Vegan Mango Lime Tres Leches Cake
You can kind of say this is a cross between a mango margarita and tres leches cake, the best of both worlds for Cinco de Mayo! A little white flour and white sugar is used in this recipe (eeek!!!), but just a little! This dessert isn’t overly sweet, but surely is suitable for a fiesta! The addition of lime scented mango makes for a wonderful warm weather dessert…now, just if it was a little warmer out! I’m not sure how it is where you live, but it certainly doesn’t feel like May on Cape Cod!
Traditionally Tres Leches Cake is made with 3 types of milk, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and heavy cream. I switched it up for a non-dairy/vegan version by using coconut milk, soy milk and coconut cream. The base of this dessert, the cake is a standard vegan vanilla cake, which is soaked in the mixture of milk and topped with coconut cream. I hope you like it as much as we do!
Don’t forget to place a can of full-fat coconut milk in the refrigerator or freezer! Some people freeze the can overnight. I’ve had luck with simply placing it in the refrigerator for a few hours. I always use Whole Foods Organic Full-Fat Coconut Milk and don’t have trouble separating the coconut milk from the coconut cream.
- For the cake:
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- ½ cup all purpose white flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup soy milk
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 + ¼ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- For the milk mixture:
- ½ cup coconut milk (separated from can of full-fat coconut milk)
- 1 cup soy milk
- ½ teaspoon pure almond mixture
- For the coconut cream:
- ~1 cup coconut cream separated from can of full-fat coconut milk)
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- For the topping:
- 1 mango, peeled and diced
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
- Place a can of full-fat coconut milk in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. Gently open and scoop out coconut cream, place in a small bowl. Save milk for recipe.
- To make cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly oil or spray an 8x8 cake pan with all-natural cooking spray, set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together whole wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Make a well and pour in soy milk, oil, vanilla and vinegar. Stir until just combined, do not over mix.
- Pour batter in pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool. Use a fork and poke cake to create holes for milk mixture to soak into.
- For milk mixture:
- Combine coconut milk, soy milk and almond extract. Pour onto cake and let soak for at least 2 hours.
- To make coconut cream:
- In a small bowl, mix coconut cream on high with an electric hand mixer. Mix in 1 tablespoon of maple syrup at a time. Taste and adjust sweetness as needed. Evenly spread on top of cake soaked in milk.
- Mix diced mango, lime and zest in a small bowl. Garnish cake right before serving.
Recipe adapted from The Witchy Kitchen
