I hadn't made dessert since our last cooking class, so when Marcos' birthday rolled around last week, I decided it was high time to make something scrumptiously sweet. Not really into cakes or sweets in general, my honey's favorite dessert is Manjar, a tres leches with a dulce de leche topping. Being from Argentina, Dulce de Leche is the one sweet he just can't get enough of. We usually buy Manjar at the bakery, but it seemed so easy, I thought I'd give it a whirl and see how it would turn out. As it happens, it was unbelievably good! (Plus, I scored high points in the best girlfriend department. Just don't tell him it was that easy to make!)
The recipe I totally improvised. I looked up some Tres Leches recipes just to make sure of the quantity of the ingredients that were needed, but other than that I just winged it.Manjar
- 1 vanilla sheet cake from supermarket bakery (I used chocolate chip cake! Of course you can totally make your own which I bet would taste even better, but the beauty of doing it this way is the speed with which you can throw this together).
- 1 can of sweetened, condensed milk
- 1 can of evaporated milk
- 1 jar (15 oz) of Dulce de Leche
1. Cut the cake into slices 1/2 inch thick. Place them in a square or rectangular baking dish, in three layers, one on top of the other. Make sure the slices fit perfectly and try not to leave gaps between them. You can fill in the gaps with the same slices, just cut them according to the size you need.
2. In a small pitcher, mix the sweet, condensed milk and the evaporated milk and stir. (Ok, so technically it's a Dos Leches, but if you're picky you can add a bit of whole milk to the mixture and get your Tres Leches.)
3.With a fork, pierce the cake all over. This will make tiny holes through which our sweet mixture will slowly seep down into the cake. Pour the leches mixture all over it, making sure to distribute it evenly.
4. Finally, cover the cake generously with Dulce de Leche, just like a thick layer of frosting. Place in the fridge for about 2 hours before serving.
Dulce de Leche is easily found at the supermarket nowadays. I bought this brand La Paila from Argentina of course, and it was excellent.
Hmmmmm... Would you look at that? Moist, sweet and cold with the tiny chocolate chips adding just a bit of texture... And that was it for me. No more sweets until Christmas! Bon Appetit!
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