HCB: Tortas de las Tres Leche

A couple of weeks ago, I purchase Rose Levy Beranbaum book “Rose’s Heavenly Cakes”. I have her other book  “The Cake Bible” and in the past would use it as a huge reference point when I wanted to dig in deep and go all out on cake making.

This new book is beautiful. I think I love it more than the old book and as soon as I sat down to view it; I started to mark all the wonderful cakes I wanted to make.

I was in trouble.

Then I found this group and I knew I was lost.  Actually, everyone in my house was in trouble - Cake-baking-galore coming up, hold on to your waistline folks!

The baking group works simply by posting a weekly cake from the book to make and everyone bakes it and blogs about their overall experience.  Having said this, I will note right now that due to copyright laws this will be the only time I WILL NOT POST the actual recipe of what I'm making.  You will need to go and get the book, but trust me, it's totally worth the money, specially if you like baking.

Let's start the show!

A side story to this cake.  I have been making a different version of this cake for over 20 years. When I lived in Miami all the Nicaraguan restaurants around town have this cake on their dessert menu, and once I tasted it, I knew I had to learn to make it. Lucky for me, one of my junior high school friends’ mom used to make this cake for a very popular restaurant in South Florida called Los Ranchos. So I made sure I paid attention and perfected the recipe throught the years. The cake according to my family (and friends) became my signature cake and it’s the first one that is requested during those important dates.

When I read Rose’s version I was intrigue because it was totally different take on how I made mine, so I was exited to try it and see if I could perfect my own some more.

My family not to much.  They believe in the "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" theory.

The actually sponge cake was easy enough to make, and I learned a whole different way of making it from the book. The warming up of the sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt over simmering water was a bit intimidating, mainly because it was a new technique for me. I was a bit unsure as to when it would be “warm enough” since the book was very unclear on this step, so I took a chance, placed the “warm” mixture in my kitchen aid to beat on high and double in volume. I'm happy to report that I hit it right on point… the creamy, double mixture was a perfect velvety pale yellow as noted in the instructions.

The next step was to fold the flour and pour the batter into a round 8x3 cake pan - I do not own a 9x3 cake pan, so I decided to best sacrifice a bit of the batter, since I did not want it to spill all over the oven. (Methinks I’m going to have to buy a 9x3 round pan in the near future, since that is what is used the most as a baking pan in the book.) That decision worked as well.

The cake did what the book said, it rose, cracked a bit on top and when tested came out dry – DONE and DONE!

Took it out of the oven and unmolded it right away, as per instructions (Another first for me).

I then set out to prepare the milk mixture and this is where this cake is totally different from my own recipe. Rose’s uses skim milk, whole milk, heavy cream and sweeten condensed milk and she cooks it. (My version uses whole milk, evaporated milk, sour cream, sweeten condense milk and rum - and no cooking it anywhere). Verdict? End results were a bit sweet on my part but I keep on, I was determined to follow this to a “T”.

Then the soaking began and into the refrigerator it went for an overnight rest.

Since I had the family coming over to taste this and I knew that most would be taking a piece with them I decided not to follow the books instructions in toping it with heavy whipped cream since it was going to flatten rigth away after sitting on it for a couple of hours. So instead I used my own topping which is basically an Italian Meringue (which I learned to do from Rose’s first book). I also covered the whole cake instead of just the top.

And then the comments came in.

My mother who is a true Tres Leche fan: told me that while this version was “ok” she preferred my own version. She mention that this was much sweeter and felt it was not moist or creamy enough (my version does not get unmolded, but stays in the pan maintaining the cake super moist at all times).

Tom (the boyfriend): Liked my version as well, commented on being too sweet as well. But, did say that if did not know better, he would probably like it and would ask for a repeat performance.

My neighbors who tasted it for the first time ever: Really loved it. And actually took almost ½ of the cake home with them.

My take: Like my mother and the boyfriend I thought it was on the sweet end as well. I did like the texture of the sponge cake and I may adapt my own recipe to use this version. But I will stick with my own rendering of the soaking milk and my topping.

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Travel: Eating through NYC

I don't have a recipe this week, mainly because I was eating my way throughout New York City for the past 4 days.

Last Thursday I took off to brave freezing temperatures in order to celebrate my best friends 40th birthday in New York City.  Boy did we celebrate! Here is a quick run down of the foods, places and our take on our culinary walk-about.

We started Thursday nigh by visiting Mama Mexico. A family owned restaurant close to where my NY friends live.  While the food was fresh and flavors were spot on.  The best things were the "Margaritas".

We ordered the guacamole, which was done tableside, unfortunately the place was super dark and pictures did not come out. I ordered their appetizer, "Almejas al Tequila", which are clams, filled with baby shrimp and crab with a tomatoes, tequila, cilantro and olives all sautéed on top. It was refreshing, fresh and delicious. Another way to go is the traditional Burritos and Enchiladas, which were also a hit.

On Friday night we took the birthday girl to Fig and Olive.  Located in the meatpacking district, this is a happening place. The atmosphere was full of a trendy vibe, beautiful people and eighties music, who knew? The bar was hopping while people were waiting for their table. It was the perfect place for a birthday dinner. As the name suggests, many recipes feature liberal use of olives, olive oil, and sweet figs, all of superior variety and quality. We started with a couple of appetizers but the star of the show was the "Fig Gorgonzola Tartlet". The melted gorgonzola, prosciutto, fig, walnuts, arugula, tomato on top of a puff pastry was such a hit that we all pretty much were licking our fingers and eyeing the last piece - ready to pounce.

Another good choice was the "Veal Carpaccio", and the "French Riviera Rotisserie Chicken".

On Saturday night we had tickets to see a show in Union Square, so we decided that Republic was the best choice, plus we all were craving Asian food.  We started with the "Fried Calamari" and the "Fried Wontons" as appetizers, and we were not disappointed.  The sweet-chili sauce of the Calamari was to die-for.  I ordered the "Wonton Broth Noodles" while my friends opted for the "Chicken Pad Thai".  We also highly recommend the red "Sangria".

After the show we decided the only thing to do was to duck into the "W" hotel to warm ourselves down and to have a couple of drinks at the Living Room Lounge.  We were all over the drink menu and ended up ordering a couple of appetizers to make sure the hang-over the next day would not kill us. It's all about balance people - trust me. We ended up loving the "Fig and Prosciutto Flatbred" (Yummy) and the risotto tater-tots filled with Asiago cheese. (I'm so going to duplicate this, make sure to look for it in a future post).

To round the whole culinary experience we had going, on Sunday we decided to head back to the meatpacking district/Soho and find our way into Pastis.  The restaurant looks and feels like an early 20th century French bistro - without being tacky. Broken mirrors on the wall are offset by stained and cracked tiling and worn floorboards. Nicotine-stained ceilings are nicely ironic in a city where you can't smoke in public. It was the perfect place for a late, very late brunch.

More than once we keep saying "Are we in back in Paris or in NYC?” This place its happening right now, the wait was around 15-20 minutes and it was almost 4 in the afternoon - The place was packed! The food was excellent. I ordered the "Eggs Florentine" and the Béchamel sauce combination with the poached egg on top of sautéed Spinach was the perfect comfort food after a night of drinks. The other dishes to recommend here is the fries and the "Croque-Madame". Its also the perfect place to find someone famous. We sat a table away from Matt Dillon and his companion. Very cool.

And of course since it was a Birthday celebration we could not forget the most important thing.  The Cake. And were else but Magnolia Bakery?  The only flavor acceptable was the Coconut Cake and it was so good we ended up eating it every day during our trip.

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