Hot Milk Cake is a popular and old-fashioned cake! It is delicious, with tender crumbs and great flavor from the butter and vanilla extract. It will melt in your mouth and is perfect as a birthday cake, Victoria Cake, or Trifle.
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You will enjoy this fluffy and moist vanilla hot milk cake; even if this is the first time you bake a cake. You will love how easy it is to make an almost failproof recipe.
Frost it with buttercream frosting or with Fluffy Ermine Frosting, although it tastes amazing plain. If you wonder how hot milk cake tastes, then let me tell you that it's between pound cake and moist vanilla cake.
If you love baking, try my Red Velvet Cake, my all-time popular Orange Cake, and Marble Pound Cake.
❤️ WHY YOU’LL LOVE HOT MILK CAKE
- Moist Texture: Hot milk cake has an incredibly moist and tender texture, thanks to the addition of warm milk in the batter. The cake stays super moist for up to three days.
- Great with Coffee or Tea: Its light sweetness makes it a great companion for a cup of coffee or tea.
- Traditional and Timeless: This milk cake has a classic, old-fashioned charm.
- Simplicity: Hot milk sponge cake is super easy, and a fail-proof recipe.
- Minimal Cleanup: With a few steps and fewer dishes to wash, hot milk cake is a hassle-free baking experience.
📝 INGREDIENTS
More details on the ingredients are in the recipe card below.
- All-purpose flour – I have used all-purpose flour since the baking powder, the eggs, and the hot milk, work together to create tender and light crumbs. You don't have to use self-rising flour or cake flour.
- Cornstarch – I am adding cornstarch to this cake recipe to help the crumbs stay tender longer and avoid beating the eggs for 10 minutes by hand or 5 minutes with a hand mixer. If you are using cake flour, omit the cornstarch from the recipe and replace it with two tablespoons of cake flour.
- 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 and omit the salt from the recipe.
- Oil – Use unflavored cooking oil, like sunflower oil, corn oil, or canola oil. Avoid olive oil since its flavor may take over. Oil is essential. It also aids in keeping the cake moist for a longer time.
- Milk - Since this is a hot milk cake recipe, we will need milk, and I have used full-fat milk. It adds richness to this cake.
🥄 HOW TO MAKE HOT MILK CAKE
I know that many hot milk cake recipes ask you to beat the eggs for 6 to 10 minutes until they double in volume, but we will save time and get a better result using the steps below:
Step 1
Preheat the oven, and Line an 8x5” loaf pan with parchment paper.
Step 2
Beat the eggs until frothy, then add the sugar and whisk until it dissolves.
Add the vanilla extract and the oil and whisk for a few seconds until combined
Step 3
Sift in the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Mix gently using a whisk.
Step 4
In a small saucepan, add the milk and butter, heat the mixture until it comes to a simmer.
Step 5
Pour the hot milk and butter mixture over the batter and mix gently.
Step 6
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, and bake the cake for 20 to 25 minutes.
Step 7
Let the cake cool for 5 to 9 minutes in the pan before inverting it on a cooling rack.
👩🏽🍳 PRO TIPS
- Preheat the oven for 30 minutes. A cold oven will result in a sinking cake.
- Use ingredients that are at room temperature; help it to bake evenly.
- To make hot milk cake, you can use low-fat milk but avoid skim milk.
- Use high-quality butter to have an amazing buttery flavor.
- You can use an 8-inch round pan. If you double the recipe, you can bake two 8-inch cakes perfect for layering a birthday cake.
- You can use lactose-free milk instead of regular milk or almond milk, but ensure it doesn’t burn when you heat it. I have to mention that the texture of the Warm Milk Sponge Cake will be a little different when using almond milk.
📋 VARIATIONS
- Use half milk and half heavy cream for a richer flavor and texture.
- Use orange extract instead of vanilla to give a citrusy flavor.
- Sprinkle some toasted nuts over the batter before baking it.
- To make chocolate hot milk cake: Add two tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder and one EXTRA tablespoon of butter.
👪 SERVING SIZE
This cake makes 15 to 17 slices.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Hot milk cake is a vanilla sponge cake made by adding scalded milk to the cake batter. This recipe was popular during the Great Depression time when women used the leftover milk.
You can use it in this recipe, but there is no need to. Cake flour helps the cake to form tender moist crumbs, and this cake is moist enough to melt in your mouth using all-purpose flour.
There are a few reasons why the cake didn't rise. The baking powder has expired or wasn't stored well, the oven was not preheated properly, or the cake batter was left out of the oven for some time.
You can use the hot milk cake batter to make an upside-down pineapple, apple, or peach cake.
🍽️ HOW TO SERVE HOT MILK CAKE
- You can dust the cake with the confectioner’s sugar before serving.
- Frost the cake with buttercream frosting.
- Serve it as a tea cake with some fruit salad on the side.
- You can also serve it with a dollop of whipped cream.
🌡️ STORING
- Place the milk cake in an airtight container or a Ziploc bag, removing as much air as possible.
- Wrap the cake with plastic wrap and then with foil and refrigerate for up to 8 days.
- You can freeze the cake slices by wrapping them with plastic wrap and placing them in an airtight container. Freeze for up to six months.
- To thaw the frozen cake, place it in the fridge while wrapped overnight, or simply on the kitchen counter for an hour.
📣 MORE CAKE RECIPES
⭐PLEASE RATE AND REVIEW
If you have tried this hot milk cake recipe and liked it, please give it a 5-star rating and leave a comment below with your experience!
📖 Recipe
Best Hot Milk Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ cup oil
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C and line an 8x5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, whisk the eggs until frothy, add the sugar and whisk until the sugar dissolves. You can use a hand mixer, but a whisk will do.
- Add the vanilla and whisk for a few seconds, then add the oil and whisk for a few more seconds, you will notice that the mixture is getting thicker, but that’s fine.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt. For better results, you can sift twice. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix gently. Do not over mix at this stage.
- In a small saucepan, add the milk and butter and heat until the butter dissolves completely, do not let the milk boil. Remove it when it simmers.
- Pour the hot milk and butter mixture over the batter in one go. Mix gently until combined.
- Pour the batter into the previously prepared baking pan and bake for 25 to 35 minutes.
- When you insert a skewer in the middle of the cake, and it comes out clean, your cake is ready.
- Keep the cake in the pan for 5 to 9 minutes and then remove it and allow it to cool completely on a cooling rack.
angiesrecipes
It has a similar tender crumb like pound cake, but much healthier. An excellent recipe, Muna.
munatycooking
Thanks a lot, Angie, I love this cake, it comes together in no time and is amazingly delicious! 🙂
Regine
Wow wow. So so good. The best. I used a gas oven and 330F temperature. It took about 45 minutes. This is really an excellent cake. I would say the very best vanilla loaf cake, whether you are looking for a sponge cake or pound cake. This cake is so good and of a light texture. The flavor is so buttery. Like I do with most recipes, I increased the vanilla. I used 2 tsp. Thanks for sharing this excellent recipe, and I would say i am very difficult to please.
Muna
Thank you so much for your comment. I'm happy that you liked the cake 😊