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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.
This was a delicious cake for our Easter dinner this year. The recipe was very clear and easy to follow. I baked it in three 8-inch circular baking pans for about 15 minutes.
I made lemon curd, which I put between two of the layers. The top layer was dusted with power sugar with sliced strawberries on top. Yummy, yummy 😋
Hi Gail, so glad you loved it! Take care! – Meggan
Can you make this in two round cake pans and if so what temp and how long
Hi Teresa, yes. I would still bake them at 325 degrees and check for doneness at 30 minutes. I hope you love it! – Meggan
Looks delicious, thanks for sharing, i will try this recipe.
You’re welcome, Editha! I hope you love it! – Meggan
Step 2 says heat over low- then reduce to low
Did I miss something?
If it’s on low the whole time how do you reduce temp to low?
Should the melt temp instructions be a higher temp?
Hi Pam, thank you so much for your comment! It should be written as reduce to very low, just to keep the mixture warm but not scald the milk. Thank you for taking the time to ask. I’ve updated it in the recipe. Take care and I hope you love this cake! – Meggan
Hello, I’ve been wanting to make hot milk cake but was a bit shocked about the huge amount of sugar, 400g is almost double the amount of flour. Is it possible to reduce the sugar without damaging the structural integrity of this type of cake?
Hi Elizia, yes! Other readers have reduced the sugar down to 1 cup (201 g) and wrote that it came out well and less sweet. Hope this helps! – Meggan
This recipe is perfect. Everyone had second slices. I follow your advice an used homemade cake flour. The texture and flavor were absolutely perfect.
Hi Kim, thank you so much for your comment! I’m glad everyone loved it! – Meggan
This is a great recipe, reminiscent of pound cake =]. My husband and mother love it! The only thing that happened for me when making this cake was that it fell toward the end of the bake time. I used 1% milk because it was all I had. It fell, but it was still moist and soft and tasted delicious! Love it.
Hi KR, I’m sorry it fell! Glad it still was delicious, though! – Meggan
I’m very disappointed with this recipe I followed it to the letter and even after 1 hour and 25 minutes at 325 f it was still not done. I know my stove is working properly I bake very often……could there be a mistake in the baking temp or amount of time? I cannot understand why this happened could some of the volume measures be incorrect?
Hi Harry, I’m so sorry your cake took so long to bake. Is it possible that you didn’t have the baking rack in the correct position? There should have been room for the hot air to circulate around the cake. Also, did you use an oven thermometer to make sure the oven was at the correct temperature? So sorry again! – Meggan
You used the same amount of cake flour than AP?
Hi Carina, I have never personally made it that way, but other readers have. I would keep all measurements the same, and plan to keep the bake time the same, but do make sure to check it 5-10 minutes before the full hour. Take care! – Meggan
Can I make this cake in a 9/13 cake pan? Can you tell me the temperature to bake it at and how long to bake the cake?
Thank you
Ellen, In case you haven’t found an answer yet, I had the same question and found an answer on the King Arthur baking website. For a 9×13 pan, it says to bake it @325 for 40 to 45 minutes.