Chocolate Tres Leches combines rich, deep chocolate flavors with a creamy milk mixture to form a custard-like cake you will love!

Chocolate Tres Leches is one of those desserts I pull out of my culinary repertoire on special occasions, usually birthday parties. It’s one of my favorites: the rich chocolate cake, the creamy “three milks”, and a delicious whipped chocolate topping… it’s simply delicious! For this recipe, I gave my chocolate tres leches a festive twist with my garnish of raspberries and mint leaves.

Chocolate Tres Leches Ingredients

Cake Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup oil
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 t baking soda

Tres Leches Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup half & half
• 3/4 cup evaporated milk
• 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

Topping Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• raspberries + mint leaves {optional}

Chocolate Tres Leches Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Begin by making the cake for this recipe. Mix your dry ingredients – flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda – in a bowl. In a stand mixer, combine the oil, sugar, eggs, and sour cream. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.

Line an 8-inch or 9-inch square pan with parchment paper. Add the cake batter to the lined pan. This is a very thick cake batter, similar to a brownie dough. Bake the cake for 25 minutes. Allow it to cool completely.

Meanwhile, you will make the “tres leches” mixture and the topping. To make the “tres leches”, combine half & half, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk. The topping is a whipped chocolate ganache. In a small saucepan over a low heat, combine the heavy cream and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Stir constantly until a ganache is formed. Place the ganache in a bowl in the refrigerator about an hour until it begins to firm. Add the ganache into a mixing bowl attached to a stand mixer, and mix on high about 30 – 60 seconds until a whipped ganache consistency is achieved {do not over mix – you may get chocolate butter}.

When the cake has cooled completely, use a fork or skewer, to create holes all over the cake. This is to absorb the tres leches mixture. Pour the mixture over the top. When it absorbs completely, spread the whipped chocolate ganache over the top.

To give this dessert a festive appearance, I placed one mint leaf and one raspberry over what would then become each slice of chocolate tres leches. I’ve never done this before, but I will definitely decorate my holiday chocolate tres leches like this in the future – I love how this dessert just screams Christmas!

What’s your favorite holiday dessert?

Pin this Chocolate Tres Leches recipe below!

[tasty-recipe id=”27767″]