Coconut Tres Leches Cake & Creative Business School

January 24, 2020

This is my first blog post of 2020, my friends, and I promise I have a good reason for being a little behind on posting! For the past several months, I’ve been hard at work creating a completely new program for my fellow creatives, called Creative Business School, and it’s now finally open for enrollment *until* Tuesday 1/28! After teaching hundreds of workshops and thousands of students, I kept seeing the same questions and issues come up over and over again for fellow creative small business owners. To validate what I was seeing + hearing, I put out feelers to folks in the creative community on instagram + my course mailing list, and took all the feedback on what they loved about their business, what they struggled with, and what they wanted to see in a course, and used that as the foundation for the modules in Creative Business School.

In the course, you’ll master each of the six components of creative business ownership, that together will allow you to work less, be present more, and thrive inside + out. The course is broken up into six modules, covering:

Module 1 — Brand Focusing + Goal Achieving

You’ll hone in on + define your brand, including who it is and what it provides, and learn to set up and steadily achieve your growth goals for your business + yourself.

Module 2 — Workflow Strategies + Productivity Practices

Through my signature Four-Pronged Productivity Practice, you’ll learn all about workflow strategies + tools you can put to use to get more done in less time while staying on top of your projects.

Module 3 — Your Creative Business’ Finances

You’ll master your creative business’ finances, covering everything from diversifying your income streams to structuring your bank accounts to contracts and pricing.

Module 4 — Visual Branding

Through your Visual Branding Toolkit, you’ll refine your visual brand to create a cohesive visual thread throughout all the visible parts of your business.

Module 5 — Marketing Strategies + Platforms

You’ll learn all about the most effective and time-efficient marketing techniques + platforms, including which ad platforms I recommend for creatives + why.

Module 6 — Balance + Inspiration

This is where you’ll nourish your creative inspiration, properly manage the stress of business ownership, and keep a healthy balance between work and home.

You can read more about the details of the course content, including testimonials, a breakdown of the lessons within each module, plus all the bonuses, and course documents HERE!

I’m incredibly proud of this program and am SO excited to share it with you <3 This is the only comprehensive program that shows you how to create a thriving creative business without sacrificing your passion or your personal life, and if you’re a fellow creative entrepreneur, I’d love for you to take a look!

And on that note, I wanted to share a little celebratory tres leches cake with you to ring in this exciting new release! If you’re unfamiliar with tres leches cake, it’s basically a tasty white vanilla cake that’s soaked in a mixture of three different kinds of milks until it becomes dense and moist and almost custardy. It’s then topped with whipped cream and sliced and served! When I used to live in LA, one of our apartments was around the corner from a little Mexican bakery, and they had the most *insanely* good tres leches cake I’ve ever had. Each slice was served in a little pool of the sweet vanilla-y milk, and it was just heaven on earth.

Now, for a little news—I’ve gone entirely dairy-free in the past few months for hormone-balancing purposes (I’ll write more about this in a later post). SO, I have a traditional version of the soaking milks in the recipe below, but I also have a dairy-free version of the liquids, that’s made up almond milk, coconut milk, and oat milk. And I also made some coconut whipped cream, too! So whether you want to go dairy-wild, or keep it plant-based, I have both options listed out in the instructions. Enjoy it, my friends!!

Coconut Tres Leches

This delicious and creamy cake is made up of a light and airy coconut based cake, that's soaked in a vanilla-y mixture of three milks. There's the option of the traditional Mexican tres leches milk mixture below (whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk), AND there's also a dairy free option, made up of almond milk, oat milk, and coconut milk. Just choose whichever one best suits your taste buds + dietary needs 🙂 Whichever one you choose, the cake will be topped with a fluffy whipped coconut cream and fresh fruit, for extra richness and a nice sweet and juicy burst of freshness to balance it out. Enjoy, my friends!

Coconut Cake

6 eggs (yolks and whites separated)
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup coconut milk (full-fat )
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Dairy-Free Tres Leches Mixture (choose this OR the Traditional Mixture below)

1 1/2 cups coconut milk (full fat)
1 1/2 cups almond milk (click if you want to make from scratch) ((if you want to make it from scratch, I recommend the toasted almond milk recipe linked here, but just cut it in half to make 1 1/2 cups instead))
1/2 cup oat milk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup honey

Traditional Tres Leches Mixture (choose this OR the Dairy-Free Mixture above)

1 3/4 cups whole milk
1 1/4 cups sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Coconut Whipped Cream

3 cans full fat coconut milk, **refrigerated overnight** ((I used Whole Foods 365 brand))
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Coconut Cake

Lightly grease two 8-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Transfer the mixture to a separate bowl and set aside.
In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (it can be the same one you used for the egg whites), beat the egg yolks with the sugar at medium speed until the mixture lightens to a pale yellow, and when you dip a spoon in the mixture and pull it out, the mixture it runs down in a thin steady stream, rather than goopy clumps. This takes about 3 to 4 minutes of whisking on the stand mixer (it will take longer if you do it by hand).
Add the coconut milk and vanilla extract to the egg yolk mixture and mix until smooth. In a separate medium-sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the egg yolk mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in the egg whites in three increments.
Evenly distribute the batter between your two 8-inch cake pans. Bake them in the oven at 350 until lightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
Allow the cakes to cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack. Place cakes back inside pan and poke all over top with fork (taking them out of the pan before putting them back in helps make sure they won't get stuck inside after you pour the liquid in). Evenly distribute EITHER the traditional tres leches OR the dairy-free tres leches mixture between two cakes (do NOT pour both, only one or the other—whichever your tastes/dietary restrictions prefer!) Cover the cakes and refrigerate them for 4 to 6 hours.
To assemble, unmold one of the cakes from the pan onto the serving plate (it's okay if some milk still remains unabsorbed, and yes it's okay that it's upside down, you'll be covering it in whipped cream so no one will be able to tell). Evenly spread the top of the cake with half of the whipped coconut cream. Unmold the other cake onto a clean flat surface (like a large plate or a cutting board), and then slide it on top of the first cake layer. Cover the top of the cake with the remaining half of the whipped coconut cream, garnish with fresh fruit, and slice and serve. Keep refrigerated.

Dairy-Free Tres Leches Mixture (choose this OR the Traditional Mixture below)

Whisk together all of the ingredients in a small bowl until combined.

Traditional Tres Leches Mixture (choose this OR the Dairy-Free Mixture above)

Whisk together all of the ingredients in a small bowl until combined.

Coconut Whipped Cream

Place your stand mixer's mixing bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes.
While the cans were in the refrigerator, the coconut cream will have separated and risen to the top of the can. The coconut cream is thick and white, whereas the rest of the coconut "milk" in the bottom of the can is more clear. **You ONLY want the nice thick white part.**
So, open each can and scoop out the white coconut cream part, placing the white coconut cream into a measuring cup. After going through the three cans, you should have about 3/4 cup of coconut cream.
Place the coconut cream in the (cold) bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat the cream at medium high speed until it's smooth and creamy, about 30 to 60 seconds. Add the powdered sugar and continue mixing until smooth and spreadable, about 1 to 2 minutes more.
If your mixture is too stiff or clumpy, you can add a tablespoon or two of the clear liquid from the can and mix it for another 30 seconds to help smooth it out.
Keep refrigerated.