Day 198 of 365 Things To Do in Panama

Day 198 of 365 Things To Do in Panama. Tickle your Taste Buds with Tres Leches Cake!

Tres Leches Cake is also known as pan tres leches ("three milks bread") It is a dense, moist sponge cake—in some recipes, a butter cake—soaked in a mixture of three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream or whole milk. This combination creates just the right sweetness and density making it moist and delicious.

According to whatscookingamerica.net, there is dispute over where the cake was first created. Folklore has it the the origin of the recipe is reported to come from the back of an evaporated milk or condensed milk can in Latin America to promote the use of the product. Evaporated milk and condensed milk were sold throughout Central and South America and even the Caribbean. By doing this, the company would boost their milk sales, which was probably the original idea.

Interestingly, condensed milk first came into use in the mid-1850s as a way to preserve milk in cans, without refrigeration. Evaporated milk first became available during the 1870s when milk companies were able to heat the evaporated milk so that it would not spoil in the cans, thereby making the sugar unnecessary. They both became an immediate success in urban areas where fresh milk was difficult to distribute and store. Today evaporated and condensed milk are part of the Latin American culture.