Traditional Tres Leches is a classic Latin American dessert that translates to "three milks". It consists of a fluffy sponge cake soaked in a milk mixture of condensed milk, evaporated milk, and whole milk or heavy cream.
This fall-inspired version combines all the warm autumnal flavors of pumpkin cake with the soft and moist texture of tres leches.
This recipe is sponsored by Nature's Charm. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands who sponsor my work!
🧾 Ingredients
Here's everything you need to make this easy pumpkin spice tres leches recipe:
Ingredient Notes
Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Sweetened Condensed Oat Milk: This adds sweetness and richness to the milk soak. You can also use condensed coconut milk like this vegan strawberry tres leches.
- Evaporated Oat Milk: For creaminess, again, it can be swapped for a coconut-based version like this pistachio tres leches, as Nature's Charm stocks both.
- Oat Milk: If possible, use Barista-Style oat milk, as this is super creamy, but regular unsweetened oat milk is also fine.
- Pumpkin Purée: Make sure you use 100% pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling
- Pumpkin Pie Spices: A combination of ground nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
- Granulated Sugar: I tested this cake recipe using brown sugar, but it didn't soak up the milk mixture quite as well due to the added moisture in the cake itself from the molasses in the sugar.
- Olive Oil: You can replace this with a vegetable oil such as canola or sunflower if you prefer a more subtle flavor.
- Vegan Whipping Cream: I use Nature's Charm coconut cream for the whipped topping.
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🔪 Instructions
Here are step-by-step images showing how to make this eggless pumpkin tres leches cake. Please refer to the detailed printable recipe card at the end of this page for full measurements and written instructions:
Step 1: Mix oat milk and apple cider vinegar and set aside for 5 minutes to make vegan buttermilk. Combine the wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl (granulated sugar, pumpkin puree, olive oil, vanilla extract, and buttermilk mixture).
Step 2: Fold in the dry ingredients in 2 parts until just combined (all purpose flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt).
Step 3: To a prepared baking dish lightly greased with oil, add the cake batter. Bake until golden.
Step 4: Poke holes in the warm cake with a skewer or fork and allow it to cool to room temperature.
Step 5: Combine the oat milk, evaporated oat milk, and condensed oat milk and pour it over the cooled cake.
Step 6: Let the cake rest in the fridge overnight, it will soak up all of the tres leches mixture.
Step 7: Spread coconut whipped cream on top of the cake.
Step 8: Generously dust with ground cinnamon before serving.
💭 Recipe Tips
Let the tres leches soak overnight. This gives the cake enough time to soak up all the triple milk mixture and will give the best results and a soft, super moist pumpkin cake with a melt-in-your-mouth consistency.
Poke cake while warm. Unlike my chocolate tres leches, which is cooled first, I found that piercing the cake while warm helped the cake to soak up much more of that milk soak.
Let the cake cool before soaking. This is important, if you pour over the milk mixture while the cake is still warm, it can create a soggy texture!
💬 FAQs
Tres Leches needs to be kept in the refrigerator due to the ingredients like coconut cream. Tightly cover the cake pan with plastic wrap, then scoop and serve as needed. It will last in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Absolutely, this recipe uses a 10.5 x 7.5-inch dish but you could also make it in an 8 x 8-inch cake pan.
🎃 More Vegan Pumpkin Desserts
📖 Recipe
Vegan Pumpkin Tres Leches
Ingredients
Cake
- 240 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice *see note 1
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 240 ml (1 cup) unsweetened oat milk barista-style if possible
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 250 g (1 cup) canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 150 g (¾ cup) granulated sugar
- 100 ml (⅓ cup + 4 teaspoons) olive oil *see note 2
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Tres Leches Soak
- 150 g (½ cup) sweetened condensed oat milk *see note 3
- 200 ml (⅔ cup + 4 teaspoons) evaporated oat milk *see note 4
- 240 ml (1 cup) unsweetened oat milk barista-style if possible
- 30 g (2 tablespoons) canned pumpkin puree
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
- 400 ml (1x can) coconut whipping cream chilled overnight
Instructions
- Combine dry ingredients: To a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spices, and salt, and whisk to combine.
- Combine wet ingredients: To a separate large bowl, add the oat milk and apple cider vinegar. Stir and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Then whisk in the pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, olive oil, and vanilla extract.
- Make the batter: Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in 2 increments. Do not be tempted to overmix!
- Bake: Transfer the cake batter to the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Insert a skewer into the center of the cake to check for doneness - if there is batter sticking to the skewer bake for an additional 5 minutes.
- Poke cake: While warm, poke the cake with a skewer all over. Let it cool to room temperature.
- Three milk mixture: In a large jug, mix the condensed oat milk, evaporated oat milk, oat milk, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract.
- Soak cake: Once cooled, pour the triple milk mixture over the cake. Place in the fridge to chill overnight.
- Serving: Whip the chilled coconut cream and spread it on top of the cake. Dust with cinnamon before serving.
Notes
- Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice: Combine 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp ground ginger, ¼ tsp nutmeg, and ¼ tsp ground cloves.
- Olive Oil: Replace with a neutral oil such as sunflower or rapeseed if preferred.
- Sweetened Condensed Oat Milk: Sub with sweetened condensed coconut milk. I use Nature's Charm.
- Evaporated Oat Milk: Sub with evaporated coconut milk. I use Nature's Charm.
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Amazing!!! Amazing!!!! Amazing!!!! Made this for Thanksgiving this year and it was a real crowd pleaser!
Hi Mia,
Thank you so much, I’m thrilled it went down so well for Thanksgiving!
Delicious!
Hi Caroline,
Thank you, so glad you enjoyed it!
Delicious. I found it a bit too cold straight out of the fridge so I heated each piece for 1 min. On 360 watt to make it a bit warm. So good. Will make it again.
Hi Tessa,
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Warming it up a little sounds like a great idea. Thanks so much for sharing!
With all the love in the world for your work and recipes and only the intention of making you aware of this: the ads on your recipe page are currently very… fungal toe themed. I’m not sure if you have any control over this but it’s uh. Quite off-putting. If you don’t have control over what’s shown then it can’t be helped, but if you do and just weren’t aware of the current fungal foot closeups being placed between photos of lovely cake, I hope this is a helpful heads up.
Most annoying recipe ever scrolling up and down all over the place, hope it tastes good
Hi Doris,
There is a printable recipe card at the end of the page, at the very top of the page click the large "jump to recipe" button, this is what you need to follow when making the recipe.
Made it for Thanksgiving. Will make it again for sure. Btw, I used gluten free 1 for 1 flour. It is one of if not the best cake I've had since I stopped eating wheat.
Hi Sara,
This is wonderful news, thank you so much for taking the time to share your feedback. I'm sure it will help others looking to do the same!
Yum!! I’ve made this twice so far and it was delicious. I will make the holes a little bigger next time because my milk mixture didn’t fully soak into the cake. Nonetheless it was delicious and a big hit. Thanks.
So happy you loved it, thanks for your feedback Danielle!
Can this recipe be made with a gluten free all purpose flour? I love the non dairy but still need to be GF for us.
Thanks!
Hi Paulina,
I haven't tested with GF flour I'm afraid. It was a tricky recipe to get right with ratios so I can't say if it would work. If you do decie to give it a try, I would suggest an all-purpose cup for cup replacement such as King Arthur
YES! I used King Arthur gluten free and it turned out wonderful.
Is it ok to replace the sugar for a healthier alternative ?
I think xilitol, dàtil, banana are good
Hi Mandy,
I have only tried white and brown sugar so I can't say for sure. Just bear in mind that different sugars and substitutes will change the moisture levels and consistency of the sponge. For tres leches in particular, the texture is important as if it's too moist to start with the milk mixture won't soak in properly. I hope this helps!