salted caramel tres leches cake

The first time that I had tres leches cake was at my aunt’s house in Seattle, I have been using the same recipe my cousin used for years – this time I modified it by adding salted caramel.

• 5 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups milk
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ingredients for the Salted Caramel

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 tablespoons water
• 4 tablespoon butter
• 7 tablespoon heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

Directions for the Salted Caramel:

1. Add the sugar and water into a saucepan over medium low heat.  Stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Use a spoon to remove any crystals that form on the side.

2. Once the sugar has dissolved increase the heat to high.  Now and then, using the handle, give the pot a swirl to keep the mixture moving  – do not stir the mixture directly.  The mixture will start to bubble after a minute.

3. As the mixture darkens to a medium amber color, approximately 5-7 minutes, add the butter, heavy cream and kosher salt to saucepan.  The mixture will bubble wildly.  Whisk to combine.

A note: even if the heat is on high the sugar might start to clump and not be liquidy (mine turned from clear liquid to clumps) – don’t worry!  Just begin to whisk the sugar so it all becomes hot again.  If you wait too long you’ll have to chop up the sugar clumps with a wooden spoon.  I turned the heat down to low during this declumping process so the caramel wouldn’t burn.  This clumping didn’t happen the first time I made caramel but it has all of the subsequent times for some reason.  After the sugar is clear liquid again (no clumps) it will start to turn that beautiful amber color, then you can add the butter, heavy cream and salt DO NOT add these ingredients when the sugar is still clumpy and before the sugar has turned into the amber color of caramel.