Dessert number two is here for Valentine’s week! My Mexican Hot Chocolate Tres Leches Cake is what dessert dreams are made of. Dark chocolate cake spiced with cinnamon and cayenne, chocolate tres leches, and cinnamon whipped cream. Once you have this, you’ll never go back to a classic vanilla Tres Leches Cake.
Today, I shared this recipe on ABC4’s Good Things Utah and had a blast as usual. It was my 31st TV segment and it was just as fun and exciting as the first time I went on the show. Cooking on TV is such a dream! Watch my TV segment here to see how easy this cake is to make.
Making the Mexican Hot Chocolate Tres Leches Cake
Don’t you love when desserts start with a boxed cake mix?! I wanted the cake to be more dense, though, to hold up to the tres leches, so I doctored it up a bit. I replaced the water for milk and added two extra egg yolks. The denser texture turned out just like I hoped. Then for the “Mexican hot chocolate” flavor, you add cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Yes cayenne!
The cinnamon warms up the dark chocolate flavors of the cake and the cayenne just gives a tiny tingle on your tongue. It is beyond delicious!
After the cake gets nice and happy in the fridge, make a simple cinnamon whipped cream, spread over the cake and garnish with fresh strawberries. It is so beautiful and simply divine!
Happy Valentine’s Day
Of course you don’t have to wait for a holiday to make this, but my Mexican Hot Chocolate Tres Leches Cake is perfect to celebrate the ones you love for Valentine’s Day. Honestly, I think this dessert will be on my regular rotation year round. You can never ever go wrong with an easy chocolate dessert like this. Enjoy y’all!
Mexican Hot Chocolate Tres Leches Cake
Ingredients
- 1 Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 3 eggs + 2 egg yolks
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 12 oz can evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
For the whipped topping:
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 9×13 baking dish by coating inside bottom with cooking spray.
- Add cake mix, milk, oil, eggs, cinnamon and cayenne to a medium-sized bowl. Use a hand mixer to beat for 2 minutes or until combined well. Pour into prepared dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- While cake is cooling make the tres leches by whisking sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream and cocoa powder until combined well.
- Once cake is warm to the touch, use a fork to generously poke holes all over the top. Pour milk mixture evenly over the top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 12.
- Once ready to serve, make the whipped topping by whipping the cream with a stand or hand mixer until soft peaks form. Add sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon then continue whipping until stiff peaks form. Spread over top of the cake and serve. Garnish with fresh strawberries if desired.
Notes
- If using a different brand of cake mix, just make sure to replace the water with milk and add 2 extra egg yolks.
This looks delicious 😋
Thank you!
This was absolutely delicious! We had it with our taco
dinner. It was the perfect end to a Mexican inspired meal. 😋
So happy you loved it! Thank you for commenting too!