card

This is just a printer-friendly summary; some useful details are found in the recipe above.