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You won’t miss pie with this fall version of your favorite Mexican dessert! This pumpkin tres leches recipe includes perfectly moist and spiced sponge cake topped with whipped cream and pumpkin pie spice!
The pumpkin spice craze has officially taken over, and you’ll love this tres leches version of it.
What Is Tres Leches Cake?
Traditional tres leches cake features a light and fluffy sponge cake soaked in a perfectly sweet three-milk mixture made of evaporated milk, whole milk, and sweetened condensed milk. It’s topped with homemade whipped cream and dusted with cinnamon or sprinkled with fresh fruit. You can find my traditional tres leches cake recipe here.
More Tres Leches
There are many different flavors of tres leches cake. Here are some other versions you should try!
All the Pumpkin!
I wanted to make a fall version of this cake and immediately thought of using pumpkin. This recipe uses pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice in the cake mixture, and is dusted with pumpkin pie spice on the whipped topping for extra flavor.
The pumpkin flavor and extra pumpkin spice are balanced well with the sweetness of the three milk mixture, which won’t leave an overpowering taste. It’s a great alternative to pie or other traditional fall and holiday desserts if you’re looking to change things up!
How to Make Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake
- Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, mix your dry ingredients by adding the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Whisk together to combine.
- Mix wet ingredients. In a large bowl, mix the wet ingredients by adding the pumpkin puree, eggs, granulated sugar, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Whisk together until fully combined.
- Combine. Combine the dry ingredients and wet ingredients. Whisk together until well combined and smooth.
- Bake. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes. Once fully baked, let the cake cool down for about 10 minutes.
- Make the three milk mixture. While the cake is cooling, mix together milk, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk and set aside.
- Soak. Once the cake is cooled, gently unstick the sides of the cake from the pan with a small knife or spatula. Then, poke holes all over the cake using a skewer or a large fork. Gradually pour the three milk mixture over the cake. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours to let the cake fully cool and absorb the liquid.
- Make the whipped topping. While the cake is soaking, add the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract to a large bowl. Beat on high speed using a handheld or stand mixer until soft peaks form. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Garnish. Once the cake has fully absorbed all the milk mixture, spread the whipped topping and dust with pumpkin pie spice.
This pumpkin tres leches cake is the perfect crowd-pleaser for the upcoming holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas, or really any occasion!
Make Ahead and Storage
This cake can be made up to 3 days ahead of time and stored in the fridge until ready to serve. However, I recommend leaving the whipped topping off until right before serving.
Cover and refrigerate any leftover cake for up to 4 days.
Tip: I recommend eating and serving this cake cold, so feel free to make it ahead of time!
More Desserts
If you tried this Pumpkin Tres Leches Recipe or any other recipe on Isabel Eats, don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how it went in the comments below! I love hearing about your experience making it!
Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 (15-oz) can pumpkin puree
- 4 eggs
- 1 cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cups vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole milk
- 8 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 6 ounces evaporated milk
For the topping
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray, olive oil, or butter. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Whisk together to combine.
- In a large bowl, add the pumpkin puree, eggs, granulated sugar, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Whisk together until fully combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk together until well combined and smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes while you make the three milk mixture.
- In a medium bowl, add the milk, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk. Whisk together to combine.
- Using a knife or a spatula, gently unstick the sides of the cake from the pan. Then, poke holes all over the cake using a skewer or a large fork. Gradually pour the three milk mixture over the cake. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours to let the cake fully cool and absorb the liquid.
- While the cake cools, make the whipped topping. In a large bowl, add the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat on high speed using a handheld or stand mixer until soft peaks form. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- When the cake has cooled completely, top with the whipped topping and garnish with a dusting or sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice.
Video
Notes
- This cake can be made up to 3 days ahead of time and stored in the fridge until ready to serve. However, I recommend leaving the whipped topping off until right before serving.
- I recommend eating and serving this cake cold, so feel free to make it ahead of time!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Served this dessert at my Dia de los Muertos dinner party and it was huge hit! So delicious and very easy to pull together. Also made Isabel’s chicken enchilladas with the traditional sauce – amazing as always. Thank you, Isabel!
My family’s new favorite! I added walnuts to the top for some crunch as well. Thank you!
This is a great recipe, thank you! Used it for a “Mexican Thanksgiving” celebration. I did a gluten-free version of this (just replaced the regular flour with a 1-1 GF flour blend), and also reduced the amount of sugar. Instead of adding granulated sugar to the cake recipe, I used a small amount of coconut sugar and maple syrup. I didn’t add any granulated sugar to the whipped topping either, just a tid-bit of maple syrup and drop of the leftover sweetened condensed milk from the milk mixture. Was still plenty sweet, moist, flavorful, and delicious!! Everyone loved it, and didn’t matter much that it was GF.
One person mentioned that it was hard to pick up on the original “tres leches” flavor, because of the pumpkin and spices. I agree, but this cake is SO good nonetheless!
Love😋 your all 🎂 recipes
The cake has good taste however I messed up because the instructions weren’t clear when it said to add 8 ounces of the sweetened condensed milk and 6 ounces of the evaporated milk ItShows to add those two milks in the batter and not after the cake is made.
No it doesn’t say that. You have to keep reading all the way through. and when she mentions to add the wet ingredients to the dry, she’s talking about the wet ingredients that she just mentioned right before that.
Can I sub more milk or half and half for the evaporated milk?
Hi Stephanie! Yes, you can.
It was so easy to make, super tasty and not too sweet. I made it for my mother-in-law’s birthday and she loved it! Great recipe.
Hi Isabel, can the cake be frozen?
Hi Rola! Yes it can!