Home » Food Hussy Recipes » Copycat » Copycat Chuy’s Tres Leches Cake

Copycat Chuy’s Tres Leches Cake

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Chuy’s Tres Leches Cake is by far and away my absolute favorite restaurant dessert. Usually around my birthday – I treat myself and just get a piece of it to-go. One time at work – they got me a whole pan of it for my birthday! NO MORE!!! Cuz I learned how to make it at home! This Copycat Chuy’s Tres Leches Cake will now be your favorite too!

Copycat Chuy's Tres Leches Cake

Tres Leches means “three milks” in Spanish – and it’s served with a little moat of these three milks around the cake. The interesting part to me has always been that the cake doesn’t fall apart or get soggy – but it’s so delicious to spoon up a bite with some of the tres leches! Yum!

Copycat Chuy's Tres Leches Cake

I’m really not much of a baker – I don’t love the exactness of it all – but I really like this cake and have wanted to make it for a long time. There some things that are specific to it – the strawberries on top, it’s served cold with that yummy milky moat around it.

Is Tres Leches cake soggy? Served cold?

No – it’s totally not soggy and yes – it’s served cold! The sogginess is something I’m sensitive too – I don’t like soggy bread so I’m always surprised at how not soggy it is. And then be sure to refrigerate the cake and the leftovers – that way your milks won’t get funky!

Copycat Chuy's Tres Leches Cake

How do you make Tres Leches cake?

It’s a very light and fluffy cake – and you want it to stay that way. First – making it is really simple!

Mix together egg yolks and sugar with a hand held mixer. Then add flour, baking powder, vanilla and milk – beat again. Separately, beat the egg whites with salt until they form soft peaks – this will take a couple of minutes. Then, FOLD egg whites into the cake batter – be delicate – this keeps the cake light.

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes. The cake really pops out of the baking dish but then when you let it cool – it deflates a bit – still very light and fluffy.

Copycat Chuy's Tres Leches Cake

The last step is the most important – after the cake cools – poke holes in the cake with a straw – or even a knife (make slits). Then mix together in a separate bowl evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and heavy cream. My suggestion is about an hour before serving – pour the “tres leches” over the cake. I did it overnight and it made the cake pretty dense – I like a lighter cake.

Copycat Chuy's Tres Leches Cake

Don’t feel like you need to use all the milk – pour about half over the cake and reserve the rest for serving. Then with every piece, spoon a little milk moat around and top with a drizzle of caramel sauce and sliced strawberries.

Copycat Chuy's Tres Leches Cake

Food Hussy’s Favorite Desserts!

I have quite a few favorites – so what are some other desserts I love? Here are my faves:

Delicious Copycat Desserts

Save the Recipe

Want to Save The Recipe?

Enter your email below and we will send it straight to your inbox! Plus get NEW recipes from us every week!


Copycat Chuy's Tres Leches Cake

Copycat Chuy’s Tres Leches Cake

Chuy's Tres Leches Cake is by far and away my absolute favorite restaurant dessert. Usually around my birthday – I treat myself and just get a piece of it to-go. NO MORE!!! Cuz I learned how to make it at home! This Copycat Chuy's Tres Leches Cake will now be your favorite too!
4.71 from 93 votes
Cook Time 50 minutes
1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 50 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, Mexican
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 6 eggs
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1.5 cups sugar
  • 1.5 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 2 tbsp butter

Tres Leches

Toppings

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350
  • Crack the eggs and separate the whites from the yolks. Place the whites in the fridge for later.
  • In the bowl with the yolks, add the sugar and beat with hand mixer until smooth
  • Add flour, baking powder, vanilla and milk. Mix with hand mixer until mixed.
  • Remove the whites from the refrigerator. Add salt and beat them with the hand mixer on high for 2-3 minutes until soft peaks form.
  • With a rubber spatula, GENTLY fold egg whites into the cake batter.
  • Grease the bottom of an 8×8 or equivalent baking dish (I used an 8×11 rectangle dish) with the butter
  • Pour cake batter in dish and bake at 350 for 50 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  • Let cake cool for 10-20 minutes
  • While cake is cooling – in a bowl, mix together the "tres leches"
  • Poke holes with a straw or make small slits with a knife throughout the cake
  • If serving right away, pour 1/2 the milk mixture over the holes in the cake and let rest for 30-60 minutes. When serving, cut a piece of cake and serve with a moat of the remaining milk around the cake on the plate.
  • If serving later that day or next day, pour 1/3 of milk mixture over the cake. Cover and refrigerate. Refrigerate remaining milk mixture separately in an air tight covered bowl. When ready to serve, remove from the fridge, slice pieces and serve by pouring more of the milk mixture over each piece.
  • Top with a caramel drizzle and sliced strawberries

