The most delicious, tender Strawberry Tres Leches Cake is topped with whipped cream frosting and fresh berries. It makes a wonderful summertime dessert, and is the perfect sweet ending to any great day.
I’m not sure that there is anything better than tres leches cake, and this Strawberry version is at the very top of my list of favorite desserts right now.
If you’ve never had Strawberry Tres Leches Cake before, imagine this: A light, airy strawberry sponge cake, baked in a 9×13-inch pan. While it’s still warm, we’ll poke holes in it and drench it in a sweet combination of three milks and wait until it’s all absorbed into the cake. Finally, we’ll top the cake with a simple whipped cream frosting and fresh strawberries before serving to our incredibly grateful family or dinner guests.
This cake is SO good! You’ll love it, they’ll love it, and the best part is that it can be made ahead of time – either earlier in the day or the day before you plan to serve it.
Tres Leches Cake with Strawberries
- A Super Simple Poke Cake Recipe – Tres Leches cake falls into a category called “poke cakes” This method has us poking holes in the cake once it’s baked and then pouring a flavorful liquid (in this case, tres leches) all over so that it soaks in to the sponge. This strawberry cake is wonderfully moist, soft, and tender. I do something very similar in my Banana Poke Cake and iconic Better Than Sex Cake recipes.
- Whipped Cream Frosting – Because the cake itself is so sweet and flavorful, the topping can be more light. Homemade whipped cream frosting is the perfect topping for fresh strawberry cake.
- Versatile Recipe – I’m making this tres leches cake with strawberries, but you can switch in your favorite berries or fruits to make endless varieties of tres leches cake.
Be sure to try my Strawberry Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting too!
Ingredients In Strawberry Tres Leches Cake
Here’s everything you need to make this strawberry cake from scratch:
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
- Flour, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, and Salt: Together these make up the “dry ingredients” mentioned in the recipe. Using both baking soda and powder ensures that this cake gets plenty of lift in the oven.
- Eggs: Four whole eggs give the cake batter structure and also make it light and fluffy. Be sure to let your eggs come to room temperature before mixing them in.
- Granulated Sugar
- Butter: Ensure that your butter is ready to mix with the sugar by letting it soften at room temperature for an hour or more.
- Sour Cream and Milk: These dairy products make the cake extra moist. You can replace sour cream with plain yogurt if you’d like.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla has this magical ability to elevate all the flavors around it!
- Pink Food Coloring: An optional addition, food coloring will make the cake extra pretty!
- Strawberries: We are going to puree and cook down fresh strawberries to give this cake it’s sweet berry flavor. You’ll also want fresh strawberries to add to the top of the cake for decoration. In all, you’ll need about two pints of berries.
- Tres Leches: We need three kinds of milk to make pan tres leches! We’ll be combining sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and whole milk to make a creamy, sweet mixture to soak the cake in after it’s baked.
- Topping: The simple frosting for this cake is made with fresh heavy whipping cream and a bit of powdered sugar.
How To Make Strawberry Tres Leches Cake
There are four main parts to this recipe. The strawberry reduction, the cake, the tres leches, and the whipped cream.
Before you get started, be sure to preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C), and grease and flour a 9×13-inch (22×33 cm) baking pan.
Tip!
Once you’ve added the tres leches to the cake, you need to give it time to chill. Two or three hours is ideal, but you can leave it the fridge overnight if you like. Add the whipped cream frosting just before serving, as it will deflate with time.
Recipe Tips
- To poke holes in the cake, you can use a chopstick, a skewer, a straw, or the handle of a spoon—pretty much anything you have will work. In this recipe, smaller holes are better than larger ones.
- For even more strawberry flavor, top the cake with crushed freeze-dried strawberries instead of or in addition to the fresh berries. You can also use strawberry milk in place of the whole milk in the Tres Leches mixture.
- Food coloring is optional. Without it, the cake with have a lighter pink color, but it will still taste amazing!
- Looking for a shortcut? Strawberry Tres Leches cake can be made with a strawberry boxed cake mix instead of this homemade cake recipe. You can also top the cake with a tub of cool whip rather than fresh whipped cream if you prefer.
Storing Tips
It’s important to store tres leches cake in the refrigerator. It needs to be kept chilled because of the amount of dairy in it. If the cake is in an airtight container, it should last up to 3 days this way.
Recipe FAQs
Does Tres Leches Cake Need to be Refrigerated?
Yes, it does! Cover the cake and store it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve it.
Is Tres Leches Cake Soggy?
This cake is extra moist and a bit wet, but it shouldn’t be overly soggy.
What can I use instead of a food processor?
If you don’t have a food processor, you can make the strawberry puree in a high-powered blender instead. You may need to add a tiny bit of water to get everything moving.
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This is the BEST Strawberry Tres Leches Cake recipe, and I just know that everyone is going to love it! Pin it for the next time you have the urge to bake with fresh, juicy strawberries.
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Strawberry Tres Leches Cake
Equipment
- Hand or stand mixer
- 9×13 inch pan (approx 22×33 cm)
Ingredients
Cake:
- 12 ounces (340 g) fresh strawberries sliced (1 pint)
- 2 ½ cups (300 g) all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (225 g) unsalted butter softened
- 1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
- pink food coloring optional
- ¾ cup (188 g) sour cream
- ¼ cup (60 ml) whole milk
Tres Leches:
- 1 12. ounce can (340 g) evaporated milk
- 1 14.ounce can (400 g) sweetened condensed milk
- ½ cup (120 ml) whole milk
Topping
- 2 cups (480 ml) heavy whipping cream
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 2 cups (250 g) sliced strawberries
Instructions
For the cake:
- Start the strawberry reduction by adding the sliced strawberries into a food processor and pulse until you have about 1 ½ cups puree.
- Add the puree into a medium saucepan and heat over medium-high heat, stirring often, until thickened and reduced by about half. This should take about 20 minutes.
- Set the reduction aside to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C), or 160°C for a fan oven. Grease and flour a 9×13 inch (22×33 cm) baking pan and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter and granulated sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the cooled strawberry reduction, vanilla extract, and pink food coloring. Mix well.
- Add half the flour, mix until just combined. Add the sour cream, mix well, then add the remaining flour and mix until combined. Add the milk and stir well. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven for 28-32 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
For the tres leches:
- Whisk the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and whole milk together until smooth.
- Poke holes all over the surface of the baked cake while it is still warm, then slowly pour the milk mixture all over the cake.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before transferring to the fridge to chill.
For the topping:
- Add the heavy cream and powdered sugar to a large bowl. Whip on high speed until light and fluffy.
- Spread evenly over the chilled cake, then top with sliced strawberries
Notes:
- To poke holes in the cake, you can use a chopstick, a skewer, a straw, or the handle of a spoon. Pretty much anything you have will work. Smaller holes will be better than larger ones in this recipe.
- For even more strawberry flavor, top the cake with crushed freeze-dried strawberries instead of, or in addition to, the fresh berries. You can also use strawberry milk in place of the whole milk in the tres leches mixture.
- Food coloring is optional. Without it, the cake with have a lighter pink color, but it will still taste amazing!
- Looking for a shortcut? Strawberry Tres Leches cake can be made with a strawberry boxed cake mix instead of this homemade cake recipe. You can also top the cake with a tub of cool whip rather than fresh whipped cream if you prefer.
- Storing: Keep this cake refrigerated and in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Tammy says
I really liked the cake part but the milk with sweetened condensed milk was a little to sweet for me. I would use less sweet milk next time but would definitely use the cake.
Little Sunny Kitchen says
Thank you so much for the feedback, Tammy. Definitely adjust the sugar to your preference for next time!