Tres Leches Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

**This cake preparation method is not the traditional way that a cake is usually made, which is to cream sugar and butter, beat in eggs and then alternate wet and dry. Instead, please follow the steps below carefully. The result is a light and airy cake.

Butter and flour a 9X13 inch pan and set aside.

In a small sauce plan place milk, cinnamon stick and butter and heat to melt butter, do not boil.

While the milk mixture is heating, in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat eggs on medium speed for four full minutes, no less.

Add sugar and beat for four more minutes, no less.

Add vanilla, mix and scrape bowl then mix again. Make sure all residue from the bottom is scraped and incorporated into the batter before going to the next step.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt and slowly add to the egg mixture with machine running on low.

Scrape the bowl and beat to combine.

Remove and discard cinnamon stick from milk.

With the mixer running on low, slowly drizzle in the hot milk and butter. Beat, scrape the bowl and beat again.

Add the batter to the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, carefully rotating half way through. Be careful not to handle the pan too hard as it may deflate.

After 35 minutes, insert a tooth pick into the center to test for doneness and continue baking until a tooth pick comes out clean and the center of the cake bounces back.

Cool on a rack completely.

Once cool, use a wooden skewer or a chop stick and poke lots of holes in the top. I poked a few hundred holes.

Mix the heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk and the evaporated milk in a 2-cup measuring cup with a spout and slowly pour all over the cake getting the mixture to absorb into the holes and not all drip down the edges. Pour slowly to accomplish this.

Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight or at least four hours. (I put a bunch of toothpicks over the top before covering with plastic so the plastic didn’t stick to the top of the cake).

After the cake sits for four hours or overnight, whip the heavy cream and confectioner’s sugar to a soft whipped consistency and spread over the top of the cake.

Dust with cinnamon then cut 4X3 into 12 pieces.

Use a strong spatula to remove the pieces, making sure to get the spatula all the way under each piece so they don’t stick to the bottom. The bottom will be slightly moist.