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4.62 stars (347 ratings)May 2, 2016220
Love tres leches cake? It’s even more delicious and pretty in cupcake form. These from-scratch tres leches cupcakes are sure to be a hit!
These tres leches cupcakes are a hit every time I make them! Lovely in presentation, the taste and texture and flavor are the real stars of the show.
I’m giving you all my tips and tricks below for how to make these showstopper cupcakes!
Fantastic Base Cupcake
The vanilla cupcake recipe on its own is incredibly fantastic. It has become my go-to vanilla cupcake recipe for all things.
It is light and fluffy and so wonderfullyeasy (no electric mixer needed, no fussy ingredients).
Even if tres leches cupcakes don’t seem like they fit in your wheelhouse (hint: I’ll try to change your mind about that in a minute), the plain cupcake recipe is a winner.
How to Add Tres Leches to the Cupcakes
In the interest of full disclosure, it is a bit tedious soaking the cupcakes with the tres leches mixture.
I tried about seven different methods to drizzle, spoon, pouron the milk mixture and finally settled on the method that works best for me.
There are more details below in the recipe, but I use a squeeze bottle and a small offset spatula {aff. links for both}.
It’s not hard! Just a little time-consuming.
Here are a few other ideas/methods from the comments on adding the milk mixture:
- use an eyedropper
- piping bottle with metal tip
- large syringe found in baking aisle
- clean meat syringe (here are the full details of the comment: I found a great and fast way to put the milk mixture in the cupcakes. I use a meat injection syringe. Obviously one that is clean and maybe one that you buy, a cheap one from Big Lots or some place like that. I keep the mixture in the bowl I mixed it in. Pull back the plunger to fill the syringe. Hold the cupcake. Inject the needle on the side at a steep angle and placing it as far in as you can. Slowly push the plunger in. You’ll wait till you see the mixture come up in other areas on top. I’ve done this multiple times and can do two recipes worth in under 15 minutes.)
Make-Ahead Dessert
These cupcakes are out of this world. Even having made them over and over, I’m still looking for reasons to serve them because they make everyone so insufferably happy.
One huge advantage of these lovely little cupcakes is they can be made ahead of time. In fact, they should be made ahead of time. And you know how I feel about make-ahead desserts, right? They make life worth living.
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Divine Tres Leches Cupcakes
Yield: 16 Cupcakes
Prep Time: 2 hours hrs
Cook Time: 15 minutes mins
Total Time: 2 hours hrs 15 minutes mins
4.62 stars (347 ratings)
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Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1 ½ cups (213 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (113 g) salted butter
- 1 cup (212 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Milk Mixture:
- 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Topping:
- 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
- ⅓ cup (38 g) powdered sugar
- Dash of vanilla extract
- Fresh berries, for topping
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with foil liners (don’t use standard paper liners; the milk mixture will soak through). This recipe makes about 16 cupcakes so you can line another 4 muffin cups in a second pan as well or bake a second batch.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Set aside.
In a microwave-safe bowl (you can also do this in a pan on the stovetop), melt the butter. Whisk in the sugar and continue whisking until the mixture is no longer warm to the touch. Whisk in the egg, buttermilk and vanilla until well-combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and whisk until the batter is mostly lump-free without overmixing (maybe 20-30 strokes of the whisk total).
Portion the cupcake batter evenly in the tins. Don’t overfill! For this recipe, in particular, it is best to have the baked muffins sit slightly below the rim of the muffin cup to help when adding the tres leches mixture. I use my #20 cookie scoop to portion the cupcake batter – about 3 tablespoons batter, or slightly less, per muffin cup.
Bake the cupcakes for 14-16 minutes until the tops spring back lightly to the touch.
Remove the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely. When cool, use a thin skewer to poke holes all over (and I mean, all over) the cupcake. Go crazy, but don’t poke all the way through the cupcake liner.
For the milk mixture, in a large liquid measuring cup or in a blender, whisk together or blend the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and heavy cream. The milk mixture needs to be drizzled or spooned over the top of each cupcake one at a time. I find it works best to pour the milk mixture in batches into a squeeze bottle (pictured below) and slowly squeeze the milk mixture onto the top of the cupcake while simultaneously pressing the milk mixture into the top of the cupcake with an small offset spatula. This tedious step can probably be sped up by using a thicker skewer to poke the holes. I use a fairly thin skewer which means the milk mixture doesn’t soak in quite as quickly. You’ll want to use about 2-3 tablespoons of milk mixture per cupcake (depending how soft and soaky you want them).
Refrigerate the cupcakes for at least an hour, or cover lightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 12 hours.
When ready to serve (up to two hours ahead of time but not before that), prepare the topping by whipping the heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract together until stiff peaks form. Dollop
the sweetened whipped cream on top of each cupcake and finish it off with a fresh berry. Serve immediately or refrigerate for 1-2 hours until serving.
Notes
Leftover Milk Mixture: just a heads up that there will be left over milk mixture. There’s no way around it since the ingredients aren’t sold in smaller cans, but since many of you have been irked about leftover components in recipes before, I thought I’d let you know that in advance. You can definitely halve the milk mixture recipe and then decide what to do with the half leftover cans of sweetened condensed and evaporated milk (of course you could just double or triple the cupcake recipe and then, problem solved).
