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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 cake was delicious! And easy. Im not a baker, wanted to use up some milk. It came out perfect. I served it after dinner to guests. They loved it, even my mother loved it, and she isn’t a huge cake fan. I’ll use this recipe again for sure.
Hi Robert, I’m glad you and your guests loved it. Take care, Meggan
My grandmother made this cake in a 9”X13” pan and put a fluffy soft icing on it and then covered it with coconut. I make it too, but leave off the coconut.
Just took this out of the oven. It smells delicious. I added coconut flakes. Can’t wait to try it right now thank you for the recipe.
Decided to make this to utilize some milk that I had in the fridge before it went bad, and it was delicious! I creamed the egg and sugar mixture for 10 minutes as mentioned in the post, and for a little fun I added some spices (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and the likes). The major difference that I had was the cook time was only 30 minutes for me; had I left it any longer, it would’ve burned, so I am happy that I kept an eye on it. Thanks for a great recipe!
I have wanted to make this cake for awhile now, I can’t wait to try it
Made this with the following additions: ¼ cup cocoa powder sifted with the flour, zest of two blood oranges added to the sugar, juice of 1 blood orange added to the milk/butter. It came out perfect.
I have a question re: this recipe which states
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 12 servings
This doesn’t make sense. It shows bake for the same time it takes to prep and bake?
Does this cake bake for 60 min and 30 min for prep.?
I am making this cake right now and will check it in 60 min. to decide if I bake it for another 30 min.
Thanks for your reply
Hi Barbara, sorry for the confusion here. On my site, “cook time” is defined as the entire amount of time it takes to execute the instructions of a recipe. The “prep time” is how long it takes to prepare the ingredients before you start to execute the recipe (such as chopping vegetables or frying bacon if the recipe called for “bacon, fried and crumbled.” So here the 1 hour and 30 minutes is all the time it takes to heat the milk, mix the ingredients, bake the cake, whatever. It might not fit your personal definition but that is how I do it to keep things consistent across all recipes of all types. You should check your cake around 55 minutes, it should be finished baking around an hour. I hope this helps! Sorry again! Thanks – Meggan
Hello. Been looking for a recipe for small cakes I want to make as gifts. I plan on using little rectangular disposable foil pans with clear lids. The dimensions of the pans are:
Outer Dimensions:
► Upper part: 5 3/4″ x 4 3/4″
Inner Dimensions:
► Upper part: 5” x 4”
► Height – 1 3/4″
How long should I bake them for? Thank you.
Love this rescipe. The directions were terrific. I have made this before ; but it never rose so much. It looks beautiful. Everyone read and reread directions. You will be pleasantly surprised.
I love love love this cake. Anywhere I take it, people ask me for the recipe!