Name: Eggnog Tres Leches Cake
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 5 h 5 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: Mexican-American
Ingredients: 3 cups cake flour; 3/4 cup granulated sugar; 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 sticks Real California Milk unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature; 3 tablespoons rum, bourbon, or brandy, divided (optional); 2 cups Real California Milk eggnog, room temperature, divided; 1/3 cup Real California Milk sour cream, room temperature; 3 large eggs, room temperature; 1 (14-ounce) container Real California Milk sweetened condensed milk; 2 1/2 cups Real California Milk heavy cream, divided; 1 tablespoon powdered sugar; Christmas sprinkles for decorating, optional

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Eggnog tres leches cake is the perfect holiday dessert when you want something that feels classic and cozy, but still a little extra. All the creamy flavor of traditional tres leches, but with rich eggnog, warm spices, and a buttery, velvety crumb that can hold every drop of that luxurious milk syrup. This eggnog tres leches cake recipe is made with Real California Milk eggnog, butter, heavy cream, and sour cream, and it’s exactly the kind of festive spin that will absolutely impress guests at Christmas dinner—or any holiday gathering.

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Here’s Why You’ll Love It

Eggnog-forward flavor: Real California Milk eggnog, sweetened condensed milk, and a little nutmeg bring big, nostalgic eggnog flavors in every bite.
Make-ahead friendly: The cake actually gets better as it rests overnight in the different milks, so it’s a built-in stress reliever for busy holiday cooking.
Dreamy texture: The reverse creaming method gives you a tight, velvety crumb that soaks up the milk mixture without turning into mush—just a super moist cake with structure.
Simple but showstopping: It bakes in a 9×13 sheet cake pan, but the end result looks and tastes like you fussed for days. Add Christmas sprinkles or a dash of nutmeg and it’s a big hit.
Easy whipped cream topping: Just like with our tres leches strawberry shortcake, heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar whipped to soft peaks or stiff peaks—no fussy frosting, just a cloud of Real California dairy on top of the cake.

An eggnog tres leches cake on a wood table

Ingredients (and Why They Matter)

Cake flour: Just like when making traditional tres leches cake, you need cake flour for a tender, fine crumb that drinks up the milk soak without getting dense.
Granulated sugar: Sweetens and also helps with structure; we sift it with the dry ingredients since we’re not creaming butter and sugar.
Ground cinnamon + nutmeg: Warm spices show up in our pumpkin spice tres leches cake and our cafe de olla cake and they do here as well. They echo classic egg nog and make this feel like the holidays in cake form.
Baking powder + baking soda: The leavening duo that keeps the cake light and bouncy, even with all the dairy richness.
Salt: Balances sweetness and makes the eggnog flavors pop.
Real California Milk butter (unsalted): Cubed and at room temperature, it coats the flour mixture and creates that velvety, almost creamy crumb. Another favorite holiday recipe using Real California Milk butter is my Chili Almond Christmas Crack.
Rum, bourbon, or brandy: Just enough to give that traditional holiday twist; you can adjust to taste. Have leftover rum? Make my cider-rum caramels.
Real California Milk eggnog: The star. It’s in both the cake batter and the tres leches milk mixture for maximum eggnog cake flavor.
Real California Milk sour cream: Adds tang and richness, and keeps the cake incredibly moist. For more ways to use Real California Milk sour cream see my elote corn casserole recipe.
Eggs: Whole eggs (egg yolks and egg whites together) bind the batter and add richness and structure.
Real California sweetened condensed milk: Classic tres leches ingredient that brings sweetness and body to the milk soak.
Real California Milk heavy cream: Used in the milk mixture and whipped cream topping for that ultra-lush finish. I also love this churros con chocolate ice cream recipe using Real California Milk heavy cream.
Powdered sugar: Lightly sweetens the whipped cream without weighing it down.
Christmas sprinkles or extra cinnamon: For decorating the top of the cake and adding that festive touch.

All the ingredients to make eggnog tres leches cake

Butter Cake vs. Sponge Cake

Traditional tres leches cake, like my strawberry tres leches cake, is usually made with a sponge cake. If you’ve ever made that cake or my coconut tres leches cake you’ll know it has lots of whipped egg whites, very little fat, and a super airy structure designed to soak up all the different milks. For this eggnog poke cake, we’re taking a slightly different route.

