I have a mega treat for you today. This was one of my favorite desserts growing up in Ecuador. My mom would make a few of these for special occasions or for birthday parties, and I, being the food-lover that I am, would polish off whatever cake leftovers there were after the party was over. Mom would help with that too. If you were a fly on the wall, you would see us both in the kitchen table with spoons in hand just going at the Tres Leches Dessert tray together, looking like little kids who were doing something naughty. The same visual goes for when we had Nutella jars in the house; we would eat that jar clean, one spoonful at a time. Ah, good times.
I reached out to my mom a few days ago, asking her to give me her Tres Leches Dessert recipe. She is so sweet, she gave it to me in a jiffy, all from memory. She is a master of her craft. Her recipe is of course not Paleo, but guess what? I worked some magic and converted it into an all Paleo approved recipe, so that we can all enjoy her fab dessert together.
I made my mom’s Tres Leches Dessert recently for Preston and I, the Paleo way. And oh-boy, it was good. We each were going to share one piece, but after Preston had his first bite, he looked at me and said he was going to get his own. We each finished a generous slice in about one minute. One glorious minute.
It tasted just like mom’s. So many wonderful memories of us growing up came to light as my taste senses were firing up. It’s crazy how senses can do that, isn’t it? They can spark memories so vividly when given the right sensory cue. I may have to make more desserts from home just so I can vividly re-live some of my great Ecuadorian memories; I miss home.
Since we all love desserts so much, I shall be in constant communication with my mama to bring more of her yummy creations your way. I think you’ll really enjoy her treats. Not to mention, you’ll be sort of studying a different culture’s traditional foods when eating these treats. They are all Latin American, all with their own Ecuadorian twist.
How fun. I love to share that piece of me with you guys.
Tres Leches Dessert
- Total Time: 1 hr 10 mins
- Yield: 8 slices 1x
Description
This Tres Leches Dessert is 100% Paleo, gluten-free, grain-free and dairy-free. A wonderful Latin American staple that your family and friends will love.
Ingredients
2 cups cashew flour (pulse raw cashews in a food processor until meal like texture is reached)
1/3 cup arrowroot powder/flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
4 large eggs
1/3 cup honey
7 tbsp ghee + more to grease pan
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
12 oz Paleo Condensed Milk
12 oz Paleo Evaporated Milk
8 oz unsweetened carton coconut milk
1 batch of my Paleo Meringue recipe (to top)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease 7″ x 11″ baking dish with ghee and set aside.
- In a bowl, mix cashew meal, arrowroot flour and sea salt. Set aside.
- Place ghee in a heat proof dish and microwave for about 20 seconds, or until melted. Set aside.
- Separate the eggs, placing the egg whites in a standing mixer’s bowl and the yolks in the bowl with the ghee. To the bowl with the yolks and ghee, add in honey, vanilla extract and lemon juice; whisk until incorporated. Pour this mixture into the bowl with the flours; whisk until batter is smooth.
- Using the whisk attachment of your standing mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks are formed. Add baking soda into the cake batter, and immediately beat in a third of the egg whites to lighten the batter. Fold in the remainder of the egg whites.
- Pour batter into pre-greased baking pan, and bake for 40 minutes. Let cool completely.
- Once cake has cooled completely, use a fork to puncture holes everywhere in the cake. You want holes everywhere, so that the milk mixture can soak in and wet the cake.
- To a blender, add Paleo Condensed Milk, Paleo Evaporated Milk and unsweetened carton coconut milk, and blend on high until well combined. Pour a third of the milk mixture directly on top of the cake and let the cake absorb it completely; once absorbed, pour half of the remainder milk mixture and let it absorb; pour all the remainder milk mixture (it almost seems like it won’t fit, but it does, it will all get absorbed eventually) and refrigerate cake overnight.
- To finish off the cake, use a spatula to decorate the cake with the Meringue. Refrigerate until ready to serve and slice into 8 servings.
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Latin American
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Would this work with substituting the cashew flour for almond flour? Do you think it would alter the taste much? I’m making this dish for non Paleo friends, and I’d like to get it as close to the “real” thing as possible (and I cannot find cashew flour locally in time)
Almond flour should work just fine. And the taste shouldn’t be too altered by it. 🙂 YUM. Have fun making it and eating it!
Hello! Would I be able to use pure maple syrup instead of honey?
Hi Hima, I have only tried the recipe with honey, so I am not sure how the maple syrup will do. You can give it a shot though!
Also would I be able to use just regular coconut milk instead of unsweetened carton coconut milk?
I would use carton coconut milk, since canned coconut milk is too thick. 🙂
Thank you for posting this, this what just the recipe I was looking for! I’m so excited to try this. I might have a cashew sensitivity or allergy so I’m going to attempt it with almond flour. I don’t have honey so will try it with maple syrup or coconut sugar
Hey Kelly! Yay, you’re going to love it. It is so flipping good! Yes, absolutely, you can sub the cashew flour with almond flour, and I’d recommend you sub the honey with maple syrup over coconut sugar (as the consistency is similar: syrupy). Enjoy!! XX