Making an authentic, luxuriously moist, and cloud-like gluten-free tres leches cake is easy to pull off with this no fail recipe. What separates this GF milk cake from the rest? I use a simple trick so the light, airy cake climbs into a tall structure without a dense, compressed crumb. A dreamy milk soak absorbs perfectly for moist, but never mushy, slices with whipped cream frosting on top.
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email below & we'll send it straight to your inbox. Plus you’ll get affordable and easy gluten-free recipes delivered each week!
Hands Down Best Gluten-Free Tres Leches (Three Milk Cake)
When I set out to create a gluten free tres leches cake recipe, I figured it would be as easy as taking my famously light, airy gluten-free white cake recipe, pouring over a milk soak and topping with whipped cream frosting. After researching authentic recipes, though, I had to pivot.
Making a tres leches with gluten-free cake requires a crumb sturdy enough to withstand an overnight three milk soak. After saturating the cake crumb, you don’t want to be left with a gloopy mess that cannot be sliced and served. So I had to workshop a new dessert into my homemade gluten-free cake collection – a GF sponge cake.
Sponge cakes are made of eggs, sugar, and for our purposes, gluten-free all purpose flour. Similar to a pillowy, soft gluten-free angel food cake, it is made without butter or oil, which honestly makes it easier to adapt into a GF recipe. Fats have a harder time absorbing into GF starches, making it tricky to strike a balance, which is why sometimes cakes can be dense and oily or dry and crumbly.
Therefore, not a lot of adjustments were made to ingredients from a traditional tres leches. But, I did add a little trick to prevent a common problem with GF tres leches recipes – cakes expanding, then shrinking into a dense, shrunken crumb.
The fix for this was simple. Let the batter sit for 15 minutes before popping into the oven. Since there’s no fat to coat the starches, this helps hydrate, saturate, and plump up the starches to solidify the cake’s structure. Your cake will stay tall, lofty, and ready for a gloriously creamy, dreamy milk soak!
Free Guide! 5 easy tips for baking like a gluten-free pro!
Simple hacks for fail-proof gluten-free dishes every time!
Let’s Make This Together!
(Below shows step-by-step photos and modified instructions. For the complete recipe, along with ingredient amounts, scroll down to the recipe card.)
Trick for separating and beating eggs
To make a spongy, airy crumb, beaten egg whites are folded into the cake batter. Eggs separate the best when they are cold. BUT, egg whites beat best when they are room temp. Take your eggs from the fridge, separate them into two separate bowls and let sit at room temperature for about 45 minutes.
Beat the whites until foamy, then gradually add in 1/4 cup sugar until you have stiff glossy peaks like below. In a separate bowl beat the yolks with the remaining sugar until the mixture is very pale yellow and expands in volume.
Marry the batters together
To the yolk batter, add in the remaining ingredients – milk, vanilla, gluten free flour, baking powder, and salt. You will have a very thick batter, but it will loosen up once the egg whites are worked back in.
Start with half the beaten egg whites, folding them into the batter as gentle as possible. Fold in the remaining whites and the cake batter is complete.
Wait, bake, wait, and pour
Here’s the easy and hands-off part. Butter just the bottom of the pan, not up the sides. This helps the cake “climb” up the sides of the pan as it bakes. Spread the batter in and wait for 15 minutes before baking. This will set up the cake structure so it doesn’t sink back down after cooling.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, but I really love using a cake tester because it has more surface area. Cool the cake for about 30 minutes.
I use that same cake tester to poke holes all over the cake, down to the bottom. Whisk together the three milks (sweetened condensed, evaporated milk, and whole milk) with more vanilla and then slowly pour all over.
Cover and let the cake chill and soak up all the goodness for at least 4 hours, but overnight is ideal.
Whipped cream frosting
I guess technically this would be a four milk cake with the whipped cream frosting. 🤷♀️ When you’re ready to serve, or at least that same day, beat together the heavy cream with powdered sugar until you have nice soft peaks. Spread all over tres leche soaked cake and enjoy!
Perfect Milk Cake Soaked Crumb
There’s a couple things that need to be spot on for the ideal soaked milk cake crumb. First, saturating with the right amount of milk mixture. Too little and the cake will be dry. Too much and it will be left pooled around the cake, making it hard to slice and serve. The recipe amounts shared below nail the perfect balance.
When pouring the milk over the cake, try to go as slow as possible. Because of the cake’s shape it will run off and pool at the sides. Don’t stress too much about this. As the cake sits it will pull in the moisture and soak evenly. Letting the cake soak longer, at least 12 hours, helps make sure the job gets done!
