Baileys Tres Leches Cake

This Bailey's Tres Leches Cake is a new twist on the classic tres leches cake. Delicious sponge cake is soaked in evaporated milk, condensed milk, heavy cream, and Baileys Irish cream. Perfect for your next party or taco night! Step-by-step photos teach you how to bake this cake.

MMM... Bailey's Tres Leches Cake!! Boy did I love this one. I made it on St. Paddy's day, I just really wanted another excuse to bake with some booze! Let's be honest I don't need an excuse, but I took it anyway! 😉 And this cake... I want it every day of the year!

I have had tres leches cake once before. Only once! I loved it but life got in the way of me and tres leches cake.. until now!!

This cake is soaked in Sweetened Condensed Milk, Evaporated Milk, Heavy Cream & Bailey's. Basically amazing. The milk mixture oozes out of the cake. I just wanted to drink it. I HATE milk but all the "milk" mixed together was spectacular!

I made the cake and served it about 4 hours later, so it had time to soak everything up. It was spectacular and the next day even better! This cake is not the easiest to make but worth the few steps. I will definitely be making this again and I hope you give it a try- it really is fabulous 🙂

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• Ingredients
• Instructions
• More alcohol desserts
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Ingredients

You are going to make three things for this Baileys tres leches cake recipe; the cake, the milk soak, and the whipped cream topping.

For the cake you'll need:

• Large Eggs. I use room temperature eggs when it comes to mixing but I separate them while they are still cold.
• All-Purpose Flour. Make sure you measure your flour properly! I always use a digital scale.
• Baking Powder. Since there is no acid in this recipe we need to use baking powder which has already been activated. Baking soda would need an acid to activate it.
• Salt. Don't skip it!
• Sugar. The sugar is divided and used twice. Once with the egg whites to help create stiff egg whites. And secondly in the egg yolks.  
• Whole Milk. This gives the cake a bit of extra fat and moisture, as there is no butter or oil in this recipe.
• Pure Vanilla Extract. Vanilla gives great flavor, use the real stuff!

Now for the milk soak:

You'll need Baileys Irish Cream, heavy whipping cream, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk.

And finally, you'll make a simple whipped cream made with Baileys for extra delicious flavor. Then I like to top my cake with lots of fresh berries!

Check out my Baileys cheesecake recipe, Baileys Hot Chocolate, and Nutty Irishman Pie.

Baking is a science and to really achieve the best results I highly recommend investing in a kitchen scale. This OXO Kitchen Scale is the one I use and is also the number one recommended kitchen scale by Cook's Illustrated. Think about it -what one person scoops into a "cup" is completely different from what someone else scoops!

For ingredient quantities please reference the recipe card below. On the recipe card there is a button for US or M (Metric) measurements.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C and grease a 9X13 inch baking pan. Separate your egg whites from the egg yolks and set them aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or a large bowl with a handheld electric mixer beat the egg whites on high, until foamy, then add 50 Grams (¼ Cup) sugar and beat until you have stiff whites.

Scoop into a clean bowl and set aside.

In the dirty mixing bowl with the whisk attachment combine egg yolks and 150 Grams (¾ Cup) of sugar, mix on medium until very, very light in color.

Then add in milk and vanilla extract, mix until just combined.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

Pour the egg yolk mixture on top of the flour mixture. Gently fold together until no more flour streaks.

Gently fold stiff egg whites into the cake batter. Fold until just combined, don't over mix.

Pour cake batter into prepared pan. Bake for 32-37 minutes, until golden brown and if you stick a toothpick in it comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely.

Using a fork poke the cake numerous times, the more holes the better! In a large bowl combine Bailey's Irish Cream, heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk. Pour the milk mixture all over the cake. Pour slowly, some liquid will pool but most will be absorbed into the cake. Let sit for 30 minutes covered in the refrigerator.

Then in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or a large bowl with a handheld electric whisk beat heavy cream, Bailey's Irish Cream, and sugar until medium-thick stiff peaks are formed.

Spread on top of the cake and garnish with berries.

Keep refrigerated for at least 3-4 hours before serving, the more time the milk has to soak in the better.

Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days. Next time try my salted caramel tres leches cake or chocolate tres leches cake.

More alcohol desserts

Try these recipes

• Guinness Brownies w/ Bailey's Frosting
• Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting 
• Bailey's Chocolate Cream Pie 
• Guinness Chocolate Cake
• Bailey's Chocolate Truffles 
• Bailey's Chocolate Cookies

★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!

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This recipe was first posted on March 27, 2013 as of March 12, 2022 the recipe and photos have been updated.