We are leaving for Rome in 4 days... holy meatballs! Whenever anyone asks me what I'm most excited for, my mind automatically jumps to one thing. No, it's not the romantic architecture that I’ve been studying for years or the fact that I won't be working for 2 weeks. It's not even the pizza or all the tiramisu I'm going to consume on a daily basis. It's the to-go pasta! I've mentioned it before, but I have a strange love for eating and walking. I love it so much that I've seriously thought about turning this combo into an Olympic sport where the athletes wear all white bodysuits and eat wet burritos or piping hot bowls of beef pho while also speed walking 1600 meters. Why do they have to wear white body suits? Because each athlete would get points deducted or more time added based on the amount of spills they get! hahahaha I giggle at this idea every time and feel slightly embarrassed I've spent enough time figuring out all the random details. The sport still needs a name though! 

Anyways, to-go pasta is literally the thing I'm looking forward to the most on this vacation. My friend Kelsey told me about this concept when she was studying abroad in Florence. What I’m imagining is a Chinese food take out container filled with the best pasta I’ve ever had. I’m so ready! Do you believe me now that I love portable food?? Foods on sticks. Self contained bundles of food like buns or onigiri. Anything that's smartly packaged in a neat and easy to eat out of container. A part of me thinks that if I'm eating and walking at the same time I'm also burning calories, which means I can eat more... honestly the logic isn't tooooooooooo crazy. Plus any food is portable if you tried hard enough... hence the Olympic sport! I don’t advise you to try eating hot pho while speed walking unless you’re a pro.

You know what's even better than portable noodles though? Not much... but portable dessert!! Obviously ice cream cones and ice cream sandwiches are the classic portable desserts, but doesn't portable cake sound like a dream come true? Especially a cake that's been soaked in milk tea and covered with whip cream! The inspiration for these Milk Tea Tres Leches came from a little market over by Reuben's office. I went there for the first time and was overwhelmed by how beautiful the prepackaged foods were! Like a million times better than the Trader Joe's grab and go lunch cold case I'm always frequenting at lunch. My eyes lit up when I saw their grab and go dessert section. Rows and rows and rows of weck jars filled with fruit cobbler, mousse, and cake!!! I had to grab a jar of their tres leche because there's something so satisfying about the texture of sponge cake soaked in cream. Mmmmmmm. It was SO GOOD. I beg Reuben every few weeks to bring me home one so we could split it for dessert!

This version has a little Hong Kong Milk Tea Twist! Milk tea is traditionally made by brewing ceylon tea (or red tea) and mixing in condensed milk and evaporated milk for a sweet and smooth finish. It's one of my favorite drinks and I'm always thinking of ways to incorporate it into desserts! It only seemed natural to infuse the ceylon tea into the tres leche since all the dairy was already there! The light and fluffy vanilla sponge cake is soaked in a tres leche mixture of condensed milk, regular milk, and heavy cream that's been steeped with ceylon tea. The resulting texture is light but also custardy. What dreams are made of! You can either assemble the tres leche in little parfaits like me or as a whole cake to share with friends or horde for yourself. I'll never judge! 

Talk you soon, friends! Next time you hear from me, I'll be in the land of carbs and portable pasta! Tune into my Instagram stories and watch me roam around Rome with a tub of chewy noodles and red sauce stains on my shirt! It's going to be glorious!

Ciao!

Milk Tea Tres Leches

makes 6 parfaits or one 9” square cake

Tres Leches Soak:

300g (1 1/4 cups) whole milk, you get 240 after simmering

18g (1/4 cup) black tea

1 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

180g 3/4 cup heavy cream

Cake:

100g (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) cake flour

20g (2 tablespoons) cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of coarse salt

6 large eggs, whites and yolks separated

100g (1/2 cup) sugar, divided

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

65g (1/3 cup) canola or other neutral flavored oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

Whipped cream:

360g (1 1/2 cups) heavy cream

75g (3/4 cup) powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

Pinch of coarse salt

steps:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine milk and black tea. Bring to a simmer and turn off the heat. Cover with a lid and allow the tea to steep for 10 minutes. Strain out the leaves by pouring the mixture through a strainer into a medium bowl or metered measuring cup (you should have about 240g or 1 cup now) . Stir in condensed milk and heavy cream until combined. Cover and chill in the fridge until chilled or ready to soak the cake. You will have about 3 cups of tres leches soak.

2. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly brush the bottom of a 9” square cake pan or 10” round cake pan with neutral oil. In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the cake flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.

3. Place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Place the egg yolks in a separate large mixing bowl. Whisk the egg whites on medium speed until foamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 50g (1/4 cup) of the sugar and the cream of tartar, increase the speed to medium-high, and whisk until stiff peaks form, 5 to 7 minutes.

4. To the yolks, add the remaining 50g (1/4 cup) sugar, the canola oil, and vanilla. Vigorously whisk until pale and smooth, about 3 minutes. Using a flexible spatula, scoop 1 cup egg white mixture and fold into the egg yolk mixture until fully incorporated. Fold the remaining egg white mixture into the yolk mixture in three additions, alternating each addition with half the flour mixture and reaching to the bottom and around the sides of the bowl as you fold so that no traces of flour remain. Take care not to deflate the beaten egg whites too much as you fold.

5. Transfer the batter to the cake pan and spread into an even layer. Bake until the top of the cakes are lightly golden brown, 25 to 27 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and allow the cake to fully cool. It will naturally deflate as it cools.
   
   To make a whole tres leches cake:Poke the surface of the cake bunch with a fork or a chopstick, you want a lot of holes. Pour 2 1/2 cups of the tres leches soak, reserving the rest for serving later. Allow it to fully soak in for a few minutes and then cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight. Before serving, make the whipped cream. Combine the heavy cream, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt and whip with a stand mixer, handheld mixer, or whisk until medium peaks form. Spread the whipped cream over the top of the cake. Slice the cake and serve with remaining tres leches soak.
   
   To assemble the parfaits: cut out 2.5”-3” cake rounds with a biscuit cutter (use the cake scraps for extra layers). Poke a few holes into the cake rounds using a fork. Place 1 cake round in a glass jar or serving glass. Pour 2-3 tbsp of the milk tea cream mixture. Add 2-3tbsp of whipped cream. Repeat cake, milk tea, and whipped cream layer again until filled. Place tres leches in the fridge for at least 3 hours to allow the cake to absorb the milk tea. They can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days. When ready to served dust with a little cocoa powder!