Monday 2 March 2009

Tres Leches Troubles

After my previous aborted attempt at flan, I decided to try another mexican dessert: Tres Leches. I managed to find all the evaporated and condensed milk I could ever want, and everything seemed to be going well (although I about ripped off my arm during the "beat well" phase), until I put the batter into the oven to bake. I waited the 30 minutes dictated by the recipe, horribly enough having to watch the only passable Sunday television option of Beauty and the Geek, but when I went to remove it from the oven I realized it was still almost completely liquid! I left it another 20 minutes or so, but began to notice a slightly burnt-butter smell... and when I checked it there was buttery-eggy liquid bubbling up from around the sides putting off the eggy buttery smell. I had no idea why that was happening, and Natalie didn't either, but she thought perhaps that always happened but that we didnt see it usually or that it was because I had had to use a glass dish for some reason.. but who knows. Two more short stints in the oven left the cake reasonably done and lacking bubbles around the edge (somehow about 45 minutes longer than the recipe allowed overall), so I poured the milky mixture over it, but it didnt seem to be sinking in as much as it would seem, but I left it sitting with half poured in to soak through before pouring the rest on. I dont know why this recipe is going so awry, but it has not gone nearly as smoothly as most others I have tried! Right now, half the milk mixture is soaking into the cake, but Im still not sure how its going to all get in. I realize I used a slightly smaller pan than was recommended, but that usually doesnt change quite so much about the resulting food... apparently Tres Leches just likes being difficult. Well. I have added all the milk on top, but it still looks a bit drowned. The whipping cream confused me; I bought two containers of double cream and one was so thick it wouldnt come out of the tub and the other was pretty much liquid. I dont know why the same thing would be so different, but it seems to have gone with the sugar alright to make the whipped cream on top... maybe its a bit liquidy, but maybe it will thicken up while waiting for the buckets of milk to soak into the cake. We shall see. All in all, I think this recipe for Tres Leches did not work very well.

Its been sitting there "soaking" for about an hour, and the milk is still just sitting on top of the cake even after repeated forking. I think I will leave it a bit more then drain off the excess milk and just go from there in putting on the whipped cream bit. Hopefully the refrigerator will magically cure it.

And it did! Even though it looked a mess, it actually tasted quite nice. Very sweet, but good.

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