To make it clear I say from the beginning that I’m no baker. But I love to eat those sweet desserts that melt in your mouth and make you think “this is what I worked hard for all day!”. Although this self satisfactory mumbling can be irrelevant often times because I enjoy those sweets as breakfast. Load myself with sugar and caffeine from coffee, that’s how to make a happy mom 
Anyway, I remember telling myself the first time I was at an American grocery store that I would try making all the cake mixes I can find in the bakery aisle (and also try all different types of cereals). In that matter, I had given myself generous amounts of grace time before running out of excuses before starting to bake.
I had a bag-full of fresh strawberries in my fridge which was not fresh enough to eat as they are, but I didn’t want to make jam because we still have a jar that needs to be consumed.
That’s how I came up with this no-bake layered cake.
Cuatro Leche Layered Graham Cracker Cake with Strawberries
The recipe may be a bit confusing since it requires separate preparation for each creamy goody. Below is the simplified flow of the process.
* Prepare custard
* Prepare strawberry sauce
* Soak Graham crackers in milk mixture and construct
* Make whipped cream and decorate the cake
| Cuatro Leche Layered Graham Cracker Cake with Strawberries |
- For the custard***
- 2 cups 2% milk
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 egg yolks
- 3 Tbsp bread flour
- For the strawberry sauce***
- 10 large strawberries, sliced
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin
- 1 Tbsp water
- For soaking Graham crackers***
- 1/2 can evaporated milk (6 FL oz/about 180ml)
- 1/2 can sweet condensed milk (7 oz/about 200ml)
- 1 box Graham crackers (14.4oz/480g)
- For the whipped cream***
- 1 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- Firstly, make custard. Put milk, sugar and vanilla extract in a pot and place it over low-medium heat, stirring continuously. Separate egg yolk from the whites in a small bowl, break them. Keep stirring the milk mixture, make sure it doesn’t come to a boil. Scoop a tablespoonful of the milk mixture into the yolks and mix them well. Spoon 2 more scoops in, stir well each time. When the temperature of the egg yolks has raised this way, pour this back to the pot of milk mixture. Sift bread flour in to the mixture as you stir so it won’t form lumps. Remove from the heat when it thickens slightly.
- In another pot, heat sliced strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and water over high heat. When it gets bubbly, lower the heat then simmer for 8-10 mins, skimming occasionally. Remove from heat. In a small bowl, combine gelatin and water. Microwave it for 5-6 seconds. Pour it into the strawberries, mix well and let it sit to cool.
- Grease a 9 inch (22.5cm) round cake mold. In a large bowl, mix evaporated milk and sweet condensed milk together.
- Soak Graham cracker in the mixture, one cracker at a time, then place it in the cake mold. Repeat this to fill the bottom of the mold flat. Spread the custard over it. Stack another layer of soaked Graham cracker then spread the whipped cream. Repeat this step until you run out of Graham crackers.
- Pour the strawberry sauce (step 2) over on the top and spread it evenly. Chill it in refrigerator over night or 6-10 hours.
- Place the cake on a large serving plate, remove the outside ring of the mold. Decorate it with whipped cream.
I used a round cake mold with a detachable clip on the side because I wanted to decorate the side of the cake to finish. However, you can make this in a rectangular casserole dish and serve directly from it.
Be very careful when you take the gelatin-water mixture from the microwave since it’s very hot.
Break soaked Graham cracker into small pieces to fill the gap in each layer.
Whew! That must be the longest recipe I ever made! It all started from saving those strawberries that needed to be used urgently. Although the recipe makes it look like a load of work at a glance, perhaps a picture of the cut section will give you a better understanding of how the cake is made.
When chilling it in the refrigerator, I placed the whole cake mold on a big plate, hoping that would catch any liquid if there is any sweet leakage from the bottom. Yes, that turned out to be a good idea.
As an afterthought, the top strawberry part could have come out more bright red if I had used strawberry flavored gelatin instead of clear one.
I used to work part time at a cake store when I was in college a loooong time ago.
There they had a cake called “Napoleon” which looked very much like this. It was about $4.50 per piece at that time and was always majestically placed at the top corner of the shelf, making all the other cakes fainter, it’s dignified appearance made to look that way at least to me. If I get lucky, I could take some of the unsold cakes home for free but Napoleon was never an option because it ALWAYS sold out. I wonder if it is still keeping its position in the store after this many years…
This is actually my second try making a dessert with these milk, evaporated milk, sweet condensed milk and whipping cream combination. Here is my “Cuatro Leche Quick Sundae” that I made last year, in October.
For this, I used lady fingers instead of Graham crackers.
Just soak them in the same mixture for a few seconds and randomly lay in the serving bowl. Top them off with chopped strawberries and vanilla ice cream!
Since it takes no time for assembling each serving, this dessert saves time and labor especially when entertaining many guests.
