This Coconut Tres Leches Cake has been a favorite family recipe for so many years.
My Mom started making this when I was in elementary school and I can still remember sneaking into the fridge before bed and stealing one last bite.
It’s seriously so dang good and very, very easy to make.
You start with a boxed white cake mix. That’s right, this is an easy one to make!
Bake it according to the package directions in a 9×13 dish. Then we can fancy it up!
While it’s still piping hot, stab the cake with a fork, or a chop stick, and make a ton of holes.
Then slowly pour on a whole can of cream of coconut (like Coco Lopez — not coconut milk!!) and a can of sweetened condensed milk.
It will take about 10 minutes for the cake to soak up all of the liquid, but I promise it will.
As you can see, Lyla was adorably excited about the whole process of topping the cake!
She helped from start to finish and then as soon as I turned my back she had stolen a bite. She’s totally my mini me.
After the liquid soaks in and the cake is chilled, you spread on a nice thick layer of homemade coconut whipped cream.
It only takes a couple of minutes to whip up in your stand mixer and is so worth the effort.
Lastly, you top it with some toasted shredded coconut and chill it in the fridge until you are ready to serve it!
I brought this Coconut Tres Leches Cake to a 4th of July party and it was a massive hit.
Everyone was asking for the recipe and were shocked when I told them it came from a boxed cake mix.
Gotta love easy recipes that have great flavors and are still impressive!
Coconut Tres Leches Cake
Ingredients
- 1 (18.25 oz) box white cake mix , prepared according to directions on package
- 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 (15 oz) can cream of coconut , we use Coco Lopez
- 12 oz heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon coconut extract
- 2 ½ cups shredded coconut, lightly toasted
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Instructions
- Bake cake according to package directions in a 9×13 cake pan.
- Once cake is cooked but still hot from oven, poke holes with a fork, toothpick or chopstick on top of cake.
- Slowly pour sweetened condensed milk and cream of coconut on top of cake. The liquid may settle at edges, but just wait, it will soak up all of the milk! Transfer cake to refrigerator to let cool completely.
- Once cake is chilled, add heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and coconut extract to a stand mixer with whisk attachment. Whisk mixture at medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Frost top of cake with fresh whipped cream and top with toasted shredded coconut.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
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I just wanted to chime in and let all of your readers know that this IS a Tres Leches Cake. Milk is in the cake batter. If you make white cake from scratch it calls for milk to be added. Boxed cake mix usually contains either a powdered form of milk substitute or powdered milk.
I have my own bakery but love to try new things. It was my first time in about 20 years using boxed cake mix but the cake was quick and got the job done for my family. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe. I’m now going to go back to my vanilla cake and not use boxed cake and I’m going to expand on this recipe and make a Coconut Margarita Rum cake. Wish me luck!
Heavy cream is in the topping, it’s not the same as putting it in the cake. Therefore, it’s a dos(2) leches cake.
You only used 2 milks. Aren’t you supposed to use 3 ?
Hi Cathy! Nope, I used three milks: Coco Lopez (cream of coconut), Sweetened Condensed Milk and Heavy Cream.
Hi, Can this cake be frozen before the toppings are put on?
Thank you!
Hi Monica! You may freeze just the cake portion of the Coconut Tres Leches Cake, but not the assembled, soaked cake or it will become very mushy once frozen and thawed again.
Can this recipe be adapted into cupcake form? Any help would be really appreciated !
Hi. I want to make this for my husband’s birthday today but I can not find the recipe for the coconut whipped cream! Please help! Someone else asked this and was told to read the directions carefully. I have quadruple checked and no where does it say how to make it. On the Link to click on it just takes me to a page with a bunch of recipes to search through. Please help!
Made this for a church life group I’m in, and it was DEVOURED! This was so simple and easy and delicious!
Wonderfully moist cake and easy to make. The recipe didn’t mention how to toast the coconut. I spread it on a cookie sheet and popped in the oven @ 325 for 6 minutes. Made this for my adult son’s birthday. It was a big hit.
Someone on pinterest has taken credit for your Tres Leches Cake. When you click to view the recipe it takes you to a wall mart gift card sign up.
Can you follow this recipe but make them into cupcakes? I’d like to do it for a bit gray party.
They will be very messy, I wouldn’t recommend it since you pour liquid on top of the cake. It would make the liners fall off and be a bit of a mess!
My niece made me tres leches cupcakes one year for my birthday, and used some kind of sturdier cupcake line that was able to hold up to the liquid. Regular paper liner would definitely not work.
*birthday*
I put coconut rum in my whip cream for the flavoring. I amnot a big fan of coconut flavoring taste like soap to me. Or you can put the cream de coco in with the whipping cream also. To make the whipped cream on top.
Bonjour j’aimerais revoir cette recette de gateau avec le lait de coco et recouvert de coconut en FRANÇAIS ….. MERCI !!!
Put some crushed pineapples on the layer after the cream of coconut baaybeeee…. And you pina colada … Dads recipe
OMG…this cake is AMAZING!!! I made it for the first time for our neighborhood 4th of July block party. Once the word got out how delicious it was, it was the first dessert that was gone. I actually saw a few people have two pieces of it. And, I can’t tell you how many people told me how delicious it was. My husband loves coconut and I think he may have told me 20 times how good it was and that it was one of the best cakes I ever made. I will definitely be making this cake on a regular basis. Thank you!!!
Tres leches is my husband’s favorite cake! And I love everything with coconut! I found your recipe and it looked so easy to make so I made it! it came out delicious! My husband loved it and so did I! Thank you for the recipe!
Can you please help me. I’m trying desperately to find the recipe for the whipped coconut cream frosting. For some reason it’s not showing on my page. However, there is a link to coconut but when I go there it just brings up other cakes and no recipe for the frosting. I would love to make this today for when my father arrives. Thank you
The cake looks yellow instead of white. Is it white cake mix that is used & not yellow? I plan to make this soon. Thanks for sharing and thanks for your patience & gracious responses.
Can you use 2 round cakes pans instead of the 9×13 dish? I want to make this for Fathers Day but I’d like to put it on my cake stand
Yes! It should work! However, I don’t think you can stack this one on a cake stand. It’s filled with liquid.
I see only two milks to pour over the cake, and the heavy whipping cream is for the topping, is this correct? I’m in love with anything coconut so I’m going to make it and love it! Can I call it ” dos leches coconut cake with uno mas leches on top” I think it sounds catchy! I’m so not Latino so I apologize about my Spanish. Thanks for this recipe Jessica!
People, stop being overly critical it’s a cake!
In my opinion, I believe the whipping creme would be considered the third leche.
Coconut “TRES” leches cake? …this recipe only calls for ONE milk, not “tres”…i think you should do your research on tres leches cakes….my grandma has made this exact for the last 25 years, and she calls it “coconut poke cake”
Three milks if you count the heavy cream, 2- condensed milk, 3-cream of coconut is made with coconut milk.
Hi NONEYA DAMNBUSINESS, what a whitty name. You’re right, it has heavy whipping cream, a can of cream of coconut and a can of sweetened condensed milk. But sure, it only has one milk product in it. Have a nice night!
I like this lady. .she’s right…call it whatever you want it’s your family recipe.. I think she should count..not criticize
People DO love to criticize.
Great recipe can’t wait to try it!
Girl you call it whatever you want cause you posted it , some one else can poke it and post it and call it whatever they want cause its nonysdamnbusiness