Are cakesicles a thing?
I’m currently up in the air headed to Seattle with no wi-fi so with no google so I’m just going to assume that somebody else out there figured this out years ago, bless them they are a savior.
Last year I messed with these cobbler pops for popsicle week that I very much still love enough to maybe get a cobbler pop tramp stamp? but that’s still a maybe. I think my favorite part of all of it surprising* was the chunks of cakey cobbler topping that sort of get chewy in the freezer.
*Should not be surprising actually because I prefer all forms of cake very cold like a beautiful weirdo.
The way we’re kind of changing things up from last year is that this is literally a slice of cake shoved into a popsicle mold and doused with the tres leches mixture that is very beautiful and something I could probably just drink on it’s own. The whole cake sort of soaks up the liquid and creates something very similar to the regular tres leches but just, frozen. It’s perfect for the summer and the cake itself is way easier than the traditional sponge, the only little bit of bob the builder cosplay is the construction and building of the popsicles but I promise it’s 100% worth it.
Tres Leches Cakesicles
Makes 10 3oz cakesicles + a little leftover cake for a future baby trifle
For the Cake:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cups whole milk (plus more for the leches)
1 large egg
1 t pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
For the Tres Leches:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
Preheat your oven to 350ºF and prepare a 9×13” rectangular cake pan by spraying it with non-stick cooking spray and lining it with parchment paper.
To make the cake, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
In a 2 cup measuring cup measure out the milk, add the egg, vanilla, and melted butter and beat together with a fork until it’s all combined. Don’t worry if some of the butter solidified on you it’s all good.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk the batter just until it all comes together then evenly spread it out into the prepared pan. This is going to be a pretty thin layer of batter but it’ll cover evenly just use a small offset spatula and that finesse you got.
Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, until it’s just barely golden brown around the edges and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Let the cake cool in the pan completely and hang out until you’re ready to assemble the pops. Once you’re ready to put it all together, remove the cake from the pan, lay it top down and remove the parchment paper.
Now, here’s where we just sort of figure it out depending on our popsicle molds. I used these ones, and each little mold portion can pop out with a little pinch and shove. Whatever you’re using you want to be able to pop it out and lay it down on top of the cake so you can trace it out. If you don’t have this type of mold and it’s more of a cylindrical situation then ignore the tracing out and cut the cake into chunks and move onto the leches.
After I cut a rectangle based off one of the molds I shave down the sides just a little and then the bottom so it’s rounded, but just trim whatever you need to match your molds. If the cake is too thick (it was a little for me) then shave off just the tiniest bit off the top of the cake. Your goal is to have a piece of cake that fits snugly in each mold but doesn’t peek out once the milks are poured in. Once you get one pop down just follow through with the rest using the first one as a guide.
As you cut and trim the cake go ahead and place it into each popsicle mold then once they’re all made up you can move onto the milk mixture. In a large measuring cup (really anything with a spout) measure out the milks and heavy cream and whisk it all together until it’s combined. Fill up the molds with the milk mixture making sure to go back over any molds with cake that soaked up more milk than others then place the top on the mold if you have one and insert the popsicle sticks. Freeze for 4-6 hours before removing from the molds and serving.
