📋 Coconut Lime Tres Leches Cake Recipe

coconut tres leches cake on a black plate with a fork, with a whole cake in the background

5 from 8 votes

📋 Coconut Lime Tres Leches Cake Recipe

This Coconut Lime Tres Leches Cake is a unique take on the traditional Mexican cake. It's a sweet, moist cake with a velvety texture, a delicious milky syrup and coconut lime twist. Garnished with coconut and festive rainbow sprinkles, it's perfect for your Cinco de Mayo celebration!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Latin, Mexican, spanish

Keyword cake, milk cake, tres leches

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

cooling and chilling 2

Total Time 2 40

Servings servings

Calories 229kcal

Author Terri Gilson

Ingredients

Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
5 eggs separated
¾ cup white granulated sugar divided
⅓ cup milk * I use 1%
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lime zest
1 tablespoon rum * or 1 teaspoon rum extract

Coconut Milk Syrup

200 ml coconut milk (½ a 400 ml can of coconut milk) * I use light
150 ml sweetened condensed milk (½ of a 300 ml can )
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Garnish

unsweetened coconut flakes * Can use toasted coconut, if desired
rainbow sprinkles * I use rainbow jimmies- jimmies are bigger sprinkles
lime twist

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 8 x 8-inch can pan with non-stick cooking spray or use Wilton Cake Release (see post)
Stir ﬂour with baking powder in a medium bowl.
In a separate medium mixing bowl, beat egg whites, using an electric mixer on high, until foamy.
Gradually add about a ¼ of the sugar and continue beating whites until stiff peaks form when beaters are lifted, 2 to 3 minutes. (see directions in post Videos)
Using same beaters (no need to wash), in another separate large mixing bowl, beat yolks with remaining sugar until pale yellow, 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low.
Gradually beat in ﬂour mixture, then milk and ½ teaspoon vanilla, until smooth. Blend in lime zest and rum.
Stir a third of egg whites into yolk mixture, using a rubber spatula, then carefully fold in remaining egg whites until no streaks remain. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake in centre of oven until springy and a skewer inserted into the centre of cake comes out clean, 30 to 35 min. Cool completely on a rack, about 1 hour.

Coconut Milk Syrup

Whisk coconut milk with condensed milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla and lime juice in a small bowl until combined. Poke top of cake all over with a skewer.
Pour half of coconut syrup over cake and let stand 5 minutes.
Run a knife around edges of cake and invert onto a rimmed serving platter. Poke bottom of cake all over with skewer.
Pour remaining syrup all over cake, spooning any excess drippings back onto the cake until it is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Refrigerate until fully chilled before serving, 1 to 2 hours.

Garnish

Sprinkle unsweetened shredded coconut on cake, then rainbow sprinkles/jimmies.
Cut cake into 9 pieces, then add a twist of lime to each piece when served. (See post video on how to make a lime twist garnish)

Notes

*See post contents for important recipe information and tips!

Nutrition Facts

📋 Coconut Lime Tres Leches Cake Recipe

Amount Per Serving (1 piece)

Calories 229 Calories from Fat 45

% Daily Value*

Fat 5g8%

Saturated Fat 3g19%

Cholesterol 93mg31%

Sodium 75mg3%

Potassium 146mg4%

Carbohydrates 39g13%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 27g30%

Protein 6g12%

Vitamin A 191IU4%

Vitamin C 1mg1%

Calcium 104mg10%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutrition