Ingredients
Method
Pumpkin Spice Blend
- Add 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 1 ½ teaspoons ground nutmeg, 1 teaspoon ground allspice, and ½ teaspoon ground cloves to a small bowl and whisk to combine.
Pumpkin Spice Sponge Cake
- Spray two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans with baking spray, and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350˚F (175˚C). See Note 2 to bake this as a traditional tres leches cake in a single layer.
- Add 120 g all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice blend, and 1 teaspoon espresso powder to a medium mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
- Add 5 large egg yolks and 50 g granulated sugar to a medium mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium high speed until the mixture becomes thick and light yellow, and falls off the whisk in ribbons. Add 160 g canned pumpkin puree and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and mix until combined.
- Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. Scrape the bowl partway through to make sure everything gets incorporated. Clean the whisk or beaters thoroughly. If using a stand mixer, transfer the mixture to a separate bowl and clean it.
- To the mixer bowl, add 5 large egg whites and beat on medium speed until foamy. Gradually sprinkle in 100 g granulated sugar about a tablespoon at a time, then increase the speed to medium-high. Beat to soft peaks. When you dip the whisk into the meringue and lift it up, there should be a soft curl at the end.
- Add about one third of the meringue to the yolk mixture, and fold it through. Incorporate the rest of the meringue in two additions, folding gently until no streaks remain while being careful not to lose too much air.
- Divide the batter between the two cake pans. You can either eyeball it, or use a scale to weigh about 330–350 grams of batter in each pan to make sure the layers are the same size and bake at the same time.
- Bake until the cakes spring back when gently poked and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, then carefully invert onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Peel the parchment off the bottom of the cake, and flip right side up.
Pumpkin Spice Latte Tres Leches Soak
- Add 240 g whole milk, 1 can evaporated milk, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, and ⅓ cup espresso to a large measuring cup or other spouted container that can hold at least 5 cups of liquid.
Stabilized Whipped Cream
- Make a single batch for the middle layer of the cake. After the cake layers finish soaking in the fridge overnight, make a double batch to cover and decorate the cake.
- Add ¾ teaspoon cold water to a small bowl. Sprinkle over ¼ teaspoon powdered gelatin and leave to bloom for 5–10 minutes.
- Add 150 g heavy cream, 1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar, ¼ teaspoon pumpkin spice blend, and ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract to a medium mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk. Beat on medium-high speed until it's starting to thicken. Microwave the bloomed gelatin for 10–15 seconds, or just enough to liquify it without it becoming very hot. Stream the gelatin into the whipped cream while beating, and whip to medium peaks.
Assemble the Cake
- Line one of the pans you baked the cake in with slings of plastic wrap arranged in an X. Lay one of the cake layers into the pan, keeping in mind that whatever is the bottom of the cake as you assemble it will end up being the top layer when you flip it out later.
- Poke the cake all over with a toothpick, and pour about 1 cup of the tres leches soak over it (see Note 4). It will pool and look like it will never soak in, that's normal!
- Spread on one batch of stabilized whipped cream. Top with the second cake layer. Poke it with a toothpick and pour over another cup of the soaking liquid. Transfer the rest of the soaking liquid to a freezer-safe container to save for the next time you make this cake (see Note 3). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 8 hours or ideally overnight.
Decorate the Cake
- Remove the top layer of plastic wrap. Put a plate or cake board and carefully invert the cake. Don't be alarmed if some of the soaking liquid leaks out and pools around the cake—just like a traditional tres leches cake, it's very soaked! Just clean up any puddles around the edge of the cake with some paper towel before decorating.
- Make a double batch of the stabilized whipped cream. Transfer about half of it to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Use the rest to cover the sides and top of the cake. I like to leave the sides almost bare (like a naked cake) and use the tip of a frosting spatula or spoon to make a swirl in the whipped cream on top of the cake. Pipe 8 swirls in a ring around the top of the cake, or decorate however you like! Sprinkle some extra pumpkin spice on top of the cake. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- You can use a store-bought pumpkin spice blend instead of making your own.
- For a more traditional single-layer tres leches cake, yuu can bake all of the batter in in a 9 x 13" rectangular pan and soak it. Make the larger portion of stabilized whipped cream and swirl that on top.
- Why make double the amount of soak needed? The recipe uses full cans of sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk so you don't have half cans in your fridge. However, the resulting amount is about double what the cake layers can possibly absorb. If you prefer, you can use half a can of the sweetened condensed and evaporated milks, and halve the milk and espresso as well.
- Using 1 cup of soak per layer will give you a very well-soaked cake, more like a traditional tres leches. But this can make it a little more difficult to assemble so if you prefer, you can use just ½ cup of soak per layer.