This recipe for Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake is so easy. It's made with boxed spice cake mix, coffee creamer, sweetened condensed milk, and other simple ingredients to make a perfect fall dessert!
I've got a really easy variation on tres leches cake today. This time, we're making a fall version of this classic Mexican dessert by making it a Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake! The rich, spicy flavors you'll get in this sweet treat are the perfect complement to cooler weather.
What is Tres Leches Cake?
Tres leches means "three milks" in Spanish. With Tres Leches Cake, you'll pour three different kinds of milk (mixed together) over a prepared cake. This results in a dessert with almost a pudding-like consistency. In my opinion, it is so much better than a traditional sheet cake. The moist, rich cake is to die for!
With my classic tres leches cake recipe, I use heavy whipping cream, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk as my milk mixture. The milks are changed up a little bit in this version to give it lots of pumpkin flavor with a few hints of spices (like cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg) added in.
While a pumpkin version of this dessert may not be the traditional way to make it, I think the pumpkin flavor plays incredibly well off of the little bit of spice that is present in the original version of Tres Leches Cake.
If you're a fan of yummy and easy cakes, give my Pineapple Dump Cake or Egg Nog Cake recipes a try too!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
With this cake recipe, you get a rich pumpkin spice cake base soaked in a sweet cream. I use whipped cream as a topping for a lighter, airy frosting to go with the thick, rich cake. Add a sprinkle of cinnamon for such an amazing recipe for fall.
Ingredients
(See recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient measurements.)
Cake Base
- spice cake mix
- whole milk
- butter
- eggs
- pure vanilla extract
- pumpkin puree
Tres Leches Milk Mixture
- heavy cream
- sweetened condensed milk
- pumpkin coffee creamer
Whipped Cream Topping
- heavy cream
- powdered sugar
- cinnamon
Additions & Variations
- Use this basic recipe to make a tres leches cake for any flavor you'd like! You can use chocolate cake mix and chocolate coffee creamer, strawberry cake mix with a little bit of strawberry syrup in the tres leches mixture, etc. Get creative!
- If you're not a big fan of coffee creamer, you can sub in evaporated milk with ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice.
How to Make Pumpkin Spice Tres Leches Cake
Step 1: Make the spice cake base.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together spice cake mix, milk, butter, eggs, and pumpkin puree with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour batter into a 9x13" prepared pan (sprayed with cooking spray).
Bake for the recommended time on the spice cake mix box (usually 30-40 minutes).
Step 2: Prep the cake to soak up the milk.
Allow the cake to cool in the baking pan. Once cool, use a fork or toothpick to poke holes all over the surface of the cake.
Step 3: Add milk mixture.
In a large bowl, whisk together 8oz heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, and coffee creamer. Pour tres leches mixture over top of cooled cake. Allow mixture to soak in for 30 minutes to an hour.
Step 4: Top with whipped cream.
Whip the remaining heavy cream with a hand mixer or stand mixer until soft peaks form. Gently fold in powdered sugar. Spread prepared whipped cream over the cake.
Sprinkle cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice on top.
Step-by-Step Recipe Video
Leftovers & Storage
This cake should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It is good for up to 4 days after preparation.
This cake shouldn't be frozen. The texture just doesn't thaw correctly and you'll end up with a soggy mess. It's best to make this one fresh!
More Expert Tips & Tricks
- This is a great cake to make the night before you're planning on serving. It really is best if you let the cake chill out in the fridge overnight, soaking up all of that yummy sweet milk mixture. Just hold off on adding whipped cream to the top until you're ready to serve.
- Don't use anything bigger than a fork to poke the holes in your spice cake. If you use something like a wooden spoon handle, you'll end up with huge holes in the cake that the milk mixture can't fill.
- Yield: This cake makes approximately 16 servings.
Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake FAQs
Let me hear what you think! Rate the recipe ⭐️ using the recipe card or the comment section below. You can also tag me on social media with your pumpkin tres leches cake pictures - just tag me at @lambertslately. 📸
Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake
Affiliate links used.
Equipment
- baking dish
- whisk
- stand or hand mixer
Ingredients
- 1 box spice cake mix
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 stick butter melted
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 16 oz heavy cream divided
- 14 oz canned sweetened condensed milk
- 8 oz pumpkin coffee creamer
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon can also use pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together spice cake mix, milk, butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour prepared batter into a 9x13" baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.
- Bake for the recommend time on the spice cake mix box (usually 30-40 minutes).
- Allow cake to cool in the baking pan. Once cool, use a fork or toothpick to poke holes all over surface of the cake.
- In a large bowl, stir together 8oz heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, and coffee creamer. Pour mixture over top of cooled cake. Allow mixture to soak in for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Whip remaining heavy cream with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gently fold in powdered sugar. Spread prepared whipped cream over cake.
- Sprinkle cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice on top.
Notes
-
- This is a great cake to make the night before you're planning on serving. It really is best if you let the cake chill out in the fridge overnight, soaking up all of that yummy sweet milk mixture. Just hold off on adding whipped cream to the top until you're ready to serve.
- Don't use anything bigger than a fork to poke the holes in your spice cake. If you use something like a wooden spoon handle, you'll end up with huge holes in the cake that the milk mixture can't fill.
- This cake should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It is good for up to 4 days after preparation.
- This cake shouldn't be frozen. The texture just doesn't thaw correctly and you'll end up with a soggy mess. It's best to make this one fresh!
Looks yummy. That does use liquid Pumpkin Coffee Creamer..right?
It does!
This recipe is amazing! I made pumpkin puree from the pumpkin I have been growing this year. It was so sweet and even something was left so I used it to make a soup too. Cucurbita maxima is the variety that I used and it was so sweet. I wanted a pumpkin that isn't too big so it was a bingo
Omg wish I saw this during the fall when pumpkin creamer was available. What can I use as a substitute to make right now?
You could try a hazelnut creamer or cinnamon creamer, should be similar!
Yummy, this looks wonderful. I have made Tres Leches but not with pumpkin.
I am happy to feature your yummy dessert at Love Your Creativity.
Oh thank you so much!
Do you follow the cake mix ingredients too?
No, you'll just use the mix in your cake as instructed in the recipe card. Think of the cake mix as just an individual ingredient in the cake!