So, this coconut tres leches cake came to be for one reason, and one reason only. Okay, I lied, two reasons only: I absolutely adore tres leches cakes (particularly coconut ones) and I also adore oil-based cakes that are mixed by hand and that don’t require egg separation and the beating of whites. And, yes, it’s fair to say that reason number two indicates that i’m a baker with a penchant for corner-cutting. Here’s the thing about this corner-cutting penchant, though: it doesn’t necessarily prove all that useful when developing a tres leches cake recipe, as tres leches is traditionally made with sponge cake (a cake made with little fat and lots of beaten whites).
Sponge cakes are the cakes of choice for tres leches, as they are awfully efficient when it comes to soaking up liquid and a tres leches cake — for the uninitiated — is all about the pouring of liquid over cake and the miraculous absorption that ensues. And yet, I was committed to a tres leches sans sponge (read: super easy and fast to put together), and am happy to report that that is exactly what I present you with here. It’s an awfully tasty, moist, and uber coconut-y one, to boot. But there is necessary back story that needs sharing: my first experience with a coconut tres leches cake, was via one of my nieces who, like me, has a sweet spot for the dessert, and makes it frequently using a fine cooking recipe. 
Now, although this beloved recipe of her’s served as my jumping off point, truth be told I took the notion of a “coconut” tres leches cake a bit more seriously than fine cooking. My cake not only calls for the liquid poured upon the cake to be coconut-inspired, (coconut milk and coco lopez make up two of the three “milks”) but the cake itself is coconut as well, calling for coconut milk, coconut extract, and shredded coconut. Oh, and the whipped cream too, is of the coconut variety. And amping up the coconut was not the only way my recipe differs from my niece’s fave, as her’s calls for beaten whites and mine — you guessed it — most decidedly does not.
A bit (okay, a lot) of internet/cookbook research ensued in my search for tres leches made with whole eggs, and every recipe I stumbled upon was all about the beaten white. Until I found a this tres leches recipe. It’s what I needed — one recipe for tres leches with which home cooks were (relatively) happy despite the fact it did not require a traditional sponge. Armed with the realization that a sponge-free tres leches could please the (majority of the) masses, the development of my own coconut tres leches came together in close to a snap. And you will find preparing this cake to be a delicious and deeply coconut-y snap as well.
[yumprint-recipe id=’99’]
