A guava cheesecake tres leches cake brings together two beloved dessert traditions in a single 13-by-9-inch baking dish, drawing on the soaked-sponge technique of classic tres leches and the layered aesthetic of Hawaiian guava cake. The recipe, developed for Delish by Taylor Ann Spencer with photography by Ryan Liebe, yields 12 servings at 638 calories per serving, with a total time of six hours that includes chilling.
How the Guava Cheesecake Tres Leches Is Built
The base starts with a 15.25-oz box of vanilla cake mix, modified with 1¼ cups of guava nectar in place of water. Three large eggs and half a cup of melted unsalted butter complete the batter. A single drop of pink gel food colouring is optional but gives the sponge its characteristic blush tone. The batter bakes at 350°F for 20 to 25 minutes, until a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Once the cake has cooled for 15 minutes on a wire rack, it is poked all over with a fork. The three-milk soak, a 14-oz tin of sweetened condensed milk, a 12-oz tin of evaporated milk, and 1½ cups of whole milk, is then poured slowly over the warm sponge. The cake goes into the refrigerator for at least two hours, though an overnight rest is equally valid at this stage.
The guava nectar does double duty across the recipe: it flavours the sponge itself and then returns as the primary ingredient in the topping. That layering of the same fruit note at two different stages is what gives the finished dessert its coherence rather than a collection of separate ideas.
The No-Bake Cheesecake Layer and the Guava Topping
The cheesecake component requires no oven time. 12 oz of softened cream cheese is beaten with a quarter-cup of plain Greek yogurt until smooth, then 85 g of confectioners’ sugar, a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, and a pinch of kosher salt are incorporated. Half a cup of heavy cream goes in last and is beaten until the mixture stiffens. The layer is spread evenly over the soaked cake and refrigerated for around an hour until cold.
The guava topping is a briefly cooked gel: 2 cups of guava nectar are brought to a slow boil over medium heat, then a slurry of 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of water is whisked in. The mixture boils for a further one to two minutes until slightly thickened, then cools to room temperature for roughly 20 minutes before being spooned over the cheesecake layer. A final refrigeration of at least two hours (again, overnight works) sets the topping to a glossy finish.
Make-Ahead Potential
The recipe notes that the finished cake can be prepared up to three days in advance and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. The longer rest is not merely practical: as the sponge continues to absorb the three-milk mixture over days two and three, the texture becomes more saturated and the flavour more pronounced. For a weekend gathering or a celebration where preparation time matters, that built-in improvement is a genuine advantage.
Total active preparation is listed at 15 minutes, with the remaining five hours and 45 minutes accounted for by baking, cooling, and the staged chilling periods. The recipe is available in full, including all nutritional information, via the Delish app.