I’m all about saving desserts for later or making life easier. A homemade tres leches is the ideal make ahead dessert. It has to sit at least over night, but can be refrigerated up to a couple days. While it’s claimed tres leches doesn’t freeze well, I haven’t found this to be the case. I froze mine and thawed overnight in the fridge. Perfection!
Save this recipe to your pinterest board!
Let’s be friends on Pinterest! I’m always sharing great recipes!
Did you make this recipe? I love hearing from you! Leave a star rating and comment below the recipe card. It helps others when searching for recipes and I appreciate feedback from our community. You will always hear back from me! -Melissa
Tender, Moist Gluten-Free Tres Leches Cake (No Fail)
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs , separate cold into two bowls, then let come to room temp
- 1 ¼ cups (250 g) granulated sugar , divided
- ½ cup (123 g) whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups (292 g) gluten-free all-purpose flour, I highly recommend Cup4Cup gluten-free flour blend
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Milk Soak
- 14 ounces (397 g) can sweetened condensed milk
- 12 ounces (340 g) can evaporated milk
- ⅔ cup (163 g) whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whipped Cream Frosting
- 2 cups (480 g) heavy whipping cream
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- cinnamon , for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter just the bottom of a 13-by-9-inch pan, leaving a ¼-inch border ungreased. Do not butter the sides of the pan. This helps the cake “climb” up the sides while it bakes.
- Add the room temp egg whites to a large mixing bowl. Use the whisk attachment on a stand mixer or hand mixer beaters to beat on high speed until foamy and doubled in size, about 1 minute. Continue to beat while slowly pouring in ¼ cup sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes. Set aside.6 large eggs , ¼ cups granulated sugar
- In a separate large mixing bowl add the egg yolks and 1 cup sugar. Beat on medium speed, with paddle attachment or hand mixer, until pale and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in the milk and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat well, about 1 minute. The batter will be very thick.½ cup whole milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 cups granulated sugar
- Using a spatula, fold half the egg whites into the flour mixture. Finish with the second half, until no white streaks remain. It will be hard to work in at first, but as the whites work in the batter will loosen up. Spread the batter into the cake pan and let rest for 15 minutes. This helps the moisture soften the GF starches and build the structure of the cake so it doesn't sink.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool until slightly warm, about 30-45 minutes.
Milk Soak and Frosting
- In a medium bowl whisk together the condensed milk, evaporated milk, whole milk and vanilla. Poke the cake all over with a fork or wooden skewer, all the way to the bottom. Slowly pour the milk over the cake. It won't soak all the way through at first, but will eventually absorb. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours, but overnight is best.14 ounces can sweetened condensed milk, 12 ounces can evaporated milk, ⅔ cup whole milk , 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Wait to make the whipped cream frosting the day you will be serving. Add the chilled heavy cream and powdered sugar to a large mixing bowl. Use the whisk attachment on stand mixer or hand mixer beaters to mix on medium-high speed until medium peaks form.2 cups heavy whipping cream , 3 tablespoons powdered sugar, cinnamon
- Spread the frosting over the cake and then dust with cinnamon. Keep refrigerated up to 2 days.
This post contains affiliate links. My opinions are always my own. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, I make a small commission – at no cost to you. Read full disclosure policy here.
I want to bake the cake in two rounds. How long do you think it will take to bake in the oven?
Hi Tammy,
I would guess about 20 minutes in 2 rounds. However, once the cake is soaked with milk it might be hard to get out of the rounds and stack on top of each other. Is that what you were planning on doing?
Best,
Melissa
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I’m making it right now.
Just a note: You gram measurements don’t scale with the cup measurements when using the servings feature.
Thank you so much for pointing this out! There was a glitch I wasn’t aware of. Fixing now!
Best,
Melissa
It was the best cake I’ve ever had!
Thank you, Christine! Really appreciate you sharing.
Best,
Melissa
I really want to make this for my son. He is allergic to dairy. I have unsweetened canned coconut milk and refrigerated organic coconut milk in plastic bottle. What can I use in place of sweetened condensed milk? And how can I make the whipped cream topping without dairy?
Hi Sonya,
For the whipped cream, I would look up a recipe for coconut whipped cream (also uses coconut milk) or you can use TruWhip, which is DF whipped topping sold in the freezer section. For DF condensed milk the do sell this. https://amzn.to/4870rBo I’m not sure if you can find it locally or not. You can also make your own version using coconut milk. Hope your son enjoys it!
Best,
Melissa
is the nutrition info you listed for the Tres Leches cake for the whole cake or 1/12th? thanks
Hi Brenda,
It’s for a slice of cake if it’s cut into 12 pieces.
Best,
Melissa
I need To Make It Fir My Son That Has Celiac That Why My Complete House Is GF
It’s delicious, I hope you do, Veronica. Enjoy!
Best,
Melissa