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Strawberry Tres Leches is a no fuss dessert made from light and spongy cake that is soaked in a delicious strawberry milk mixture. Fresh whipped cream and sliced strawberries tops it off to create the perfect dessert for summer or anytime!
Everyone loves my classic Tres Leches, so I decided to create a strawberry version that is the perfect spring or summer dessert. This easy strawberry tres leches cake is made with boxed cake mix to make it a no-fuss recipe.
The fluffy cake is creamy and moist because it soaks up all of the milk mixture that is made with three kinds of milk. It’s everything you want in a dessert. Deliciously sweet, creamy, and packed with fresh strawberry flavor.
Enjoy this sponge cake throughout the spring or summer season. It’s easy yet impressive with fresh berries and homemade whipped cream. It’s a great dessert for Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, summer barbecues and gatherings.
If you’re looking for an alternative to make during the fall season, try my Pumpkin Tres Leches!
Why Everyone Loves Strawberry Tres Leches 🍓
- Triple strawberry flavor: Made with strawberry cake, strawberry milk and fresh strawberries. It’s so insanely delicious!
- Perfect for summer: Enjoy this dessert while strawberries are in season. It’s served cold so it’s great on hot days when you’re craving a sweet cake-like dessert.
- Fit for a crowd: The cake serves at least 12 and even more if you cut smaller pieces.
- Make-ahead dessert: You can make tres leches up to 3 days in advance. It’s the best dessert to prep ahead.
Ingredients You Need
NOTE: The full list of ingredients with measurements is provided in the recipe card below.
All of the ingredients for this cake are provided in the photo below. To make it easy while shopping, you can screenshot the photo and bring it with you. Enjoy!
For the cake:
- Strawberry Cake Mix: To make this cake easy, this recipe uses boxed cake mix. I love using the strawberry cake mix to really elevate the strawberry flavor, but you can use vanilla cake mix, if desired.
- Oil: Helps make the cake layer nice and fluffy before adding the tres leches milk.
- Eggs: An ingredient that must be added to the boxed cake mix to give the cake rise and create the perfect texture.
- Milk: This recipe uses milk (instead of water) for the cake. I use whole milk, but 2% works too. This helps make it more flavorful while giving it a nice moist spongy texture.
- Vanilla Extract: I love adding pure vanilla extract to boxed cake mix for more flavor. You can omit, if needed.
NOTE: Most boxed cake mixes require similar ingredients. If your cake mix requires other ingredients, follow the instructions on the cake mix and use whatever ingredients are called for on the box.
For the tres leches:
- Strawberry Milk: Instead of using regular milk, this recipe uses strawberry milk. You can use store-bought strawberry milk or simply blend together 1 cup whole milk with 3-4 fresh strawberries and 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar to make your own strawberry milk.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: A must for tres leches.
- Evaporated Milk: The third milk in a classic tres leches dessert.
For the topping:
- Heavy Whipping Cream: Use cold heavy whipping cream to make the homemade whipped cream.
- Powdered Sugar: Adds a small amount of sweetness to the fresh whipped cream.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds delicious vanilla flavor to round out the whipped topping. You can omit, if needed.
- Fresh Strawberries: Use as many or as little juicy strawberries as you like.
How to Make Strawberry Tres Leches
This cake recipe comes together relatively easy with my shortcut method of using boxed cake mix. The whole recipe requires only about 20 minutes of hands on work.
- Bake the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, mix together all of the ingredients for the boxed cake including the cake mix, eggs, oil, and milk. Stir in the vanilla extract. Pour batter into a greased 9×13-inch cake pan or dish and bake according to the boxed instructions.
TIP: I use milk instead of water to help make the cake more flavorful and moist. Adding vanilla extract also gives the cake more flavor.
- Poke: Use a fork, wooden skewer, or chopstick to poke holes all over the cake. You can be generous with the holes since the holes allow the cake to soak up all of the delicious milk.
- Soak: Whisk together the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and strawberry milk. Then slowly pour the strawberry milk mixture over the cake, letting it soak in evenly.
TIP: Let the cake rest for a few minutes to allow the holes to start soaking up the creamy milk mixture.
- Chill: Cover the cake and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.
TIP: For the best results, let the cake chill in the fridge overnight. This allows the cake to soak up all of the milk mixture which results in a moist and flavorful tres leches.
- Make the whipped cream: Once the cake is chilled, whisk together the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until stiff peaks form. Ideally, you will want to use a stand mixer or hand mixer with the whisk attachment to make this quick and easy. But if you don’t have a mixer, you can whisk by hand. Be sure to whisk vigorously until stiff peaks form.
- Finish the cake: Layer the sliced strawberries on top of the cake. You can do this however you want. If you want less strawberries, you can slice them in half and layer them on top. Or use more strawberries, remove the tops and layer the slices all over the cake.
TIP: Tres Leches Cake is best served chilled. Make sure you keep the cake chilled. And the longer the cake chills, the more it soaks up the strawberry milk.
Recipe Variations
- Fold fresh strawberries into the batter: If you’re looking for even more fresh strawberry flavor, you can fold some diced fresh strawberries into the batter.
- Store-bought whipped topping: You can use pre-made whipped topping (like Cool Whip), instead of making your own. But I personally love using fresh homemade whipped cream as it only takes 5 minutes to make and the flavor is better.
Storage and Make Ahead
Strawberry Tres Leches is the perfect dessert to make ahead. You can store the cake covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. If you are waiting to serve it, you can wait to add the fresh strawberry topping until just before serving.
More Easy Desserts
Strawberry Tres Leches
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 boxed strawberry cake mix (see Note below)
- eggs (use amount on box)
- oil (use amount on box)
- milk (use instead of amount of water on box)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the strawberry milk mixture:
- 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
- 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup strawberry milk (or whole milk blended with 3-4 strawberries + 1 tbsp sugar)
For the topping:
- 2 cups cold heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-2 cups fresh strawberries sliced
Instructions
Bake the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Following the instructions for the boxed cake mix and add vanilla extract to the batter, baking in a 9×13-inch pan.
- Let the cake cool for 15 minutes.
Poke and soak:
- Poke holes all over the cake with a fork or skewer.
- Whisk together evaporated milk, condensed milk, and strawberry milk until smooth. Slowly pour the milk mixture over the cake, letting it soak in evenly.
Chill:
- Cover the cake and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Make the whipped cream:
- Beat the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until stiff peaks form. Spread the mixture evenly over the chilled cake.
Finish with strawberries:
- Layer the sliced strawberries over the cake. You can remove the stems and slice the strawberries in half or slices into a few pieces per strawberry and layer them over the cake.
- Chill the cake in the fridge until you're ready to serve.
Notes
- Boxed Cake Mix Ingredients: Most boxed cake mixes require water, oil, and eggs. You need to follow the instructions for the boxed cake mix, using the amount of ingredients on the box but using milk instead of water. I also add vanilla extract to the mix.
- Storage: Cover and store leftovers for up to 3 days.
My kids love strawberries so I knew I had to make this recipe for them. It was absolutely delicious and now they keep asking when I’ll make a new batch!
The cake came out perfectly moist, not soggy at all.
Just pulled this out of the fridge and the strawberries made it so fresh and perfect!
I made this for father’s day and nothing was left over. This cake has the perfect sweetness it was a show stopper!