Coconut Pandan & Raspberry Tres Leches Cake
This cake is a playful twist on the traditional Mexican tres leches cake, infused with Asian flavors and made to be "not-too-sweet." This coconut pandan "tres leches" cake is topped with raspberry jam, raspberries, coconut whipped cream, and toasted coconut.
Servings: 5
Equipment
- stand mixer recommended
Ingredients
Pandan coconut milk
- 3 pandan leaves, roughly chopped
- 120 g coconut milk
The cake
- 90 g all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 75 g egg (about 1.5 eggs)
- 100 g cane sugar
- 120 g pandan coconut milk
- pandan extract optional, a couple drops for a brighter green color
The soak
- 150 g coconut cream
- 120 g evaporated milk
- 195 g condensed milk
Other toppings
- 1/4 cup shredded coconut
- 3 tbsp raspberry jam
- 1 cup frozen raspberries*
The whipped topping
- 90 g heavy whipping cream
- 90 g coconut cream
- 16 g powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the cake
- Make the pandan infused coconut milk by blending together coconut milk and pandan leaves in a food processor. Then, strain out the pandan pulp using a strainer, cheesecloth, or coffee filter, making sure to squeeze out all the liquid. Measure the coconut milk, you should have about 120g. If you are under, just off with regular coconut milk.
- Beat the egg and sugar together in a stand mixer at medium-high speed for about 10 minutes. The mixture should be pale yellow in color and look light and fluffy. Combine together flour, baking powder, and salt. Reduce the stand mixer speed to low and slowly add in the flour mixture add pandan infused coconut milk until you have an even mixture.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter a baking dish and lightly sprinkle with flour. Pour the cake batter into the baking dish and bake for 25 minutes.
Soak the cake
- While the cake is cooling, make the soak by combining all the ingredients together. Using a bamboo skewer, poke holes all over the cake. Then, pour about half of the milk soak over the cake and allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture. When the cake absorbs almost all of the mixture, you can pour the remaining of the soak over. Then, cover the cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
Toast the shredded coconut
- Add shredded coconut to a dry pan over medium to high heat and continuously toss and mix until it smells fragrant and turns golden and crisp. Transfer to a bowl and let it cool completely. After it completely cools, you can cover it and store it at room temperature until it is ready to be used.
Add the raspberry layer
- Apply a thin layer of raspberry jam over the top of the cake. Then, add a layer of frozen raspberries*. Let it rest for 30 minutes if planning to serve immediately to allow the raspberries to defrost. If not, cover and store in the fridge until it is ready to serve
Make the Whipped topping & assemble & serve
- Right before serving, make the whipped topping: combine all the whipped topping in a stand mixer and mix on high speed until the cream thickens and forms stiff peaks.
- Top the raspberries with a generous layer of whipped topping. If the whipped topping is made in advance and now appears runny, beat it with a whisk to build back the structure.
- Finish off the cake with a sprinkle on the toasted shredded coconut & serve
Storage
- You can store the tres leches cake, with the topped raspberry jam and raspberries, in the fridge (covered) for up to four days.
Notes
*Frozen raspberries are preferred because when they defrost, they become very soft with an almost spreadable consistency.