Biscoff Tres Leches Cake

If you're a cookie butter fan, you're going to adore this Biscoff Tres Leches Cake! A super light and airy meringue cake, soaked in the traditional three milk 'tres leches' mixture, but with added Biscoff spread. Then topped off with a generous layer of Biscoff, a Biscoff whipped cream and a sprinkle of crushed Lotus Biscoff cookies. For the caramelised cookie lovers out there, what's not to love?

Jump to:

• Why this cake works
• Ingredient Notes
• How to Make the Cake
• Soaking Tres Leches
• Assembling
• Tips and Tricks
• Variations
• FAQs
• Biscoff Tres Leches Cake

Why this cake works

• Loaded with Biscoff - silky smooth Lotus Biscoff Cookie Butter spread in every layer of this recipe! Super indulgent and full of all the caramelised cookie goodness.
• Classic three milks - the key to a tres leches cake is the milk mixture. This recipe uses the classic combination of sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and heavy cream. Plus, some melted Biscoff!
• Light and fluffy meringue based cake - the perfect cake for soaking up all the tasty milk goodness is a super light and airy meringue based cake.

Ingredient Notes

This recipe can essentially be broken down into three parts: the cake, the milk mixture and the topping.

Light and Airy Meringue Cake

For the cake, you'll need:

• Eggs - best at room temperature for baking. When making a meringue based cake, these need to be divided into yolks and whites.
• Sugar - granulated sugar or caster sugar work best in this recipe.
• Vanilla extract
• Milk - full fat or whole milk work best here, but you can also use 2% or semi-skimmed.
• Flour - all-purpose flour or plain flour work in this recipe.
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Ground cinnamon

Milk Mixture

This Biscoff tres leches cake is a variation of the classic tres leches milk mixture, like I use in my Tres Leches Cupcakes. You'll need:

• Sweetened condensed milk
• Evaporated milk
• Heavy cream - sometimes called double cream.
• Biscoff - smooth Biscoff cookie butter spread, melted (in the microwave or on the stovetop) until runny. You can use other cookie butter brands here. If you use crunchy Biscoff, this will not melt smooth and will leave bits of cookie crumb in the milk mixture. This won't really mess up the flavour of the finished product, but will be messier and may impact the soaking process.

Topping

Tres leches cakes are typically topped with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon. For my Biscoff version, you'll need:

• Biscoff - more smooth Biscoff spread. This will be used as a spread for the top of the cake as well as mixed into the whipped cream for a cookie butter cream.
• Heavy cream - or double cream. The name of this ingredient varies in different areas, but you're looking for a cream that you're able to whip, like the cream used in a Stabilized Homemade Whipped Cream.
• Powdered sugar - or icing sugar. This usually doesn't need sifted for a whipped topping, but sifting can be useful if your sugar is particularly lumpy.
• Crushed Biscoff Cookies - Lotus Biscoff cookies crushed in a food processor, like you would do for making a Biscoff Cookie Crust.

How to Make the Cake

The process for making a Tres Leches Cake is very similar to other meringue based cakes, like my Tres Leches Cupcakes, Cinnamon Swiss Roll or Strawberry Jam Cake. There's no grease in the cake, so it's important to start with clean, grease free bowls for best results.

• Begin by making the meringue, beating the egg whites with a handheld electric whisk or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, until the whites are very frothy and holding soft peaks.
• Add the sugar about a tablespoon at a time while you continue to beat. Once you've finished adding the sugar, beat until thick and glossy stiff peaks form (image 1 below).
• Set your meringue aside, while you make the cake batter base.
• In a separate mixing bowl, beat together the egg yolks with the remaining sugar and vanilla until lightened (about 2 minutes). Tip: you can use the same beaters from the meringue here - no need to clean them first.
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the batter and add the milk. Stir together using a spatula taking care to ensure that you don't leave any unmixed flour clumps, but avoid over beating (image 2 below).
• Add the meringue to the batter and fold carefully to incorporate (images 3 and 4 below).
• Spoon the batter into an un-greased 9"x13" baking pan and gently spread evenly, avoiding knocking out the air you've worked into the cake.
• Bake in the centre of a pre-heated oven until risen and golden on top.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the pan before the soaking process.

