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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, and use scalded chocolate milk to the batter 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
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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.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
Hi Megan I loved your hot milk cake recipe. I can’t remember what type of butter to use. salted or unsalted. please help. thank you
Hi Barbara, I’m so happy you love it! I tend to bake with salted butter since it is what I usually have on hand, and I have never run into a problem doing that. However, every once in a while I will call out unsalted butter specifically if I think it actually matters. I just think in general a lot of people donโt buy/wonโt buy unsalted butter. But of course in culinary school we are taught to ONLY bake with unsalted butter soโฆ tough call. In my experience the cake tastes good either way. Take care! – Meggan
First time in my life (and I am 67) that I ever had a cake fall. That batter was very wet.
Hi PJ, I’m so sorry your cake fell! That’s not good. Here are a couple reasons why it could have fallen: 1). Old baking powder. Try mixing your baking powder with some hot water and see if it bubbles. If not, itโs old. 2). Oven temperature. Do you have a way to check that your oven is running at the right temperature? I donโt mean to suggest your oven is wrong but sometimes that is why cakes donโt 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 arenโt 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, Iโm so sorry again your cake fell, PJ. – Meggan
Can I make this in two 9″ round pans for a birthday cake?
Hi Kika, yes! Another reader shared they baked it for about 30 minutes to make a layer cake. Hope you love them! – Meggan
Far too much sugar. 1 cup of sugar will work just as well.
Hi Shirl, sorry you found it too sweet. Thanks for your feedback. Take care! – Meggan
Wonderful recipe! I made it with tea steeped in the milk during the scalding and strained the mixture before adding it to the eggs and sugar. It tastes like milk tea from a boba shop and is so delightful with even more tea. <3
That sounds lovely, Annie! ๐ Yum! – Meggan
Unbelievable. My father was the baker in our family and his specialty was hot milk cake. I still have his recioe and it almost matches yours except he used a tsp of vanilla that he added at the end and 1-1/2 sticks melted butter. He made a chocolate cream cheese icing.
1 large cream cheese softened
1-1/2 boxes 10x (powdered) sugar
6 squares vakers unsweetened choc (melt over double boiler)
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
Beat cream in bowl with 2 tbl. Milk
Gradually add 10x sugar
Beat in melted chicolate. Add vanilla.
Frost and enjoy!
He also made same cake with a lemon/apple jelly filling with lemon cream cheese icing.
Thanks for sharing, Kathy! I’ll have to give it a try with the icing. Thanks again! – Meggan
I just made this cake because I had milk that was going bad (it was actually a day old but smelled and tasted perfectly fine) and I didn’t want to waste it. This recipe came in clutch! I doubled everything so I could use up more milk and I’m so glad I did! Not only did I practically finish up my milk (by a couple ounces), but I have more yummy cake to devour.
The instructions were easy to follow!
I only had 4 eggs and since I had already decided to double the recipe, I used a cup of Greek yogurt as replacement for the other 4 eggs I needed, because I read online to use 1/4 cup of Greek yogurt to each substituted egg. Worked out great for me!
Hi Kait’Lin! Thank you so much for writing, that was an adventure in baking! I’m glad you loved the cake. Take care and thanks again! – Meggan
turned out so fluffy! ive never had success with spongy cakes but this one was the first one to work. making this every week now! its also so good for using my leftover milk. thank you!
You’re so welcome, Luna! I’m so happy you love it! – Meggan
Can I add ripen banana to this
Hi Lori’s, I haven’t tried it myself with this cake, so I’m not sure. If I were to add it, I might reduce the milk some to help with the batter consistency. I’m not sure by how much. Sorry about that. – Meggan
This cake is anything but foolproof.
I am an experienced baker and I can not get this to turn out perfectly. I really wish I knew what I am doing wrong because I am following the recipe exactly.
This recipe has a lot of sugar. You might want to reduce its amount to get your desired result. Also, add the milk and butter last. Use a fan assisted oven.