If I have to choose one character from literature I can identify myself with, it won’t be superman, spider man or wonder woman. That character would be Anne of Green gables. Not the later books where she grows up to be a sensible woman, but the first one where she is a simple yakkety yak and messes up a lot of things.

Anne gets her best friend Diana drunk by serving red wine under the assumption that it was raspberry cordial. Later she makes a beautiful layer cake for  Mrs. Allen whom she adores. The only thing was – instead of vanilla, she mixes anodyne liniment (a medicine) and the cake tastes awful. The sweet lady that Mrs. Allen is, she eats the cake to spare Anne’s feelings. But her guardian Marilla finds out about the disaster and Anne is mortified. I have had my fills of cake disasters to know what it feels like!

Now this cake is not Anne’s layer cake with liniment. It’s a different version of Tres leches cake, a much simpler one, I might add. This cake wasn’t a disaster as well. In fact it was a big hit, even I liked it a lot, which is becoming rare nowadays.

Coming back to Anne, its a wonderful book and a great read for kids and adults alike. I haven’t read all the books, but have read the first two books again and again. It’s almost like I don’t want her to grow up, instead happier where she is a kid..a feeling that crops up in real life also at times, I guess :-)!

Recipe source: All recipes

Makes : 9X13″ cake

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour/maida
• 1 teaspoonbaking powder
• 1/2 cup/1 stick/110 gms unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cupwhite sugar
• 5eggs
• 2 teaspoonsvanilla extract

The three milk syrup

• 2 cupswhole milk
• 1 (14 ounce) cansweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk (substitute cream or even skip this)

Frosting

• 2 cupsheavy whipping cream
• 1 cupwhite sugar
• 1 teaspoonvanilla extract

Method:

1. Heat oven to 350F/180C. Grease a 13X9 baking pan. I used an aluminium food tray with lid, making it convenient for travel.
2. Using a hand or stand mixer, beat the softened stick of butter and with one cup sugar until its creamy and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating in after each addition. Add 2 tsp vanilla extract and mix until its incorporated well.
3. Add 1 teaspoon baking powder and mix well again.
4. Add flour in 1/4 cupful batches and keep mixing until its all well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes free of crumbs.
5. Once the cake is baked fully, take it out of the oven and let it cool completely.
6. Prepare the tres leches syrup in the meantime. Combine the whole milk, condensed milk and evaporated milk together. Keep refrigerated until the cake cools down.
7. Pierce the cake with fork all over. Add the prepared syrup over the cake.
8. For a simple topping, whip the cream with sugar and vanilla extract until thick and spread on top. I went for rose swirls.

Note:

• This cake needs to be refrigerated until the time of serving.
• The syrup will ooze out and that’s the way its supposed to be.
• Whipped cream with strawberries or cherries on top is one of the ways to decorate the cake.
• The cake should be served on a plate or on a bowl because of the syrup.

Linking this entry to Valli’s Kid’s Delight, hosted by PJ this month. The theme is ‘Cooking from Storybooks/TV shows’.