Q: Seed Kitchen & Bar is a popular chef-owned restaurant in Marietta. Chef Doug Turbush's Tres Leches Cake with Chantilly Cream and Berries is a dessert worth a fist fight for the final bite! It is deliciously moist and I would love to make this for a special occasion. — Merrie Jones, Marietta
A: Doug Turbush, chef and owner of Seed Kitchen & Bar, may make the best Tres Leches Cake in the metro area. Follow the recipe precisely for an airy cake that soaks up the sweet milk syrup but still has plenty of substance. The Chantilly Cream Jones remembers is sweetened whipped cream flavored with vanilla or brandy.
We tested in the cake in a 9-inch springform pan which worked perfectly to bake the cake and then hold the cake while it soaked up its milk syrup.
Seed’s Vanilla Bean Tres Leches Cake
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
5 eggs, separated
1 vanilla bean
1/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup heavy cream
Sweetened whipped cream and sugared berries, for garnish
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan.
In a large bowl, combine 3/4 cup sugar and 5 egg yolks. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the beans into the sugar and egg yolk mixture. Beat until mixture is light and fluffy.
In a measuring cup, combine milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Set aside. Sift together flour and baking powder. Set aside.
Whisk milk mixture into egg yolk mixture. Then whisk in flour mixture. Whisk until smooth.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream of tartar and remaining egg whites until soft peaks are formed. With mixer running, add remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a slow stream until whites form glossy, firm peaks. Remove from mixer and fold egg whites into egg yolk mixture. Pour this batter into prepared pan and bake 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry. Remove cake to a wire rack. Pierce all over with a skewer.
While cake is cooling, whisk together sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, cream and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour the syrup over the warm cake slowly. Continue until all syrup is absorbed. Refrigerate cake for at least 24 hours before serving. Garnish with sweetened whipped cream and berries, if desire. Serves: 12
Per serving: 379 calories (percent of calories from fat, 35), 9 grams protein, 53 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 15 grams fat (9 grams saturated), 137 milligrams cholesterol, 180 milligrams sodium.
