Mesquite-Flour Tres Leches Cake With Cherry Compote
Chef Steve McHugh finishes off his “Hunting and Gathering” feast with this classic Mexican treat, taken up a notch with mesquite and cherries.
Ingredients
Compote
- 2½ cups cherries, pitted (thawed if using frozen; can substitute fresh fruit of your choice)
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1½ tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
Cake
- 1 cup cake flour
- ½ cup mesquite flour, plus some for dusting top of cake (available online)
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 12 egg whites, room temperature
- 1½ teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Horchata Cream
- 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1½ cups heavy cream
- 2½ cups whole milk
- 3 tablespoons horchata (available at large supermarkets and Mexican restaurants)
- seeds from 1 vanilla bean
- 2 cups whipped cream
Directions
Compote
- Put all ingredients in a large saucepan with ¼ cup water and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
- Cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, adding water if it gets too thick. It should have a syrupy consistency.
- Remove from heat, cool, and reserve.
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the cake flour, mesquite flour, sugar, and salt together, and set aside.
- Using a mixer, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and vanilla until stiff peaks form.
- With a rubber spatula, gently fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites.
- Line an ungreased 9-by-13-inch pan with parchment paper, pour the batter in, and bake until done, about 30 minutes. Texture will be spongy.
- Invert on a rack to cool, in the pan.
Horchata Cream
- In a large saucepan, combine first 5 ingredients and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Set aside.
Assembly
- Using a fork, poke holes all over the cooled cake, in its pan, and evenly pour the warm Horchata Cream over it.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
- To serve, cut into squares, top each with whipped cream and Compote, and dust attractively with mesquite flour.