Best Hot Milk Cake

You must make this Hot Milk Cake! It is a sponge cake with tender crumbs and great flavor coming from the butter and vanilla. This hot milk cake melts in your mouth, unlike other sponge cakes recipes that result in chewy and dry cakes. To my surprise, this cake tastes even better and more tender on the third day (if it made this long in your house). Perfect as a birthday cake, Victoria Cake, and Trifles.

Follow the video guide and the tips in the post to make a fantastic treat for your family!

Ingredients you need to make hot milk cake

All-purpose flour – You can use cake flour or even cake flour substitute instead of all-purpose flour.

Cornstarch – I am adding cornstarch in this recipe to help the crumbs stay tender longer and avoid beating the eggs for 10 minutes by hand or 5 minutes by a hand mixer. If you are using cake flour, then omit the cornstarch from the recipe.

Unsalted butter – I always use unsalted butter in my recipes to control how much salt I add to my batter. If you can’t get your hand on unsalted butter, use salted butter, and omit the salt from the recipe.

Oil – Use unflavored cooking oil, like sunflower oil, corn oil, or canola oil. Avoid using olive oil since its flavor may take over the butter and vanilla.

Oil is essential. It also aids in keeping the cake moist for a longer time.

Sugar – Fine white sugar or raw sugar works great in a hot milk cake recipe; using brown sugar will alter the cake’s texture.

Eggs – Use large eggs.

Vanilla – I like only to use vanilla when making this cake, but you can go for lemon zest, orange zest, or even mint.

Salt.

Baking powder – Unlike the traditional sponge cake, where we depend on the egg whites to add volume to the cake and helps it rise, in this recipe, we get a better tasting cake and texture using baking powder.

How to make hot milk cake the easy way?

I know that many recipes for hot milk cake ask you to beat the eggs for 6 to 10 minutes until it doubles in volume, but we will save time and get a better result using the steps below:

• Preheat the oven to the mentioned temperature in the recipe card below. Make sure to preheat the oven for at least 20 minutes before placing the cake in it.
• Line an 8” loaf pan with parchment paper and keep aside.
• Beat the eggs until frothy in a bowl, then add the sugar and whisk until it dissolves. You can use a hand mixer, but I make this cake using a whisk.
• Add the vanilla and the oil and whisk for a few seconds until combined.
• Pour the oil and beat for a few seconds.
• Sift in the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Mix gently using a whisk.
• In a small saucepan, add the milk and butter, heat the mixture until it comes to a simmer. The goal here is to melt the butter and not boil the milk.
• Pour the hot milk and butter mixture over the batter and mix gently until well combined.
• After pouring the batter into the previously prepared baking pan, bake the cake for 20 to 25 minutes. If you have an electric oven, it will take a little longer. The cake is ready when you insert a skewer in the middle and comes out clean.
• Let the cake cool for 5 to 9 minutes in the pan before inverting it on a cooling rack.

Baking hot milk cake in electric oven Vs. gas oven

When baking this cake in an electric oven, place the cake on the middle shelf. The top of the cake will get light brown, and the cake will take a longer time to bake than when in a gas oven since the heat in electric ovens is (most of the time) evenly distributed.

Baking in a gas oven needs you to pay a little more attention since the heat source is mainly in the center of the oven, and the heat is not distributed evenly. You can find many heat spots in gas ovens, and they are primarily located at the back and the sides of the oven; hence make sure to place the cake in the middle of the oven. It is tricky when baking more than one pan since one of the two pans won’t be in the middle, but you can solve this problem by rotating and changing the place of the pans during baking.

If possible, place the oven rack on one shelf above the middle. The safest way to bake this cake in a gas oven is to reduce the baking temperature. Instead of baking this cake at 180C/350F, bake it at 165C/ 330F, the baking time will be longer, but the sides and the bottom of the cake won’t turn dark brown.

Allergic to milk?

You can use lactose-free milk instead of regular milk; you can also use almond milk but make sure it doesn’t burn when you heat it. I have to mention that the texture of the cake will be a little different when using almond milk.

What baking pans to use?

You can use an 8-inch round pan. If you double the recipe, you can bake two 8-inch cakes that are perfect for layering a birthday cake. You can also use a 9-inch square baking pan and cut the cake into squares. I have used 8-inch loaf pan.

How to store hot milk cake?

• Place the cake in an airtight container or, even better, in a Ziploc bag making sure to take out as much air as possible from the bag. Keep the cake over the counter or in a cool place for up to three days.
• Wrap the cake with plastic wrap and then with foil and refrigerate for up to 8 days.
• You can freeze the cake by wrapping it with plastic wrap and place it in an airtight container or wrapping it again with aluminum foil and freeze it for up to six months.

If you are freezing the cake, then it is better to slice it and then freeze it. To thaw the frozen cake, place it over the counter while wrapped.

How to serve hot milk cake?

1. You can dust the cake with the confectioner’s sugar before serving.
2. Frost the cake with buttercream frosting.
3. Serve it as a tea cake with some berries on the side.
4. You can also serve it with a dollop of whipped cream.

More cake recipes:

Angel food cake.

Best orange cake.

Red velvet cake.