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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.
Ok, I solved that one: made the cake over the weekend and replaced the milk with coconut milk and half the sugar with coconut blossom sugar. I turned out beautiful, with a subtle nutty, coconut flavour. Really worth a try!
Hi Meggan, would it work if I used coconut milk? And replace one cup of sugar with coconut sugar?
Hi Lorraine, I am not sure. I do think it’s worth a try, but I’m not experienced with alternative baking methods so I have no idea! Wish I could help you more. :/
I made this for the first time and it was delicious! Thank you for this recipe.
Thank you so much Ruby! I’m delighted to hear you enjoyed it. Take care.
We made this cake every Sunday evening….it was our dessert and lunch box treat. I was out of town and was make this cake for a friend…always remembered 4 eggs, 2c sugar & flour, 1 milk and 1/4 lb of butter…but always forget how much baking powder, salt and vanilla. Like how it says to do the eggs and sugar. Will be trying this.
Thanks again for being able to find this recipe on line. This was the only yellow we ever made as children.
Thanks for such a lovely story, Nancy! This recipe more than any other one on my blog seems to bring back memories for people. It always warms my heart to be a part of that! I hope you enjoy it.
I just made the Hot Milk Cake. It was very good! It was a very simple but delicious cake. My husband said that it was the perfect dessert for him. .not overly sweet. .perfect with cup of coffee. I will make this again. Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you so much, Barb! I love that it is not too sweet, too. Glad you enjoyed it. 😀 Happy New Year!
can i use buttermilk instead of 2% milk? thanks.
Yes, you can. I’m going to give you some information I found in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (the newspaper from the area I grew up). It’s fine to substitute buttermilk as long as there is 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda for every cup of buttermilk in the recipe. Since my recipe has ONLY baking powder (2 teaspoons), you should change that to 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, and then 1 cup of buttermilk. And you should be good to go. Thank you so much for your question!
Good Day Megan thank you for the awesome receipe. I love the cake but each time I make it, the cake drops while baking. I’m not to sure why, I don’t change temperatures nor open the door. Please can you advise me accordingly. Thank you
Hi Charline, I apologize for the delay in replying to your comment. This week sort of just got away from me! I am sorry to hear your cake is dropping. Here are some ideas I have about why that is happening. But these are just guesses, I really don’t know for sure but I hope this information helps. 1). Old baking powder. Try mixing your baking powder with some hot water and see if it bubbles. If not, it’s old. 2). Oven temperature. Do you have a way to check that your oven is running at the right temperature? I don’t mean to suggest your oven is wrong but sometimes that is why cakes don’t bake properly. Here are some other ideas: Try not to overbeat the batter, just mix it until everything is combined and leave it at that. Be sure to bake your cake right away (again, you probably aren’t leaving the batter sitting out on your counter but sometimes that causes cakes to fall). You could also make sure your oven rack is in the center of your oven and make sure your oven is preheated. Also, what kind of cake pan did you use? This can have a big impact on whether the cake drops or not. I hope some of these ideas are helpful, I’m so sorry again your cake is dropping.
Mine dropped too. It rose beautifully and I resisted the urge to turn the pan half way through–I left it alone and left the door closed. When the timer beeped, I was sad to see that it was sunken in the middle. I’m thinking it has something to do with the buttermilk sub. I decreased the powder and added some soda (both fresh). The exact same thing happened with some cupcakes I made a couple months ago. Again with the baking powder and buttermilk. I think decreasing the powder to 1 tsp and increasing the soda to 1 tsp would work. The cupcake recipe that I had fail on me a little while ago seem to have a large amount of baking powder. From what I understand, it doesn’t react well with buttermilk.
Hi Emily, thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. I think I will probably just remove the information about subbing buttermilk. I haven’t taken my baking classes in culinary school yet so I really can’t say either way, I just know that hearing that cakes fall makes me sad! So thank you for that information and sorry again.
I just looked up baking powder and buttermilk and found a site called drgourmet.com (lol) that said if you sub buttermilk for regular milk, you need to decrease the powder called for by 2 tsp. and add 1/2 tsp. of soda per cup of buttermilk. I’m a HUGE fan of baking with buttermilk, so I’m going to re-make this cake tomorrow using only baking soda. I’ll let you know how it turns out. 🙂 I just unmolded it from my pan and it’s springy and soft, so I have no doubt it’ll be delicious…just a tad bit flat, haha!
My neighbor asked me earlier if I’d ever heard of milk cake, and I hadn’t. I searched for it and your site was the first one that popped up. While the cake was baking, I poked around and I LOVE your recipes. You have a new fan! 🙂
Great cake especially with chocolate covered fried salamanders and worms. Sorry, just kidding. I remember this cake in surrounded by a mildly sweet sauce not sure if it was carmel or butter scotts or maple syrup. Have you come across this? What recipe?
Ha ha ha!!! You were just trying to see if I was paying attention, right? 😉 I haven’t come across a sauce as you have described (or any sauce) but I’ll do some digging and let you know if I come up with anything. I’ll start by asking my grandma.
My husband is in his late 70’s and his mother made this cake for his birthday. He said he always wanted it with no icing.
Honestly, it really doesn’t need any icing! I love that this was his choice for a birthday cake. Thank you so much for telling me.
I made this yesterday and we loved it! As someone who enjoys simple flavors, this recipe was certainly a winner and I will be making it a LOT in the future!
Ahhhh, so wonderful to hear Sarah! Thank you for making my heart sing. 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed it. Have a lovely week!