Tres leches cupcakes

This Christmas past, one of my Facebook friends shared a picture of some tres leches cupcakes he had made with his family. I was intrigued, since I have (just) enough Spanish to figure out that 'tres leches' translates to 'three milks'. He told me a bit about them and I decided they weren't a million miles away from the very first recipe I shared on this blog. They sounded rather decadent and sweet enough to meet the approval of my sugar-mad husband and sons.

So I found a recipe and gave them a whirl. They aren't difficult, but they are a bit of a faff, so don't try them if you're in a hurry.

They were utterly delicious, very sweet, and com-puh-letely decadent. Dieters need not apply. Fortunately for those of you who care about these things, there is still nearly a month before the beginning of Lent! Oh... and also not suitable for those with a dairy intolerance (unless there are non-dairy equivalents for all tres of the leches). Sorry Catherine.

You will need waxed cupcake cups (about 24) and muffin pans. Place a cupcake case into each muffin space.

Oven temperature

180C

Ingredients

6 large eggs, separated

1ml baking powder
1ml salt
250ml sugar
125g butter, melted and cooled
250ml plain (cake) flour
175ml evaporated milk
125ml cream
175ml sweetened condensed milk
Whipped cream (optional)
Ground cinnamon

Method

• Beat the egg whites, baking powder and salt until it is stiff enough for you to be able to mould it into soft peaks with the beater blades (not quite the stiff peaks needed for meringues).
• Add the yolks and the sugar and mix until creamy - this shouldn't take more than a minute. From this point on, it's probably best to set aside the electric beater and work with a wooden spoon or spatula.
• Fold the butter in gently.
• Blend in the flour, a little at a time.
• Half-fill each of the cupcake cake cases - you're going to need a little space later, so don't overfill them.
• Bake for about 20-25 minutes (adjust if you have a fan-assisted oven).
• While the cupcakes are baking, mix your milks together. You might find this easier if you warm them slightly, but don't let them come anywhere near boiling point.
• Remove your cupcakes from the oven and poke them full of holes using a skewer of some description (I used a metal meat skewer, which worked fine. I found some recipes that suggested tooth picks, but I found those too thin).
• Pour a little of the milk mixture over each cupcake. It will soak in. Repeat until all the milk has been used up. You may have to wait a little while between repeats, to let the milk soak in.
• Leave them to cool.
• Top with whipped cream, if you're going that route, and a sprinkling of ground cinnamon.
• Serve as a dessert or with coffee.

Notes:

• I reckon you could probably do this just as well with a cupcake recipe that calls for fewer eggs and more baking powder. That would certainly make it easier on the pocket!
• You could also try this with a cupcake recipe that involves cocoa powder - I suspect that would be heavenly!
• Being married to a Swede, I have noticed that they tend to use cardamom where I might use cinnamon, and it tastes absolutely wonderful, so you might try ground cardamom over the top as an alternative. Nutmeg would probably also work, if you prefer that.