The history of the
tres leches cake is debated. European countries have long held the tradition of "soaked" cakes. England, Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain have soaked cakes dating back to the Middle Ages. This tradition is thought to have influenced the creation of the
tres leches cake in Latin America. By 1896, the
U.S. Department of Commerce was exporting
condensed milk to
Nicaragua. Cattle, sugarcane plantations, and milk preservation techniques were introduced to Nicaragua by that time, by way of American military occupation. In 1936, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a trade agreement with Nicaragua, which "reduced Nicaraguan duties" in favor of importing
dairy products from Wisconsin, including
evaporated,
powdered, and
condensed milk. Several companies including
Nestle started posting recipes for
tres leches on their evaporated and condensed milk containers. Additionally, in part due to the food insecurity of the
Great Depression, canned milk sales "skyrocketed" in Nicaragua. Recipes for soaked-cake desserts were seen in some Latin American countries as early as the 19th century, in countries like
El Salvador, likely a result of the large cross-cultural transfer which took place between Europe and the Americas.
The Austin Chronicle cited English
rum cake,
trifle,
fruitcake, and
bread pudding, Italian
zuppa inglese, and medieval Portuguese
sopa dorada as possible soaked-cake influences. In the US, the cake became popular in the 1980s, beginning in Miami, due to the large Nicaraguan immigration. Its popularity then spread across the US, possibly from
Los Ranchos restaurant in Miami, which featured it on its menu when the restaurant opened in 1981. The cake was so popular at Los Ranchos that its recipe was featured on its fliers, which were pervasively distributed.
The Joy of Cooking included a
tres leches recipe in its 1997 edition.
Balkan variation (Bosnia and Herzegovina). A variation of
tres leches known as
trileche, ,
trileće, or
trileçe has become popular in Southeastern Europe, especially
Albania and western
Turkey. It is a caramel-topped version of tres leches, and it became popular in the
Balkans and Turkey. One theory is that the popularity of Mexican soap operas in
Albania led local chefs to reverse-engineer the dessert, which then spread to Turkey. Another theory is that Renata Casadei, an Italian chef at Piazza in
Tirana, introduced it to Albania after visiting a friend in the
Dominican Republic. The Albanian version is sometimes made literally with three milks: cow, goat, and
water buffalo, though more commonly a mixture of cow's milk and cream is used. The Albanian variation
trileçe usually has a caramel topping, while the
tres leches cake is topped with
whipped cream and fruit.
Turkish variation Traditionally in
Turkish cuisine, on top of the moist milk cake base,
trileçe is topped off with a light, airy whipped cream with another layer of buttery
caramel sauce and decorated with some fine lines of the whipped cream mixture. A toothpick or other pointed utensil is used to make the iconic design on the top. == See also ==