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If you’re looking for the fluffy, perfect vanilla cake your grandma (and mine) used to make, this Hot Milk Cake recipe is definitely the one. Made with scalded milk, this lovely, old-fashioned cake is soft, sweet, and absolutely foolproof.
Dressed up in a million different ways or eaten as-is, one bite of Hot Milk Cake will take you back to your childhood. For that reason, this time-tested family recipe is the near and dear to my heart. And of course, it makes a fabulous birthday cake, too!
Maurice Sendak said it best in his book “In the Night Kitchen:” milk in the batter, milk in the batter, we bake cake and nothing’s the matter! He’s right. When there’s Hot Milk Cake, very little can go wrong.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Milk: This recipe uses a technique called scalding which heats the milk, thus the name Hot Milk Cake. Do not substitute buttermilk.
Step-by-step instructions
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 12-cup tube pan or Bundt cake pan. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Stir in milk and vanilla and continue to heat until small bubbles form around the outside of the pan and the mixture is very hot but not boiling. Reduce heat to low.
- Meanwhile, in an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine eggs and sugar on medium-high speed for 5 minutes.
- Once the egg and sugar mixture has tripled in volume, slowly add the hot milk mixture, mixing on low speed until incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in two batches, mixing after each addition until just incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour, checking at 55 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake should come out clean, with a few crumbs attached, but do not over-bake.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack or serving plate to cool completely.
- Dust with powdered sugar if desired.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This cake makes 12 delicious slices of Hot Milk Cake (or more or less depending on how you slice it).
- Storage: Store extra cake covered at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: Cool Hot Milk Cake to room temperature, then wrap tightly in a double layer of plastic wrap, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight at room temperature.
- Cinnamon: Add a dash of cinnamon for extra spice and warmth.
- Almond Hot Milk Cake: Add almond extract in place of the vanilla and top with slivered almonds.
- Chocolate Hot Milk Cake: Add ¼ cup of your best cocoa powder to the dry ingredients in step 1, and scald chocolate milk for an ethereal chocolate cake that’s just as easy to make.
- Hot Milk Cake with fruit: This cake makes an excellent peach, plum, or Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. Arrange fruit on the bottom of the cake pan, pour batter over, then bake as directed. Invert before serving.
Caramel Coconut Topping for Hot Milk Cake
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed
- 1 ½ cups butter
- ½ cup evaporated milk (or half and half)
- 2 cups shredded coconut
- ¾ cup chopped nuts
Directions:
- Bring butter, evaporated milk, and sugar to a boil, stirring to melt the sugar.
- Remove from heat and stir in coconut and chopped nuts.
- Spread mixture on the warm cake and place under the broiler until golden, watching the topping closely.
Recipe FAQs
One of the first sightings of Hot Milk Cake was in 1911, but it continued to grow in popularity due to it’s simplicity. It really became a well-known recipe during the Great Depression, where modest food had to stretch to feed hungry families, and every last drop of food was used and saved. Grandmothers and mothers had to make do with what they had, and often the last of the day’s milk was used to make this simple cake for special occasions.
While I haven’t personally tested this, readers have successfully made this cake with as little as half the amount of sugar. That can be helpful if you’re looking to cut back on your sugar intake, or you’re planning to serve it with my caramel coconut topping.
This is the kind of cake that I could easily nibble all afternoon until there was nothing left, but if you have patience and intend to serve this for dessert, try a dollop of whipped cream, some fresh berries, or a scoop of ice cream. Readers also love chocolate sauce on top.
More fabulous cakes to try
Cake Recipes
Danish Layer Cake (Dansk Lagekage)
Chocolate Recipes
Slow Cooker Chocolate Lava Cake
Cake Recipes
Vanilla Cheesecake
Cake Recipes
Pig Pickin Cake
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Hot Milk Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting the pan
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup milk (see note 1)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 eggs at room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- Powdered sugar for dusting, optional
Instructions
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 12-cup tube pan or Bundt cake pan. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Stir in milk and vanilla and continue to heat until small bubbles form around the outside of the pan and the mixture is very hot but not boiling. Reduce heat to very low.