Soaking Tres Leches

Once your cake is cool, it's time to soak!

• Prepare the milk mixture by whisking together the evaporated milk, condensed milk and heavy cream.
• Warm the Biscoff spread (in a microwave or on the stovetop) until it's runny and then let it cool down slightly before slowly adding it to your milk mixture, stirring as you pour it in. This will help it to combine, without seizing and solidifying (image 5 below).
• Poke holes all over your cake with a toothpick or skewer to help it soak up the milk mixture (image 6 below).
• Pour about half of the milk over the cake and set aside to soak. It is best to cover and set in the refrigerator, since the soaking process should be left for several hours (image 7 below).
• After a couple of hours, check on the cake and add a little extra milk mixture if it is soaking well.

Assembling

After you've left the cake to soak and let it absorb all of the milk goodness, it's time to assemble!

• Start by carefully dolloping Biscoff spread over the surface of the cake and spreading evenly (image 8 below). Don't worry if all of the milk hasn't quite absorbed or if spreading gets a bit messy - you'll also be coating with whipped cream so no one will see!
• In a mixing bowl, whip together the cream, vanilla, powdered sugar and remaining Biscoff until the beaters leave tracks.
• Spread this whipped cream over the top of the cake.
• As a final touch add crushed cookie crumbs (image 9 below).

Tips and Tricks

• The best way to test this cake for doneness is by touch. Gently press the top of the cake and if it slowly springs back, it is done. You can also use the classic toothpick test, but this isn't always as reliable with meringue based cakes.
• You can soak the cake in the pan or you can turn out into a larger dish. If you've baked the cake in a non-stick baking pan, it should be fairly easy to carefully release the cake from the pan - run a knife around the sides and then carefully turn out. If you're not baking with non-stick, line the pan with a piece of parchment paper so that it is easier to remove.
• I find soaking the cake easier if you flip it over and soak the bottom rather than the top. This is because the top will naturally dry out more in baking and will be harder for the liquid to penetrate.
• This cake usually soaks in about three-quarters of the milk mixture if left overnight, serve the remaining milk on the side. Or, if pre-slicing for a party, add the milk in pipettes and stick one in each slice.
• When topping the cake, spreading the Biscoff can be difficult, especially if there is still any liquid on top of the cake. Use a pastry brush to brush the liquid to the sides and dollop the Biscoff at intervals across the cake to make this easier. And also remember, you're covering with cream, so its OK if its a bit messy!

Variations

There are a few easy options here for making this cake your own! Try:

• Other cookie butters - while I developed this recipe using Lotus Biscoff Cookie Butter, this is not meant to be restrictive! You can use other cookie butter spreads, each of which bring a little something different to the flavour.
• Different cream toppings - I opted for a Biscoff flavoured whipped cream to really drive home all the Biscoff in this cake! You could easily replace this with a standard vanilla whipped cream or maybe cinnamon.
  • To make a vanilla cream for this cake, use a double portion of my Homemade Whipped Cream recipe.
  • For a cinnamon cream, add a teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the powdered sugar.
• Use larger cookie crumbs or add sprinkles - I like to use finely crumbled cookie pieces here, but you can certainly add larger chunks for more texture or include some sprinkles for colour.

FAQs

Looking for more light but indulgent desserts? Try:

• Strawberry Jam Cake
• Cinnamon Swiss Roll
• Almond Angel Food Cake

Or are you after Biscoff? Have a look at these:

• Biscoff Cheesecake
• Mini Biscoff Cheesecakes
• Biscoff Buttercream
• Biscoff Blondies
• Biscoff Cinnamon Rolls