I am so excited about today's vegan tres leches cake recipe! Before going vegan, tres leches was always my favorite cake. It is essentially just the moistest, sweetest cake ever. I don't think it gets much better than that! In honor of Cinco De Mayo, I am bringing you a delicious plant based Tres Leches cake recipe. This recipe is packed full of sweetness and flavor; the best part? It's 100% naturally sweetened. I have plenty of naturally sweetened dessert recipes on my blog (actually all of them are naturally sweetened lol).
My favorite naturally sweetened vegan recipes:
- Healthiest Vegan Ice Cream
- Plant Based Peach Cobbler
- Cranberry Orange Bread
- Date Sweetened Brownies
- Healthy Vegan Chocolate Cake
How to make this vegan tres leches cake creamy and moist without dairy?
If this is your first time hearing about a tres leches cake, let me give you a quick summary of what a tres leches cake is. A tres leches is a cake made with 3 different types of cream. Traditional tres leches is about the furthest thing from a vegan recipe besides a steak, because it is coated with cream. However this vegan tres leches recipe is made vegan and healthy without any dairy and clean simple ingredients. How did I do it? I used a couple different plant based creams and milks to get just the right amount of moistness and creaminess.
There's plenty of vegan tres leches cake recipes online, however many of those are made with sweetened condensed coconut milk. If you are simple eating a vegan diet, then there is nothing wrong with this. However if you are eating a whole foods plant based vegan diet, then I would recommend avoiding recipes that use it, because it is loaded with sugar. This wfpb tres leches cake recipe achieves that same sweet, moist, and creamy texture and flavor without any unhealthy ingredients.
How to make this Gluten-free tres leches cake:
Not only is this vegan tres leches cake recipe plant based, but it is also gluten-free! I do not eat a totally gluten-free diet, but I love making gluten-free reccipes. Over the years I have baked a lot of vegan treats using gluten-free flours. I think I have recently found the best gluten-free flour substitute for baking flour. That is: Sorghum flour!
What is Sorghum Flour:
Sorghum flour has a similar consistency to whole wheat flour (not quite as much gluten texture, so it bakes so fluffy!). I try to avoid using simple gluten-free flours as much as possible, because I want to create recipes that are loaded with nourishing ingredients, and contain healthy fiber and not just made from starches. That is why I love this flour! I am also obsessed with this gluten-free flour, because it is super affordable. I find is a common issue with a lot of gluten-free flours (that's right, I'm talking about you almond!). Therefore Sorghum flour worked fantastic in this vegan tres leches recipe!
Can I store this vegan tres leches cake in the fridge?
Absolutely. Honestly, this vegan tres leches cake recipe is one of those recipes that leftovers taste better than the first time. They taste so good, because the cake absorbs more flavor the longer it sits. However, if you're planning on serving it and the looks really matter, then I would wait to put the frosting on top. Since the frosting is so light and creamy, it won't hold its shape for long, so I would suggest waiting until right before you serve it to put the icing on top. It tastes fantastic the next day after having the frosting sit on top and soak a little, but it's just not quite as pretty! As with any recipe there is a certain point where it will go bad, but you can store this plant based tres leches cake in the fridge for a week.
Ingredients for this vegan tres leches cake:
- Sorghum flour
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Applesauce
- Date syrup
- Flaxseed
- Unsweetened soy milk
- Apple cider vinegar
- Vanilla extract
- Almond extract
Vegan Tres Leches Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup sorghum flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Ā½ cup applesauce
- 1 flax egg 1 tablespoon flax with 3 tablespoon water (let sit for about 5 minutes) = one "egg"
- Ā½ cup unsweetened plant based milk soy
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
For the creamy milk:
- ā cup unsweetened soy milk
- 2 tablespoon date syrup
For the cream frosting:
- 1 can coconut cream chilled in the fridge overnight
- date syrup optional (will change the color)
Instructions
- Begin by preheating your oven to 350.
- In a medium bowl add soy milk and apple cider vinegar, and mix(it will curdle a little bit), add the almond and vanilla extracts. If you have not make your flax egg now as well.
- In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients. Add the applesauce, flax egg, date syrup, and soy milk mixture. Mix until well combined. Spray a brownie pan, and spread batter. Place in oven and cook for 25-30 minutes, until you can stick a knife in and it comes out clean.
- While the cake is in the oven make the milk mixture. Combine soy milk and date syrup together and whisk until combined.
- Remove cake from oven and poke holes in it. I used chopsticks for this. Once you have evenly covered it in holes, pour the milk mixture over, ensuring every corner is covered. Set in the fridge for 3 Hours.
- Once the cake is chilled and absorbed the milk, make the whipped coconut cream simply by whisking it with a hand held mixer. spread evenly over the cake and enjoy with fresh fruit!
Abby
I am amazed at how well this turned out!! Vegan tres leches cake never tasted so good!
Morgan
Hello.. Amazing recipe!! How much date syrup should I add to the cake batter?
Katie
Hi! Oh no, it looks like this recipe got messed up when I transferred my website. I believe it was 1/4 cup, but I am not 100% positive. I have made a note to go back and update this recipe as soon as possible!! I am so sorry about this!