Gluten-Free Cornbread Tres Leches
I made this for my son’s first birthday, combining a delicious Southern cornbread, with a traditional Latin dessert. I started with this recipe which is a decent starting point but lacks a lot of details, I then finished the cake with a cream cheese frosting and strawberry topping.
Tres Leches
Ingredients:
14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup whole milk
12oz can evaporated milk
Instructions:
Mix ingredients together in a bowl for use later.
Cornbread
Ingredients:
140g cornmeal (1 cup)
150g sugar (2/3 cup), separated into two (75g each)
105g vegetable oil (1/2 cup)
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
6 eggs, separated into whites and yolks
2 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract
Special Equipment:
Two 6-inch springform pans, you can use regular cake pans too but be sure to line with parchment paper.
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350F
Beat the egg yolks, salt, vanilla extract, water, and 75g of sugar together until well aerated and pale yellow (10 minutes).
In a separate bowl, beat egg whites and 75g sugar until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold half the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture, combining delicately.
Mix the cornmeal and baking powder, and sift onto the mixture, folding gently as you sift.
Add the vegetable oil and gently fold the remaining egg white mixture.
Pour mixture into the two 6-inch springform pans.
Bake for 25 minutes at 350F until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let rest for 10 minutes.
Pour half the milk mixture into the springform pans (or until the cake is filled to the brim), let rest for 20 minutes.
Pour the second half of the milk mixture, rest for another 20 minutes. Note: cornbread takes longer to absorb, and the cake may not fully absorb all the liquid, some may drain off the sides. This is fine.
Remove both cakes from the springform pan, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store in the fridge overnight.
Assembly
Ingredients:
1 can of Dulce de Leche (alternatively you can boil (a light simmer) a can of condensed milk for 2.5-3 hours)
8oz cream cheese
113g butter, room temperature (1 stick, ½ cup)
380g confectioners sugar
Strawberries (optional)
Instructions:
Unwrap your two layers of cornbread, choose the one with the flatter top to trim.
Using a serrated knife, try to trim off the top so it is as flat as possible.
Layer a good 1/2in layer of dulce de leche using an offset spatula.
Place the second layer on top, return stacked cake to the fridge to keep it cool.
Blend the cream cheese, butter and confectioners sugar together until you get the consistency of frosting.
Take the cake out, and liberally apply frosting to the cake, using an offset spatula to spread across.
Top the cake with sliced strawberries as desired. I’d recommend macerating them with sugar and then draining to dry if you want to prevent them from staining the frosting red.