- Meanwhile, in an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine eggs and sugar on medium-high speed for 5 minutes.
- Once the egg and sugar mixture has tripled in volume, slowly add the hot milk mixture, mixing on low speed until incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in two batches, mixing after each addition until just incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour, checking at 55 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake should come out clean, with a few crumbs attached, but do not over-bake.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack or serving plate to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Milk: This recipe uses a technique called scalding which heats the milk, thus the name Hot Milk Cake. Do not substitute buttermilk.
- Yield: This cake makes 12 delicious slices of Hot Milk Cake (or more or less depending on how you slice it).
- Storage: Store extra cake covered at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: Cool Hot Milk Cake to room temperature, then wrap tightly in a double layer of plastic wrap, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight at room temperature.
Can you use a springform tin instead of Bundt tin? Would it still be the same quantities?
Thanks 🙂
Elsie, I don’t know exactly how that would work if you used a springform pan instead. I think it might be too short. The thing about a bundt pan is it’s about twice as tall as a springform pan. Do you have any kind of tube cake pan? Such as for angel food cake? That would definitely work. If you would like to try the springform pan, I think you should just make half the recipe to start and see how tall it gets. I’d hate for everything to overflow all over your oven! Thanks for your comment. 🙂
I’ve made this twice in a 9”springform. Great recipe
I am in my late sixties and this cake was a family favorite served with choc. sauce. It was always my birthday cake made in 2 heart shaped pans with lemon filling between the layers and covered with boiled icing.I am making this for my nieces 47th tomorrow as it is one of her favorites.( I am planning to wrap coins and insert them in the cake before I ice it just as my mother used to do)
Ahhh Liz, this story warms my heart. I love food memories! It’s so lovely that you shared your tradition with your niece over the years. I love that story about the coins. That is just so amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your story!
What do you wrap the coins in? I love the idea!
The cake turned out AMAZING! So fluffy, and moist. I loved it! I’ve gotta make it more often.
Thank you so much! I’m glad you liked it. I think it is so good too, it looks plain but is anything but!
I’m sixty two, thanks for making me remember this cake. This was a Sunday favorite, along with my mother’s lemon sauce
Hi Rose, thank you so much for your comment! You are not the first person to mention a lemon sauce or glaze with a Hot Milk Cake. I will definitely have to look into that and try it myself. Sounds delicious! I am so happy you stopped by.
Any idea how much butter in grams/cups to use?
Yes! Sorry Val, I will change the way the recipe is written. It’s 1/2 cup butter. Sorry about that!
this recipe turned out great!!!! loved it!
That is so cool that your grandfather worked on a dairy farm & would bring home milk in the glass jars! I remember when I was little, we would get milk delivered in glass jars early in the morning. It was one of my favorite things 🙂 The name of this cake sounds very familiar but I don’t think I’ve ever had. I love how simple, no-fuss it is, compared to typical cakes loaded with frosting and toppings. Definitely excited to give it a try!
Thanks Alyssa! Things like milk are just pure nostalgia for me. Pretty sure everyone from Wisconsin has a relative somewhere who worked in the dairy industry. 🙂 Not really… but sometimes it seems that way! Of course now I live in California which actually produces way more milk than Wisconsin due to the size of the state, but don’t tell my parents that!
Really beautiful cake Meggan. We are huge milk drinkers here and I love how simple this is.
Milk basically kept me alive for the first 16 years of my life. I was a picky eater, but I would always happily drink HUGE glasses of milk. I’ve never heard of a hot milk cake. I’m intrigued. Looking forward to trying it out!
Yum!!! Does it matter what kind of milk you use in the cake? I’m thinking my beloved fat free milk might not be a good idea…
Luci’s Morsels – fashion. food. frivolity.
THAT is an excellent question. I used 2%. I will make a version with skim and let you know. There is a lot of butter here so I actually think skim milk might be just fine. I will head back to the lab and let you know the results! 🙂