Low Carb Keto Tres Leches Cake for a Birthday

a rose, clove, & cardamom version of the tres leches cake I fell in love with

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Birthdays are interesting. My dad absolutely loved celebrating our birthdays while our mom did not. I never asked for her reasons but my guess is that her parents never celebrated them back in India so she didn’t recognize this Western concept of making a big deal on the day you, as an individual, did not do anything spectacular. Yes, you got born, but so does everyone else, on their birthday.

So I grew up with mixed kind of birthdays. My dad would spoil me silly, my mom would treat it with indifference. I must have inherited my dad’s genes because I adore birthdays - mine and my loved ones. I always made a BIG deal.

Then I met another anomaly - my husband. He was also completely indifferent to birthdays, his or anyone else’s. Umm, WHAT?! Apparently he grew up in a family where no one made any kind of deal about any one’s birthday. It was a regular day, for all of them. You can imagine my puzzlement in the first year of us dating when he did not treat my birthday as special. My mind was fuming. He could not understand why. Sometimes he would forget his own birthday. Again, WHAT?!

What is your take on birthdays? How do you celebrate them? Has it changed over time?

Over time, my husband and I learned to celebrate each other’s birthday somewhere between the realm of adoration and indifference.

The big joke is now on me, though.

As I get older, I am becoming indifferent about my birthday. I don’t want to plan anything in advance, I don’t want to go out to eat anywhere, heck I don’t even want cake (which I used to love!) since it is usually just full of sugar and makes my stomach hurt later. In the last few years I have leaned into more quiet birthdays. I wake up whenever I want, do whatever I feel like doing, and just focus on having a leisurely day. Usually a mix of making a lazy breakfast, going for a long walk or hike, enjoying texts & calls from my friends, and cooking a delicious meal; all together have a fantastic day. Honesty, I have enjoyed these kinds of birthdays way more than the earlier years of going out to eat or partying or drinking.

I celebrated my birthday recently and this year I had the urge to partake in my current favorite Tres Leches Cake. This is the first cake I learned to bake from scratch several years ago but this cake is also chock-full of sugar. I wanted to bake a version that had less sugar and fewer carbs. A few days before my birthday I started ideating on how I would make this and created the recipe below using a macro-compatible cake mix (but ignoring the instructions on the box). The sweetness is customizable according to your own preferences. Enjoy!

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Low Carb Tres Leches Cake

Ingredients:

• Cake:

  • 1 box King Arthur Baking Keto Cake Mix (ignore instructions on the box)

  • 1 cup Milk (I used Silk Almond Milk, unsweetened)

  • 6 eggs, separated

    • 5 egg yolks (1 egg yolk will be used in the syrup below)

    • 6 egg whites

  • 1g - 3g sugar free sweetener of choice (e.g. Splenda, Stevia, Sweet’N Low)

• Leches (milk) syrup

  • 2.5 cups Fairlife Fat Free Ultra Filtered Milk

  • 0.5 cups Silk Soy Milk, unsweetened (or another milk of your choice)

  • 1 egg yolk (leftover from cake mix eggs)

  • 3g - 6g sugar free sweetener of choice (e.g. Splenda, Stevia, Sweet’N Low)

  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

  • optional: 1 tbsp cardamom powder, 3 cloves, 2 tbsp rose petals

• Whipped cream topping

  • 8 tbsp heavy whipping cream

  • 2g - 4g sugar free sweetener of choice (e.g. Splenda, Stevia, Sweet’N Low)

  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

  • optional: ground cinnamon

Instructions:

Bake the Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 375C. Line a cake pan with greased parchment paper (e.g. two 8’’ rounds for a layered cake or one one 9x13 rectangular pan; bake times will vary based on the pan size).

2. In a large bowl combine the cake mix, milk, egg yolks, & sweetner. Mix and set aside.

3. In another large bowl whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. The egg white peaks will be a much larger volume than the cake mixture.

4. Add the egg white peaks to the cake mixture and gently fold it into the cake mix, do not mix vigorously!

5. Transfer the cake mixture into the greased pan. Bake at 375C for 22 - 40 mins, depending on the pan size, until the toothpick test comes out clean. Keep an eye on the cake and make sure it does not start to burn. Cool on a wire rack.

Prepare the leches (milk) syrup, while the cake bakes:

1. Combine egg yolk, cold milk, and sweetener. Mix thoroughly until the egg yolk is completely incorporated. Add cardamom powder, cloves, & rose petals.

2. Simmer on low heat until the milk thickens slightly (~15-20 mins).

3. Remove from heat and cool on an ice bath while mixing. Pass through a sieve to remove the cloves & rose petals and any milk skin.

4. Add soy milk and adjust sweetener after a taste test.

5. Keep in the fridge until ready for soaking the cake.

Soak the cake in leches syrup:

1. Once the cake is cool enough, turn it upside down to remove the parchment paper and place back into the pan. Use a fork to poke holes all over the cake (for the milk syrup to soak).

2. Add the leches syrup over the cake 0.5 cups at a time, giving it a few mins to soak into the cake. Use 50-75% of the milk syrup depending on the desired wetness. Store the remaining milk syrup in the fridge to use for serving.

3. Keep the soaked cake in the fridge while preparing the whipped cream.

Whipped cream topping:

1. Combine heavy whipping cream, sweetener, & vanilla extract. Mix.

2. Whisk until the liquid turns into whipped creaming.

3. Spread whipped cream over the top of the cake (it’s ok if there’s still milk on top). Decorate the cake with sprinkles of cinnamon powder or strawberries or mangoes or crushed dried rose petals.

4. Keep the cake in the fridge for 1 hour to overnight for the ideal soaked texture prior to serving. Serve with some milk syrup on the plate.

Verdict:

This low carb not-too-sweet tres leches cake hit the spot for me! It contributed to a leisurely birthday with me enjoying the slow baking process and savoring the final result. While this version does not have the exact traditional flavor, I enjoyed the new ones. The cardamom, cloves, & rose added a new tasty dimension and a lovely pink hue to the syrup color. Each bite was scrumptious.

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Dish Debrief

• Is this my winner or disaster? winner

• How would I rate this dish out of 10? 9/10

• What would I change next time? try flavors like orange or coconut

• Would I make this again? for birthdays until I get tired of it