こんにちは、のりこさん。いやぁ、やっぱりすごい。写真お上手だわ。そしてウェブサイト見たら、お洋服作ってらっしゃるのねーー。no wonder!でした（笑）。だって、何かの美術的才能を感じるから・・・。やっぱり（私の感覚は間違ってなかった）！すごいお洋服作って素晴らしいーーーー。もうビックリ。私も（いや、ここで、「も」を使う場合じゃないな）bakingしない、いやできないんです・・・。でものりこさんの「出来ない」レベルじゃないですから（汗）。あはは。ご近所だったら、一緒にお茶したいですねー。残念・・・・。ブログアップされるの楽しみにしてます。どんどん作って下さい♪
Namiさん、こんにちは。
前は根詰めてせっせと縫ってたんですがね、なにせ飽きっぽいので今はほとんど作ってないんですよ。でも子供服作りを通していろ～んな方と知り合いになれ、刺激をいっぱいもらってとってもよい経験になりました。一緒にお茶、くわぁ～っ、いいですね～♪ 本当、家が近かったらよかったのに！もしそうなったら、Namiさん、いつものご飯の１．５倍量で作ってください！私マイ茶碗＆マイ箸持参で駆けつけますっ＾＾。
ははは！いやぁ、それなら私はタッパーウェアー持って行くから、美味しい料理次の日の分まで宜しく～。私はきっと２倍はいるかな（笑）。お洋服本当にすごい。作るのだけじゃなくて、デザインとかも含めて。センスが違う・・・・。やっぱり何やっても（写真なり料理なり）、そのセンスは出てくるものですね。本当実感です。
うははっ、そうだっ、一緒にお料理できたらまたまた楽しいだろうね～♪ ２人して味見がとまらなくなりそう＾＾。洋服のこと褒めてくださってとっても嬉しい！ありがとう～！また何か作ったら調子こいて載せちゃうと思うのでよろしくね☆その前にミシンを点検にださないとマズイかも/汗。なんか、ミシン踏むとガラガラへびのような音がするのよ～/笑。
norikoちゃん、これまたとっても春らしいケーキ！色合いがとってもかわいい♪
no bakerなの？really?!?! 確かにケーキ以外のレシピがとっても多いけれど、それでもnorikoちゃんの作るスイーツどれもこれもおいしそうだよぅ！
私は最近いそがしくてなかなかキッチンで思う存分時間を取れないけれど、でもnorikoちゃんのブログを読んで作った気になっています！！（笑）
家族にもおいしいもの久しぶりに作ってあげなくっちゃ！今日もガンバルね！いつも元気をありがとーーー！
Ukoちゃん、こんにちは。
ベイキング、ダメダメなんだよねぇ～。レストランのバイキングなら一瞬にして元とれるんだけど（シーン・・・おやじ色濃し～）。ミックスならパッケージの表示にそって作ってちょこっとアレンジとかしてもとんでもないことにはならないからいいんだけど、オリジナルってのが作れない。しかもドジだからこの前なんかチャイティーシフォンなるものを作ったつもりが小麦粉入れるの忘れちゃって/笑。焼きプリンって呼ぶにも無理があるほどの失敗作になってしまいました。
Ukoちゃん、本当にお疲れ様でした！沢山の方が来てくれて本当によかったね☆
This is a very creative way to skip baking and still end up with a beautiful cake. At first looking at the photos I didn’t even think it was a no-bake, you get applause for that! Well done and thanks for sharing!
Thanks!!! I guess I got lucky to post this in terms of timing. I mean it is about that time when people want to be as far away as possible from the oven heat, isn’t it? (and which I’m good at all around the year
)
How I wish to be a great baker like you! Your macaroons are out of the world!
And I love your presentation for each of your creations!!!
うっわぁ～おいしそう☆norikoさんはお料理もお菓子もすっごくステキに作っちゃうんだよねー、私、スイーツ系はぜんぜんダメだから、うらやましいナ。
このミルフィーユみたいなのは、どんな味なんだろ・・・勝手に妄想中◎笑
Ramyyちゃん、嬉しいコメントをありがとう～！
お料理も日々勉強だけど、お菓子作りとなると分からないことばかりでその道は気が遠くなるほど長いって感じです。そうそう、ちょうどミルフィーユみたいね♪ 味のほうは・・・カスタードの味が強かったかな。あとグラハムクラッカーのシナモン味が効いてました♪
のりちゃーん、こんばんわε=ヾ(*・∀・)/
おお～
スープカレー！！
ちるの大好きなカレーだわ(´ψψ｀)
めっちゃおいしそう～！
スープカレーってまだ食べたことがなくって・・・
スプーン持ってお邪魔したかった。
グラハムクラッカーを使ったケーキが
気になります♪
どんなお味なんだろうな～
サクッとした食感が楽しそう～（ ´∀｀）
たべたーい！！
＞そちらでも「幸せになろう」やっているの？
わたしは見てないんだけど、黒木めいささんも
香取慎吾もかわいいよね＾＾
うわーん、美味しそう！売って欲しいです（；；）
何を作っても本当にセンスがいいな～って思います＾＾
食べたいなあ＾＾