Don’t Skip This Step: I know the milk mixture part of the recipe (spooning it onto the cupcakes) seems a bit labor intensive, but these cupcakes are so worth it. Turn on Netflix or have your kids tell you entertaining stories to pass the time. The method I outline in the recipe (and pictured below) really is the fastest way I’ve found to do it. I use a really thin bamboo skewer to poke the holes but I’m guessing if you use something thicker, the milk mixture will soak in more quickly (just take care not to poke holes so big that the cupcake falls apart).
Author: Mel
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Method: Bake
Serving: 1 Cupcake, Calories: 403kcal, Carbohydrates: 41g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 24g, Saturated Fat: 15g, Cholesterol: 93mg, Sodium: 206mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 31g
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: inspired by treslechescupcakes I had at a book group several months ago (Heather, lovely book group hostess, gave me the milk mixture recipe); thecupcake recipe is one I’ve been working on for a while
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Disclaimer: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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posted on May 2, 2016 (last updated April 23, 2024)
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220 comments on “Divine Tres Leches Cupcakes”
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Lana — Reply
Hello Mel, Can i use light whipping cream instead of heavy whipping cream in milk mixture? Thank you
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Becky Katoa — Reply
Could you make the cupcakes ahead and freeze them. Then thaw before adding the liquids?
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Mel — Reply
Yes, that could definitely work.
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Bethany — Reply
Hi, Mel! I’ve had these cupcakes when my sister made them! I was wondering if I made a large quantity of these (16+doz) , how long would you bake them in mini muffin tins? Also, can I put the cream on top any earlier than a couple of hours?
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Mel — Reply
Hi Bethany, if you are making these mini size, I’d check them around 7 to 9 minutes. If you are adding whipped cream to the top in advance (more than a few hours), I would suggest using stabilized whipped cream so it doesn’t get liquidy/weepy. If you google “stabilized whipped cream” there are lots of tutorials on how to do that. Good luck!
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Marta regalado-Groeschel — Reply
These were very dense, and had way too much sugar. I would cut down on the condensed milk. Otherwise good base receipe.
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Megan Connor — Reply
These were SOO delicious and moist, and really loved how easy the vanilla cupcake batter is to make, loved being able to just used a spatula and bowl and not the mixer! Another recipe from Mel that turned out perfect and so easy to follow her directions!
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Dawn — Reply
I double this recipe and put it in a 9×13 pan. That way I use all the milk mixture. I have taken it to work many times, all the people i work with from Mexico love it also. Thank U for this recipe.
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Heather — Reply
How long did you bake your doubled recipe for this in your 9×13 baking dish? Did you make any other adjustments, I love this idea Dawn!
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Maria — Reply
I’ve made this recipe a few times, they turned out great and delicious. Big hit with my family and friends. For some reason this time my cupcakes did not want to bake. It took over 20 minutes for them to bake. I took them out of the oven and right away then flattened down from the middle of the cupcakes. I put them back in and then they came out a bit hard and crispy from the edges. Hopefully they turn out fine! Crossing my fingers
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Margo — Reply
I followed the recipe to a T and my batter was the consistency of cookie dough :/ ….. what happened lol …..: they’re in the oven now so I don’t know the end result yet
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Molly — Reply
would this work if i baked berries into the cupcakes@
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Mel — Reply
I haven’t tried that, but you could definitely experiment!
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Kaylin — Reply
Gah, this recipe is to die for. All inhibition goes out the window, and by day 2, I’m just eating it with a fork right out of the pan (I like to make my tres leches as a cake). I’ve been playing around the the proportions for a while, and found that doubling the batter, and making 6 cupcakes, and the rest in a 9×13 makes the cake a perfect thickness. I use the full amount of the milk mixture on the cake, and just leave the cupcakes “dry” and frost them, since my kids LOVE cupcakes… then more cake for me! ha!
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Emily Stockwell — Reply
So good. Like stupid good. I can’t even good.
For the milk mixture, I put it in a piping bottle with metal tip, and then just poked that tip into the cupcakes and gave a little squeeze a million times. Worked like a charm!
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Joy — Reply
Can you make these as mini cupcakes
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Mel — Reply
I haven’t tried that but you could definitely experiment!
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Mel — Reply
I want to make this ahead of time. How far in advance can I make it and refrigerate it without compromising the cupcakes?
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Mel — Reply
Probably about 48 hours.
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Kay Mirza — Reply
Hi! I’m so excited to try these! I’m wondering if the whipped cream topping is thick/sturdy enough to be piped with a piping tip. Thanks!
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Mel — Reply
If you whip it to stiff peaks, it should do fine piped.
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THERESA R PERGOLA — Reply
If you add plain gelatin it stabilizes the whipped cream and makes it more pipable. Google stabilized whipped cream for intructions.
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Amber Huckabee — Reply
Would this work with parchment paper cupcake wrappers? I have a fancy one I use but don’t want them to ruin the cupcake?
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Mel — Reply
They really need the foil liners so the filling doesn’t make the paper soggy.
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KArlita — Reply
Milk mixture can actually be used as coffee creamer it’s so delicious I do suggest it enjoy ¡
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