Notes

I used an 8×11 rectangular baking dish – Chuy’s cake is VERY THICK – so you want the dish to be at least 2/3 full – it should be a tall cake!
If you’re serving six slices, you’ll want about 1/4 cup of the milk mixture per slice. These are BIG slices!!!
You might want to make smaller slices and serve with a little less of the milk mixture.
Some locations serve with homemade whipped cream on top of the cake (under the strawberries/caramel), some serve on a bed of whipped cream and some serve without any!  
Keyword cake, copycat
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

27 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    I used to live in Austin, TX and loved Chuy’s! I especially loved their Tres Leches. Looked all over and tried this recipe last night. It was awesome and tastes just like Chuy’s! You’re spot on about the amounts – I used an 8×11 pan for this recipe and the height was just about right. A little smaller pan would have been okay.

    Thank you – I will be making this again!

    1. That’s awesome Donna!!! I actually went this week to Chuy’s and had to get the cake to compare and I do think I was pretty spot on! I love that you tried it and loved it! Woohoo!!! I’m doing their Creamy Jalapeno Dressing soon too!

    2. 5 stars
      Just commenting again. This is such a requested recipe among my friends. I rave about this cake and then when I make it, my friends rave about it. So, so happy you took the time to re-create the recipe!!! It really is pretty indistinguishable from Chuy’s.

  2. 5 stars
    Wow! I had very little expectation for success as I have little to no baking experience (especially baking from scratch). I went with the same sized pan as you because the 8×8 was awfully small (and I’m glad I did); I also subbed in homemade whipped cream to serve beneath the slice when plating. Your instructions were so easy to follow which is most appreciated. I must say I am wildly impressed and so was my boyfriend (it was his birthday) as well as my family that was able to try it. This has been such a huge craving for me during Covid as I’m still avoiding restaurants and not ordering things that can’t be heated/washed. Thank you so much for sharing this and I can’t wait to spread it with others. Keep it up!

    1. OMG _ thank you!!! I love reading comments like this. It really is MY favorite birthday cake too – and trust me i’m NOT a baker!!!! Glad you loved it!

  3. 5 stars
    My daughter and her boyfriend made this tonight and it was amazing! Thank you so much for this recipe…it was spot on! I hate to admit we had Chuys last night and it was fresh in my memory.

  4. Thank you for this recipe! This is the 3rd time I’ve made it and LOVE it!

    I cheat a little on the tres leche topping to use what I have. I do a 12 oz can of evaporated milk, the 14 oz can of condensed milk, and a heavy cup of whatever milk I have in the fridge. I figure the extra condensed milk makes up for not using heavy cream. And this way I don’t have leftovers of the canned milk in my fridge to find a use for.

    1. yeah – you can mix and match the milks – it’s all delicious!!!! glad you love it!

  5. 5 stars
    Hi Heather… ☺️
    This cake looks really good and my first endeavor at make a tres leches cake 😅
    I have a question, if I’m going to bake this in a 17.5 x 12.25 (half sheet) cake pan, would I double or triple the recipe?

    1. i used an 8×11 dish – so i would say double should be good! and you will NOT be disappointed – it’s my favorite!!!!

  6. 4 stars
    Hi, has anyone used the 8×8 pan? I tried and the batter came all the way to the top so I had to split it between another pan. Just thought I’d share in the event someone else finds themselves in a pickle like me. Simple recipe otherwise and a good one at that!

  7. 5 stars
    tastes just like Chuy’s! I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make- most recipes I found called for boxed cake mix but I wanted authenticity over ease. Your directions were easy to follow and it turned out amazing. Even the kids loved it.

  8. 5 stars
    This taste just like Chuy’s Tres Leches Cake. This recipe was easy to follow. It is worth your time and your family will love it.

  9. Hi there! How would you recommend me adjusting the ingredient quantities if I wanted to make this in a 9×13 dish? Thanks so much!

    1. Honestly – I wouldn’t adjust – the cake will just be a little thinner – I used 8×11 – so it’s not too different. I think adding another 50% would be way too much. Maybe – if you can do the math – add 1/4 more of everything. But I would just make it as is in bigger pan. Good luck – come back and let us know! Heck save me a piece!

4.71 from 93 votes (79 ratings without comment)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating