Soaking a Tres Leches

A tres leches lives or dies by how it takes on the soak. Once the sponge is baked, poke it all over with a skewer or fork right down to the base, then pour the three-milk mixture over the still-warm cake a ladle at a time, letting each addition fully disappear before adding the next so the liquid distributes evenly instead of pooling. Use every drop, then cover and chill for at least four hours — ideally overnight. The long rest is what turns a damp cake into the signature saturated-but-structured crumb: moist through to the base yet still able to hold a clean square.