This fall-inspired Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake is packed with cinnamon spice and tons of pumpkin flavor. Bring this seasonal dessert to your next holiday get-together and watch it disappear.
As we head into fall and the holiday season its nice to have a new dessert recipe to share with friends and there’s nothing like combining two cake favorites into one glorious treat to really knock everyone’s socks off.
This cake takes the classic Mexican dessert, Tres Leches Cake, and infuses it with all the flavors of a homey pumpkin cake. It has generous amounts of spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger plus a beautiful orange hue from pureed pumpkin.
The best part is the supremely moist texture thanks to a long bath in the traditional tres leches mixture and a fluffy whipped cream topping. This fall version of tres leches cake is seriously worth every bite!
What Makes This The Best Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake
- Sticks to tradition with a proper fluffy (but sturdy) sponge cake base
- Excellent warm spice flavor (cardamom is the secret ingredient)
- Not overly sweet
- Perfect make-ahead dessert that can (and should) be made a day in advance
- Blow everyone’s minds this holiday by bringing this delicious cake to the table
Ingredients
- Large eggs. See notes in step two below on separating.
- Granulated sugar. Not too much. We let the sweetened condensed milk do most of the sweetening.
- Pure vanilla extract
- Pure pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling.
- All purpose flour. Use all purpose as a base for the cake.
- Baking powder. Just a little, to ensure lift.
- Ground cinnamon. For the cake and for sprinkling over the top.
- Cardamom. This is the secret ingredient that will have people wondering, “why does this taste so good?”
- Ginger
- Nutmeg
- Cloves
- Kosher salt
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Evaporated milk
- Whipping cream
How To Make This Recipe
step one
Prepare for baking. The first step is to heat the oven to 325°F and grease a 9 x 13-inch aluminized steel cake pan.
step two
Whip the eggs. Gently crack the eggs into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Be very careful not to break the yolk or you’ll have to start over. With your hands, gently remove the egg yolks to a separate large mixing bowl, letting any whites drip back into the stand mixer bowl.
Add the sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, and the pumpkin to the yolks and whisk vigorously until the sugar has mostly dissolved, about 2 minutes.
step three
Combine the eggs. Gently fold the egg whites into the yolks being careful not to lose too much air. I like to add a third of the egg whites to begin with to lighten the yolks a bit, then the rest of the egg whites. You don’t have to mix them in completely at this stage. It is okay to have a few big clumps of egg white.
step four
Fold in flour mixture. Combine the dry ingredients in a fine mesh sieve and sift the flour over the eggs. Fold the egg mixture over the flour, gently combining the ingredients. Scrape batter into the prepared pan and bake until golden and springy, about 25 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean.
step five
Make milk mixture. While the cake is baking, combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a medium bowl.
step six
Soak. Use a skewer or fork to poke holes all over the top of the cake. Pour the milk and vanilla mixture all over the top. The cake will be floating in the milk mixture, that’s okay it will soak it up in the fridge. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours, but best overnight.
step seven
Top and serve. Whip remaining cream with 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla and spread over the cake. Dust with ground cinnamon. Cut into squares and serve.
Pumpkin Tres Leches FAQ’s
Can I use pumpkin spice instead of the spices listed? Yes! Use 3 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice instead of the spices called for in the recipe.
My egg whites didn’t whip up. What happened? A number of things will keep egg whites from whipping to stiff peaks but the number one culprit is either the bowl and/or whisk was dirty or some of the yolk got into the whites. If either of these things happen, throw it away and start over.
If You Love This Recipe, Try:
- Strawberry Tres Leches Cake
- Coconut Tres Leches Cake
- Tres Leches French Toast Casserole
- Chocoflan {Impossible Cake}
- Mexican Chocolate Sweet Tamales
- Strawberry Tamales with Horchata Sauce
- No-Bake Pumpkin Chipotle Cheesecake
Incredibly Moist, Perfectly Spiced
What more could you want in a fall dessert? Let me know when you make this Pumpkin Tres Leches by snapping a pic and tagging me on Instagram @holajalapeno and #holajalapeno so I can see or leave me a comment below (don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating) ! Also, sign up for my weekly newsletter, lots of good stuff there too!
Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake
This fall-inspired Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake is packed with cinnamon spice and tons of pumpkin flavor. Bring this seasonal dessert to your next holiday get-together and watch it disappear.
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 (14-ounce can) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 (12-ounce can) evaporated milk
- 3 cups heavy cream, divided
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
Instructions
- Prep pan and oven. Heat oven to 325°F and arrange rack in the middle. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with baking spray or oil and set aside.
- Separate eggs. Gently crack eggs into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Do this carefully so you don't break the yolks. If you break a yolk you'll have to start over. Gently remove the yolks with your hands, scooping them up and letting the whites run through your fingers. Place yolks in a large bowl—make sure the bowl is big enough to mix all the cake batter eventually. *Once again: important that you don't get any trace of egg yolk in the whites or they won't whip up to stiff peaks. I know this method of separating eggs might sound weird, but it actually is the most gentle way of dividing the yolk from the white.
- Beat egg yolks. Add sugar, pumpkin puree, and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla to the egg yolks and whisk until thick, creamy, and the sugar is mostly dissolved, about 3 minutes.
- Whip egg whites. In the stand mixer, whip the egg whites on medium speed until they are stiff, but not dry, about 6 minutes.
- Fold eggs together. Add about 1/3 of the egg whites into the yolks and fold gently with a rubber spatula. Add remaining whites and gently fold until only a few largish pieces of egg white remain.
- Add flour. Place a large metal sieve on a piece of parchment paper. Add flour, baking powder, salt, 2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Sift the flour into the egg mixture by gently tapping the side of the sieve until it all goes through. Rub any clumps that remain through the sieve to get it to go through. Pour any leftover bits into the bowl and gently fold that in as well being careful not to deflate the egg whites too much.
- Bake. Spread the batter evenly in the pan and bake in the middle of the oven until the top of the cake is golden around the edges and springy to the touch. A toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean, about 25 minutes.
- Make tres leches mixture. While cakes are baking, whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, the evaporated milk, and 1/2 cup of the heavy cream in a large bowl.
- Pour milk over cake. Let cake cool 15 minutes (cake will pull away from the sides of the pan) then poke cake all over with a skewer or fork. Pour milk mixture over cake. Cake will float in the milk mixture but will eventually soak most of it up. Let cake cool for another 30 minutes at room temperature then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours but best overnight.
- Make whipped cream topping. Combine remaining 2 cups heavy cream, powdered sugar, and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip with the whisk attachment until fluffy pillowy peaks form.
- Decorate cake. Spread cream evenly over cake then dust with remaining 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon. You can use as much or as little cinnamon as you'd like. I like to keep it on the light side, around a teaspoon total. Cut into squares and serve.
Notes
- Shrinkage: The cake will pull away from the sides of the pan as it cools. This is totally normal.
- Soaking: The cake will initally float in the milk mixture. That is fine. It will evenltually soak most of it up as it sits. You can drain off any remaining mixture the next day or carefully remove it from the pan to serve.
- Make-ahead: You actually should make this cake a day in advance. Let it sit in the refrigerator overnight to soak up all the tres leches mixture. Top with whipped cream right before serving.
- Whipped cream frosting: Careful not to overwhip the cream. You want nice smooth, fluffy peaks not grainy ones.
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The family loved this cake! My son gave this a google out of google stars (which he recently learned is the largest number) so that should tell you something. If you love pumpkin and tres leches, this was the perfect marriage between the two.
Thank you so much Elise!! I’m so thrilled your family loved it as much as we do.