Instead of a sponge cake, we’re making a butter-based cake, like my pineapple upside down cake, that can stand up to the richness of eggnog. The reverse creaming method plus Real California Milk butter gives you a tight, even crumb that still soaks in the milk mixture beautifully. The cake cools, you poke holes all over, and it drinks up the eggnog, sweetened condensed milk, and cream like a champ—no soggy, falling-apart slices. Just neat squares with a golden brown edge and a custardy center.

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Let’s Get Started

Similar to another holiday favorite, my fudgy Kahlúa brownies, You’ll start by heating the oven to 350°F and generously greasing a 9×13-inch cake pan. Sift your cake flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt directly into the bowl of a stand mixer. Sifting is key here; it aerates everything and breaks up any clumps.

The butter cubed in a bowl on top of some flour

With the paddle attachment on low speed, give the dry ingredients a quick mix, then add your cubed, room temperature Real California Milk butter, a splash of rum, bourbon, or brandy, and some of the eggnog. Beat on medium speed until the flour mixture is moistened and looks like a thick dough, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together more eggnog, sour cream, and the eggs until smooth. With the mixer on medium speed, pour this mixture into the batter in three additions, mixing about 15 seconds after each and scraping the sides of the bowl so everything is evenly combined. Don’t overmix—some small lumps are fine.

Eggs, sour cream, and eggnog in a glass bowl

The eggnog cake batter before being baked

Spread the cake batter into your prepared pan and bake until golden brown and set, about 32–35 minutes. Let the cake cool for about 15 minutes, then poke holes all over the top of the cake with a skewer or fork.

Tres leches mixture being poured over the cake

While the cake bakes (or cools), whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, more eggnog, and some heavy cream in a large bowl. Pour this milk mixture slowly over the warm, poked cake. It will look like a lot, and the cake may float a bit at first, but as the cooled cake rests, it will soak everything in. Let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours, but overnight is best for that full milk soak magic.

The cake covered in the tres leches mixture

Right before serving, whip the remaining heavy cream and powdered sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or use a hand mixer) on high speed until soft peaks or stiff peaks form, depending on how billowy you like your whipped cream. Spread over the cooled cake, add Christmas sprinkles or a sprinkle of nutmeg or cinnamon, and you’re ready to slice.

Why Real California Milk?

The holiday magic? It’s in the food and the connections you share with family and friends around the table. Real ingredients make good food, and good food makes those moments matter. That’s why I’m using Real California Milk eggnog, butter, heavy cream, and sour cream in this recipe.

This eggnog tres leches cake is part of a whole season of celebrating with holiday brunches, mains and side dishes, and desserts made with Real California Dairy.

Whether you’re planning a showstopper dessert like my pumpkin layer cake with dulce de leche, appetizers for a crowd, or cozy meals shared with friends to warm cold days, look for the Real California Milk seal to give you that rich, creamy flavor and consistent quality that home bakers rely on.

The Reverse Creaming Method

Let’s talk about the reverse creaming method, because it might be different from the box Betty Crocker or yellow cake mix instructions you’ve seen on the back of a General Mills or white cake mix package—but it’s so worth it.

Instead of creaming butter and sugar together first, we start with the dry ingredients and end with the eggs. You sift the flour, sugar, and leaveners together (a fine mesh strainer is non-negotiable here), then mix in cubed room temperature butter, a little eggnog or cup milk, and vanilla on low speed to medium speed. In this step, the butter coats the flour, which minimizes gluten formation and gives you that finer, velvety crumb. The end result is a cake that slices like pound cake but is not dense at all—just soft, springy, and almost creamy.

An eggnog tres leches cake covered with gold sprinkles

We use this same “coat the flour with fat” trick when we make biscuits and pie crust; it’s why they bake up flaky instead of tough. Here, it means your eggnog cake can handle a generous milk soak without collapsing. You’ll taste the difference in every bite.

Serve this at your next holiday gathering, add some sprinkles on top, and watch it disappear. Happy baking!