coconut tres leches cake

I made this cake for Duncan's birthday last week, but never got it posted.  I found it at Mel's Kitchen Cafe It was OK.(I'd probably say 3 star, just not as good as I expected.  Brandon says 4, so that is what it gets, but just because I kept eating it, so it must have been somewhat good.)  I would do things different if making it again.  It was made with a yellow cake mix, but there was a recipe for a make at home cake mix at Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  I decided I wanted to use that not wanting my results to be any different than hers.  Plus, knowing how much tres leches has to absorb, I thought a regular yellow cake mix was too light.  Anyway, that ended up being closer to a pound cake than a regular box yellow cake.  Good for absorbing the liquid of the tres leches, but I think it could have used a bit more liquid, and I definitely should have stabbed it with the fork twice as many times.  (And I did it a lot.)  Even with all that being said, for some reason I kept eating this silly cake.  The pieces that were more moist were very good.  It also makes me want to go and try my low fat tres leches cake recipe again.  I tried that years ago and it didn't turn out, but now that I have made this one, I know more what I'm looking for in terms of cake texture and liquid absorption.  OK, enough explaining.  Here are the recipes.

Here is the recipe from Mel's kitchen cafe.  I just copied it.  I had difficulty with this because my food processor is not large enough to hold all of the ingredients.  If making this again, I'd just use the ingredients and make it like a regular cake - cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla, stir in flour...  because I wasn't making this ahead to freeze.   However, if I make this recipe of tres leches again, I will try a box yellow cake.  While Mel liked it because it wasn't processed, I'm not too keen on the fact that it had 2 sticks of butter and 2 full cups of sugar.    Oh yea, it's been a week so I almost forgot that this took forever to cook.  at least 15 minutes longer than the recipe said it would, but I think it was more like 20-30 minutes more.  Again, having been a week, I can't remember, but I know I put it in for another 5 minutes a few times.

*Makes enough for two 9-inch layer cakes (bake according to recipe), or one 9X13-inch cake (bake for 30 to 35 minutes), or one 12-cup bundt pan (bake for 40 to 45 minutes), or 24 cupcakes (bake for 18 to 20 minutes)

2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons butter (2 sticks), cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Process sugar, flours (or flour and cornstarch if making the substitution for the cake flour), milk powder, baking powder, and salt in a food processor for 15 seconds to combine. Add butter and vanilla and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal (you want this much finer than, say, a pie crust). Freeze the dry mixture in a zipper-lock bag for up to 2 months or use immediately.

To make the cake, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour your pan of choice (see the note above the recipe).

With an electric mixer, beat the prepared cake mix, 1 1/4 cups warm water and 2 large room-temperature eggs until the mixture is smooth, about 2 minutes. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan(s) and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25-27 minutes for two 9-inch layer cakes. See the note above the recipe for alternate cooking times with other baking pans. Cool the cake(s) in pan(s) for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Cool completely.

Here is the tres leches recipe again copied from Mel's kitchen cafe.  She said to look for cream of coconut in the asian food aisle, but I didn't find it there in 2 stores.  I finally asked someone, and they suggested the  looking with the alcohol as it is used to make pina coladas, and that is where I found it easily.  I did not use the bananas, and I frosted the whole cake with the sweet cream because I was making it as a birthday cake, so we stuck candles in it and sang happy birthday.

*Serves 12-16

Cake:
Make-ahead Yellow Cake Mix or other preferred cake mix or homemade yellow cake recipe

Milk Syrup:
1 can (15 ounces) cream of coconut
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Garnishes:
2 medium-size ripe bananas
Sweetened cream (see instructions below)
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut, toasted (spread on a rimmed baking sheet and bake it at 350 degrees until golden brown, 7 minutes, or toast it in a skillet over medium-low heat on the stovetop)

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly spray a 9X13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Set the baking dish aside. Place the make-ahead cake mix, 1 1/4 cups warm water and 2 large room-temperature eggs in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until the mixture is smooth, about 2 minutes (if using another cake mix or recipe, bake according to box or recipe instructions). Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake until it is lightly golden and is slightly pulling away from the edges, 30-34 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool completely, 1 hour.

Meanwhile, make the milk syrup: in a blender, combine the cream of coconut, evaporated milk, cream, and vanilla and process until smooth.

Pierce the cooled cake all over the top with the tines of a fork or a thin wooden skewer. We are talking all over! The more pokes, the more the syrup will soak into the cake. Using a large spoon or ladle, spoon some of the milk syrup over the cake. Let the syrup soak into the cake, then continue spooning the syrup on top until all of it has been used up. When you have finished, not all of the syrup will be completely absorbed and might be pooling on the top but that’s ok because it will absorb as it refrigerates. Cover the cake loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate until all of the syrup is absorbed, 2 hours. Cut the bananas, if using crosswise into ¼-inch slices. Slice the cake and serve it with sliced bananas, sweetened cream and toasted coconut, if desired.

Sweetened Cream:
Pour 1 cup heavy whipping cream into a large (preferably chilled) glass bowl and beat it on high speed until thickened 1 ½ minutes. Stop the machine and add ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar and ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Makes 2 cups.

Recipe Source: adapted from The Dinner Doctor