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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.
No, it will not fit an 8 inch round cake pan, unless you split batter in two, not one, pans.
Expect time it takes to bake to be less than the 60 minutes required for this recipe. I would try checking cake for doneness at the 30 minute mark.
Hi. I’m hoping to make this cake for the first time in a couple of days for my sons birthday? But I only have the standard 8 inch sandwich cake tins. Will the cake bake ok in those? Do I need to reduce the amount I place into the tins? And baking time? Thanks. Saima
I just had my first crumbles of this (clearly didn’t grease and flour adequately, so I ate the pieces stuck in my bundt pan ;)). I could imagine so many sauce, glaze combos, with this awesome cake. I’ll be making it again soon. thanks for sharing.
I accidentally stumbled upon this recipe when I was researching cat head biscuits. With nothing better to do on a sub-zero, blizzardy day, I whipped up this super easy cake and it did not disappoint. I did a very (very) light dusting of powdered sugar, more for garnish than anything, but otherwise served plain. The cake is amazing – luscious flavor, moist and is definitely one I’ll make again and again. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
It was delicious! I found this recipe recently and wanted to try it for our Christmas lunch, The family loved it. We just left it plain this time, though I may want to add a topping next time. Or I may just leave it as it is (plain). It’s a recipe to keep and share!
Thank you for the recipe! It’s one we definitely plan on making again.
So good, just like my grandmother used to make. Except she made it in a 8×13 cake pan. It took approximately 40 minutes to bake in the cake pan. My grandmother topped hers with a simple cinnamon/sugar mix. Made this for my husband’s birthday, he thought it was amazing!
Hi Amber, this is fantastic! I love the idea of a cinnamon/sugar mix, that’s perfect! I appreciate your kind words and I love that you grandma used ot make it. <3 So lovely! Take care.
Can I make it in a 6cup bundt cake pan?
Just not use all of the batter, and follow the same cooking time and directions?
Hi Carol! You can definitely try it. I haven’t done it, so I can’t say for sure if the baking time would need to be reduced. I’d keep it at the same temperature, but just check it sooner. It might be done faster. But yes, give it a shot! Thanks. 😀
I hadn’t heard of this cake before, which is surprising since both my grandmothers lived through The Great Depression and one of them helped her dad with their little dairy farm in west Texas. Both precious grandmothers passed away recently and I needed a bit of nostalgia tonight, so I made this cake. It turned out very good. I had to sub with coconut milk and used half coconut sugar, half regular sugar. My cake has a caramel hint to it. I also made a mistake and reversed the order of adding the hot milk and flour!! But that didn’t seem to affect the results. Thank you for the recipe!
Hi, any chance you could please give me the ingredients in metric form??? I’m from the UK and we don’t work in cups…
Thank you
Hello Danai! Yes! Thanks for reminding me to add that. If you go back to the recipe and look immediately above the word “instructions” you will see that it now says “US Customary” and “metric.” If you hit “metric” it will show you the ingredients in metric. I hope this helps you and works for you! Please let me know. Thank you!
Hi Danai! Sorry it took me so long to respond – I had to add the recipe list for printing. It’s added now! So what you should do is go to the recipe card near the bottom of the post (but before the comments) and you’ll find a “print” button. And then you can print the list of the breakfast ideas. I hope this works for you! If not please let me know. Thanks!
Hi Meghan,
I’m a beginner baker, and have tried many recipes. But most of them didn’t come out right. Your recipe was easy to follow and the cake came out perfect.
I must say your recipe is my favorite. I’ve made it 3 times in the past week. Once for work,one for my church and today at work I got another request for it again.
The cake came out wonderful, fluffy and delicious. I made a batch a fresh strawberry topping with whipped cream. My husband who doesn’t eat cake, LOVES this cake and asked me to make it every Sunday.
Thank you for a simple and lovely dessert.
Hi Dawn! Thank you SO MUCH for this lovely, thoughtful comment! The strawberry topping sounds delicious and I should definitely add a post of that to my blog so I can share it with others. I am so grateful for your kindness and support. The world needs more people like you! And more cakes. 🙂 Thanks again!