Easy Tres Leches Cake

My son and husband request Tres Leches Cake for their birthdays every year!  Most tres leches cakes are made from a homemade sponge cake. Way too much work for a busy mom!  This is my cheater's recipe, and luckily everyone in my family loves it! My recipe has 3 parts: cake, tres leches (three milks), and homemade whip cream.

Cake:
1 box yellow cake mix
eggs, water, oil (per instructions on cake mix box)

Tres Leches:
1/4c.  heavy cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk

Whip Cream Icing:
2c. heavy cream
3 Tb. granulated sugar
splash of vanilla extract

Instructions-

Cake: Bake the cake in a 13x9 pan according to the instructions on the box cake mix.  Allow to cool for at least half an hour. Use a fork or toothpick to poke holes all over the top of the cake.

Tres Leches: In a medium size bowl, combine the cream, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk.  Stir together until well mixed.  Reserve 1 cup of mixture and discard (or find another use). Slowly pour the rest over the cake.  The holes in the cake will allow the liquid to seep into it.  It's ok if the top of the cake looks like a lake of milk at first- it will soak in.  Cover and refrigerate, ideally for a few hours.

Whip Cream: (can be made up to a day in advance) Chill a large mixing bowl and mixer beaters in the freezer for 10 mins. In the chilled bowl, combine cream, sugar and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until the mixture becomes fluffy and the texture of whip cream.  Spread the whip cream on top of the cake just before serving.  Top with fresh fruit like strawberries, mango slices, or a maraschino cherry!

Tips- I used Betty Crocker Yellow Cake mix. I also frost each individual piece of cake with whip cream when I serve it.  I've tried icing the whole cake at once, but with any leftover cake, the whip cream becomes runny in a few hours.