Coconut cream, whipped cream, pastry cream and now cajeta all in one wonderful concoction.
A traditional tres leches cake is a sponge cake soaked in evaporated milk, condensed milk and cream. While I have never had a tres leches cake before, I have always been intrigued by the recipe in the Tartine cookbook. Tartine’s recipe includes a coconut chiffon cake, a coconut syrup (basically a homemade Coco Lopez), bavarian cream (pastry cream lightened with whipped cream and set with gelatin) and optional caramel.
I didn’t want to set my pastry cream with gelatin and I wanted an excuse to use my footed bowl, so I decided to construct the cake as a trifle.
I have loved trifles ever since I first had one in Ireland several years back. They are an amazing comfort food, almost like the sweet equivalent of a lasagna. Layers of distinct goodness meld together into an even better whole while retaining a satisfying complexity of taste and texture. I like the old-fashionedness of the dish and the beauty of the layers inside a sparkling glass bowl.
Making a trifle is “no mere trifle.” Together, all the components comprise a good portion of pastry fundamentals: pastry cream, whipped cream, sponge cake, and usually one or two sauces. Each of these items is a basic yet important element of a pastry cook’s repertoire that can seem deceptively simple, but are so easily and frequently bungled. A sponge cake requires perfectly whipped egg whites and superior folding technique to create it’s volume and achieve the right texture, pastry cream must be cooked to the correct temperature so it thickens without the eggs curdling, sauces must be strained so that they are perfectly smooth, etc.
In making my tres leches trifle, I managed to decently execute each component and decided to add one more that I had been wanting to try for a while. This was the cajeta, a dulce de leche made with goat milk (the fourth milk). If trifles are the lasagna of the pastry kitchen, dulce de leche is the risotto--the sauce must be stirred for over an hour. Except for this time commitment, it is extremely easy to make--pour milk (goat or cow), sugar, a vanilla bean and a cinnamon stick into a pot and bring to a boil. Add a little bit of baking soda and then simmer the mixture until it thickens to a sauce consistency. I was able to not go crazy by doing other things while stirring: stir three times, wash a dish, stir three times, change the channel, stir with right hand, read magazine with left hand...
Before I assembled the trifle, I added my secret ingredient: rum. I didn’t mention it earlier, but another essential component of the trifle is booze. The cake layers are typically made tipsy with some sort of spirit, usually sherry or madeira. The rum in this case complemented the tropical flavors.
I set the assembled trifle in the fridge for a few hours, then topped it with crispy toasted coconut and served it with a salad of mangoes and kiwis with lime juice and extra cajeta. The fruit could have easily been added to the trifle itself, but I liked the look of just the pale shades in the bowl. Next time, I would love to serve this with a passion fruit sauce as the acidity would play nicely against the creamy richness of all the milks and coconut. Or perhaps, I’ll find another milk and create the world’s first CINCO leches cake.
A traditional tres leches cake is a sponge cake soaked in evaporated milk, condensed milk and cream. While I have never had a tres leches cake before, I have always been intrigued by the recipe in the Tartine cookbook. Tartine’s recipe includes a coconut chiffon cake, a coconut syrup (basically a homemade Coco Lopez), bavarian cream (pastry cream lightened with whipped cream and set with gelatin) and optional caramel.
I didn’t want to set my pastry cream with gelatin and I wanted an excuse to use my footed bowl, so I decided to construct the cake as a trifle.
I have loved trifles ever since I first had one in Ireland several years back. They are an amazing comfort food, almost like the sweet equivalent of a lasagna. Layers of distinct goodness meld together into an even better whole while retaining a satisfying complexity of taste and texture. I like the old-fashionedness of the dish and the beauty of the layers inside a sparkling glass bowl.
Making a trifle is “no mere trifle.” Together, all the components comprise a good portion of pastry fundamentals: pastry cream, whipped cream, sponge cake, and usually one or two sauces. Each of these items is a basic yet important element of a pastry cook’s repertoire that can seem deceptively simple, but are so easily and frequently bungled. A sponge cake requires perfectly whipped egg whites and superior folding technique to create it’s volume and achieve the right texture, pastry cream must be cooked to the correct temperature so it thickens without the eggs curdling, sauces must be strained so that they are perfectly smooth, etc.
In making my tres leches trifle, I managed to decently execute each component and decided to add one more that I had been wanting to try for a while. This was the cajeta, a dulce de leche made with goat milk (the fourth milk). If trifles are the lasagna of the pastry kitchen, dulce de leche is the risotto--the sauce must be stirred for over an hour. Except for this time commitment, it is extremely easy to make--pour milk (goat or cow), sugar, a vanilla bean and a cinnamon stick into a pot and bring to a boil. Add a little bit of baking soda and then simmer the mixture until it thickens to a sauce consistency. I was able to not go crazy by doing other things while stirring: stir three times, wash a dish, stir three times, change the channel, stir with right hand, read magazine with left hand...
Before I assembled the trifle, I added my secret ingredient: rum. I didn’t mention it earlier, but another essential component of the trifle is booze. The cake layers are typically made tipsy with some sort of spirit, usually sherry or madeira. The rum in this case complemented the tropical flavors.
I set the assembled trifle in the fridge for a few hours, then topped it with crispy toasted coconut and served it with a salad of mangoes and kiwis with lime juice and extra cajeta. The fruit could have easily been added to the trifle itself, but I liked the look of just the pale shades in the bowl. Next time, I would love to serve this with a passion fruit sauce as the acidity would play nicely against the creamy richness of all the milks and coconut. Or perhaps, I’ll find another milk and create the world’s first CINCO leches cake.
