A birthday cake for Mr. Guycita

Every year, I ask Mr. Guycita what type of birthday cake he wants me to make for him, and then I scour my cookbooks and the Internet to find the best from-scratch recipe possible.

This year, he told me that he really didn't know what he wanted. In the mood to try something new, I suggested a tres leches cake. My mom occasionally serves it when we visit Texas, and Mr. Guycita always loves it.

Of course, I didn't want to make just any tres leches cake. So after considerable research, I decided to try my hand at a cuatro leches cake. This variation, in addition to being soaked in the traditional mixture of sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream, is topped with dulce de leche (a caramel-type spread that I grew up eating all the time in Uruguay). To put my own twist on the recipe, I decided that, rather than diluting the dulce de leche with milk to pour over the top of the finished cake, I would fill the cake with Conaprole brand dulce de leche straight out of the jar.

Another thing that I thought made this recipe special is that it calls for Swiss meringue icing, rather than the traditional whipped cream. The meringue was super-easy to make, but I had never iced a cake with it before. I quickly learned that, being inexperienced with this medium, I was going to have to be happy with a freeform type of icing job:

Cuatro Leches iced in Swiss meringue

I wanted to give the icing a lot of texture, and I thought it turned out pretty good for a first try! Now the recipe directed me to caramelize the icing (to give the cake a hint of roasted marshmallow flavor—yum!). Unfortunately, my little blowtorch refused to cooperate. Out of sheer desperation, I tried putting the cake under the broiler. This method meant that, while the top of the cake would become nice and golden, the sides of the cake would remain unbrowned:  

Swiss meringue browned under the broiler

Although the end result was nowhere near what I had envisioned at the start of the process, the cake tasted great. The crumb of the mantecada cake was delicate while still being sturdy enough to hold 3 cups of the leches mixture (the leftover milk can—and should!—be poured over the plated cake wedges). And filling the cake with dulce de leche made this component much more prominent than it would have been if drizzled over the top as directed. I served the cake with coffee and strawberries, both of which were just right to cut the sweetness of the cake. As you can see, we dug in:

Cuatro Leches interior

Mr. Guycita was happy, and that made me happy. But before I make this cake again, I'll make sure that my little blowtorch is in working order! 

Comments

[Christine]

WOW that looks good. I am impressed!

[Guycita]

Thanks! At the time I was disappointed that it didn't turn out like I thought it would. But looking back, I think I did okay! :) I really love making and decorating cakes ... it just takes a lot of time.

[saraH]

[this is good] Dang, that's fancy!!

[Guycita]

I tried ... nothing but the best for my man! ;)

[Fraoch]

Consider yourself hired for whenever Sam needs baked treats for school, 'cuz Mommy has no patience for baking. :)

[Guycita]

I'll have you know that I have a chocolate cake recipe that regularly SOLD OUT at myschool in Uruguay before the bake sales could even begin. Teachers would just buy the whole cake at once when they heard I'd made one! So just let me know when Sam is in need of my baking services. :)

[editrix007]

[this is good] Oh man, do I love quatro leches cake. LOVE it. One of the best things George has introduced me to, alongside dulce de leche, Trappey's hot sauce, lime on everything, Mongo Santamaria, and Colombian emeralds. (OK, kidding about the emeralds. Unfortunately.)  I've started a tradition of making red velvet cake for Benji's birthday...maybe I oughta give a leches cake a try for George's. Somehow I doubt it'll turn out as yummy-looking as yours, though.

[Guycita]

I agree: dulce de leche, the real kind, is heaven on a spoon (which is my favorite way of eating it: straight from the jar). Unfortunately, I've seen a lot of "dulce de leche" products popping up around here that are really just caramel-flavored foods. It makes me so sad that the majority of Americans are getting the impression that there's no difference between a Werther's and dulce de leche. That's why I just had to special order some Uruguayan Conaprole dulce de leche for Mr. Guycita's cake. :)

I think you should totally make a leches cake for George! Most of the recipes out there are for a sheet cake that you soak right in the pan, and then you only have to ice the top. Easy! I only picked a cake that you had to fill because I like to make things hard on myself. HA!

[FancyPants]

How dare you post such amazing pictures...I'll just lick the screen. It looks so good!

: )

ang

[Guycita]

An old friend just told me I've inspired her to try making a tres leches cake for Father's Day. Woohoo! I hope it turns out great, Karen! :)

[Arleenese]

this cake looks awesome, really thank for this post.

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