Vegan Tres Leches Cake with Strawberries Using Nature's Charm Vegan Sweetened Condensed and Evaporated Milk
Before I became vegan, my birthday cake of choice was always Tres Leches. Up until yesterday, I haven't had a Tres Leches cake for over 5 years and figured I could live without it. Until last week. That's when Nature's Charm gifted me with their new vegan sweetened condensed coconut milk and vegan evaporated coconut milk. I asked our Ordinary Vegan Facebook community what I should make and I was surprised by all the enthusiasm. I guess I wasn't the only vegan who missed sweetened condensed milk. If you have never had Tres Leches cake before, it is a spongy dense but light white cake that has been soaked in three kinds of milk including sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk. It should be served well chilled with at least a few hours of soaking time in the refrigerator. In fact, it tastes even better after an overnight soaking. The best thing is, there's no chance of serving a dry cake.
There are also many other fun things you can do with Nature's Charm vegan condensed milk. Our Facebook community recommended using it for satay sauce, macaroons, fudge, pumpkin pies and even cocktails. Please check out our Facebook page to see all their fabulous suggestions. I recommend using it in Vietnamese iced coffee, Boba or Thai-style iced tea. Actually you could pour it on any fruit for a simple, extra sweet, delicious dessert. There are also hundreds of ideas for the vegan evaporated milk including using it in place of cream in casseroles, soups, baked goods and all food Indian inspired.
Baking is not very forgiving so I don't make many fancy desserts, but I promise this cake is simple to prepare. With the holidays coming up, you couldn't present a more impressive dessert to your friends and family! Hope you enjoy this vegan Tres Leches cake as much as I did. Don't miss any of Ordinary Vegan's free recipes by signing up here. Here is a link to purchase the Nature's Charm condensed and evaporated vegan milk online. It is also available at Sprouts and Mother's Market. You can follow @naturescharm on Instagram for more yummy recipes. For your information, this is a sponsored post.
P.S. I also included a recipe for my tofu vanilla cream frosting just in case you wanted some extra enhancement on your vegan Tres Leches cake.
Nature's Charm Sweetened Condensed Milk & Evaporated Coconut Milk
- ¾ cup almond milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons apple sauce
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 flax eggs *see note below or 2 tbsp Bob's Red Mill egg replacer with 6 tbsp of water
- 1 cup cake flour or all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ cup vegan sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup Nature's Charm vegan sweetened condensed milk
- ½ cup Nature's Charm vegan evaporated skim milk
- ½ cup almond milk
- ½ cup firm silken tofu, drained
- 2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons of confectionary sugar
- ½ teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon of Nature's Charm vegan evaporated milk
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F
- Lightly coat an 8-inch round cake pan with non-dairy butter and dust it with flour, making sure to shake off any excess flour. Set aside.
- Curdle the non-dairy milk by whisking together the almond milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside for 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Add the sugar and combine.
- In a smaller bowl whisk together the curdled milk with the apple sauce, vanilla and flax eggs.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredient bowl and mix well.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Check the cake after 20 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool in pan 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Whisk together the condensed milk, skim milk and almond milk in a bowl.
- Arrange the cake on a serving platter. Poke holes all over the cake with a skewer. Slowly spoon the milk mixture over the cake until you have the desired wetness. Cover the cake and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours giving it time to absorb the milk. You may not use all the milk depending how wet you want the cake. I only used half. Cover and refrigerate the remaining milk mixture and spoon some on a plate before serving your cake.
- Meanwhile, make the frosting if using. Combine the tofu, maple syrup, vanilla, confectionary sugar and evaporated milk in a food processor or blender. Process until smooth. Transfer to a bowl.
- Remove cake from refrigerator and frost. Garnish with strawberries. Or just garnish with fruit.
- *Flax eggs - 2 tablespoons of ground flax whisked with 6 tablespoons of water. Put in refrigerator for 10 minutes to thicken.
I’ve never had a tres leches cake! But I love strawberries so it looks divine!
That looks wonderful and moist. I’m in. Never heard of coconut condensed milk or evaporated milk. I’m off to look for some now.
OMG I am so excited! I used to love Tres Leche cake! Going to Sprouts after work and if they have the condensed and evaportated milk I am making it TONIGHT! LOL Thank you!!
Yum, yum, and TRIPLE YUM!!! Condensed milk is my favorite and I’ve missed it so since becoming vegan. And now you’ve gotten me back on the idea. 😀
I love this vegan tres leches! Looks and sounds amazing!
THANK YOU! I have been looking for vegan condensed milk. This is awesome! And your cake looks amazing. 🙂
This looks so delicious! I’ve never heard of something like this! Yummy! 🙂
I haven’t had Tres Leches cake since…like 2001! Before I went vegan while I was living in Arizona. I’ll have to get some of that milk so I can make yours, it looks YUM!
I made this cake the other day and ate half within the first day before it even finished soaking! I would have eaten it all but I held back (so I can share the love)
I used my homemade condensed and evaporated soy milks.
I’m going to make this a second time and see how it turns out, and if the milk soaks in more.
Thank you Nancy for the recipe and for your promptness with my questions!
❤️
Shirin – I am so grateful that it came out good! Sorry for the mess-up. Thanks so much for being part of our community and for your feedback. It was fun communicating.
Does using powdered egg replacer yield a slightly lighter cake than using flax egg?
I’m so happy to find a vegan recipe for tres leches! It used to be my favorite non-chocolate cake, but I haven’t had it in at least 5 years
Hi Zim – I think it depends on which egg replacer you use. I like Bobs Red Mill and find it works well in baked goods. Thanks for being part of our healthy community!
This was probably the first recipe I followed religiously because I SO wanted it to be perfect and unfortunately it just didn’t rise. I think it tastes ok but it’s not spongey enough to poke the holes and have the mixture soak through.
Do you think adding more baking powder? I even used the Bob’s Mill egg replacer. Or maybe my oven wasn’t working properly..
Going to taste fine! I just wanted it to look great at the dinner party 🙂
Hi Isis – I am sorry it didn’t come out wonderful because it is a lot of work. I doubt that it is your oven but I would get an oven thermometer to check it anyways – my oven is about 10 degrees cooler than the temperature I set it on. I haven’t made this recipe in a long time and need to go back and make it again to see if there are any problems. My question to you would be – what kind of flour did you use? Gluten-free flour would interfere with it rising. Thanks
Nancy