Chocolate Tres Leches Cake

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This Chocolate Tres Leches Cake is a moist chocolate cake soaked in three milks including chocolate milk! It’s topped with a delicious chocolate whipped cream and mini chocolate chips too.

A slice of Chocolate Tres Leches Cake with light frosting and chocolate chips on top, served on a white plate.

Chocolate cake of any kind is my favorite kind of cake. It doesn’t matter if it’s a chocolate wacky cake, Ina Garten’s Chocolate Cake, or a Doctored Chocolate Cake Mix. I love them all!

This Chocolate Tres Leches Cake, though, is special. That chocolate milk mixture puts this cake over the top. It’s not soggy, but it is moist and slightly wet. It’s like eating your cake and ice cream together, which is a must for me at any birthday party.

What is Chocolate Tres Leches Cake?

Let’s start by translating tres leches which is three milks in English. Chocolate Three Milks Cake? Yes please!

Traditionally this mexican dessert is made of a sponge cake that’s light and fluffy. A sponge cake doesn’t have oil or butter in it, and gets its fluffiness from whipped egg whites. My cake does have oil in it, so it’s definitely not traditional.

The three milks that ar usually included in the tres leches cake is sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream. I skipped the evaporated milk and went with a whole chocolate milk, but you could definitely just add chocolate syrup to evaporated milk.

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Ingredients Needed

Top-down view of labeled baking ingredients for Chocolate Tres Leches Cake in separate bowls and measuring cups, including flour, sugars, milks, eggs, cocoa powder, oil, and chocolate chips on a white surface.

See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for all ingredients and quantities.

all-purpose flour – I used King Arthur brand flour for this recipe but any all purpose flour will work.
unsweetened cocoa powder – Cocoa powder tastes differently from brand to brand so be sure to reach for your favorite. Mine is Hershey’s cocoa powder.
baking powder & baking soda – The leavening agents for the cake. Make sure they’re still in date! Expired leavening agents won’t do their job as well as fresh does.
salt – Regular table salt works. This helps balance out the sweetness.
vegetable oil – Instead of using butter in the cake recipe, I opted for oil. Vegetable, canola, or avocado oil will work.
eggs – Use large eggs in this recipe. The different size eggs provide different amounts of liquid to a recipe.
whole milk – This is used in the cake. If you only have 2% milk, that works fine too.
vanilla extract – Use your favorite store-bought or homemade vanilla extract.
sugar – granulated sugar and powdered sugar are both a must in this recipe. One is for our cake and the other for the chocolate whipped cream topping.
sweetened condensed milk – don’t get this confused with evaporated milk. They are next to eachother on the shelf but quite different. This is thick and super sweet.
heavy whipping cream – This is going to be used in a couple of the components. For the milk mixture, it provides a liquid but is thicker and creamier than regular milk and it’s the main ingredient for homemade whipped cream.
whole chocolate milk – Homemade chocolate milk or store-bought works great for this.

Substitutions and Variations

For the oil in the cake, you can use canola, vegetable, or avocado oil. Any oil that’s neutral tasting.
You can switch out the whole milk in the cake for water if needed.
You can make your own whole chocolate milk by adding chocolate syrup to whole milk or evorated milk.
You can replace the chocolate milk with evaporated milk and chocolate syrup or chocolate ganche.
Feel free to add different toppings to this cake like chocolate frosting, peanut butter frosting, or even a caramel coconut frosting.

NOTE: This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations

How to make Chocolate Tres Leches Cake

Four-step collage illustrating brownie batter prep: like making Chocolate Tres Leches Cake, it shows mixing dry ingredients, adding eggs and wet ingredients, combining mixtures, and pouring batter into a baking dish.

Step 1: Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until combined.

Step 2: In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, milk, vanilla, and sugar until the eggs are incorporated.

Step 3: Add the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients and whisk until the batter is smooth.

Step 4: Pour into a prepared baking pan. Place in the oven and bake for the recommended time in the recipe card.

Four-step process of making a Chocolate Tres Leches Cake: mixing ingredients, pouring liquid over cake, whipped mixture close-up, and sprinkling powder on top. Steps are labeled 5 to 8.

Step 5: Once the cake is baked and is cooling slightly, begin working on the milk mixture. Whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, and chocolate milk.

Step 6: Pour the milk mixture on top of the warm cake that’s had holes poked into it. Place it in the fridge to chill and let the milk get soaked up.

Step 7: While the cake is in the fridge, whip up the homemade chocolate whipped cream by beating together heavy whipping cream, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until stiff peaks form.

Step 8: Spread the whipped cream on the chilled cake. This is optional, but dust with cocoa powder and top with chocolate chips.

A slice of Chocolate Tres Leches Cake with light frosting and chocolate chips sits on a white plate, while a baking dish and extra chocolate chips are visible in the background.

How to Store and Freeze

To store this cake, cover it with plastic wrap or place it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 to 4 days. The homemade whipped cream can break down pretty quickly so I would recommend adding it the day you plan on consuming the cake.

To freeze the tres leches cake, I recommend not adding the milk mixture or whipped topping. Freeze the cooled cake by wrapping in tightly in two layers of plastic wrap and a layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil. You can also place it in a freezer-safe container if you have one available. Freeze for up to 3 months.

Thaw the cake on the counter for an hour or longer and then add the chocolate milk mixture and whipped cream to it. Let it soak for at least 2 hours before serving it.