Hot milk cake

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This is a recipe for a hot milk cake, a sponge cake that makes a great base for layer cakes and trifle. This is an easy sponge cake recipe that you can make to use to make Victoria sponge cake, fraisier and framboisier cakes, and berry trifles.

Hot milk sponge cake freshly baked cooling in cake pan.

What is a hot milk cake?

The hot milk cake is a wonderfully light and fluffy sponge cake: when you press on it lightly with your finger, you can hear the sound of the air releasing from inside the tiny bubbles of the cake, like pressing a sponge.

It gets its name from the ingredients used to make this particular type of sponge cake: it's made with milk that was warmed to hot enough to melt the butter.

I'd say this sponge cake is comparable to a genoise in that sense, but much, much easier to throw together: none of the careful folding in of the flour into airy eggs and sugar. This cake is also moire airy and tender than a génoise because of the milk in the cake batter.

In my family, we actually don't call it a hot milk sponge cake and it's called a "Zilla's cake" on my grandmother's recipe card. We don't know who Zilla is though.

Ingredients to make an easy sponge cake called the hot milk sponge cake, measured out, including flour, eggs, sugar, baking powder, salt, and milk with butter in a saucepan.
Ingredients to make hot milk sponge cake.

Ingredients to make it

This cake is a classic British recipe made from simple ingredients that most bakers and households have on hand at all times.

As suggested by the name of it, this cake is made with hot milk (or warm milk) and also melted butter, two ingredients that aren't usually included in most sponge cake recipes. The milk and the butter make for a tender cake that is even lighter. Some recipes also include oil, which will give a more moist texture and mouthfeel than butter does.

This recipe also includes a chemical leavener, baking powder, which gives this sponge cake a more open crumb and a light texture.

Sponge cake batter in cake pan ready to be baked.

How it's made

I think this is the easiest sponge cake you can make. Like most sponge cakes, the mixing method for sponge cakes involves whipping the eggs with the sugar for several minutes to incorporate air and create volume. The mixture will be quite thick and when you lift the whisk, the batter falls off like a ribbon and is quite stable.

The baking powder also helps create more volume as the cake bakes, which means you don't have to be so worried about folding in the dry ingredients into the whipped eggs to maintain that air and volume: the baking powder will compensate for any loss of air during the mixing so you always get a light cake, even if you under-whipped the eggs or mix the batter a little too roughly.

Freshly baked hot milk sponge cake cooling in cake pan.

What to bake it in

My mom always bakes the hot milk sponge cake in a tube pan, which is similar to an angel food cake pan, except the bottom of a tube pan isn't removable. The cake bakes pretty flat in the tube pan and she usually slices it to make trifle with it in the summer.

I usually bake it in a round cake pan, in an 8 inch cake pan for a thicker cake, or a 9 inch pan for slightly thinner layers. If you want to bake this recipe in an 8-inch cake pan, make sure it has a 2 inch height. Otherwise in 1.5 inch tall pan, the batter may overflow.

If you don't have an 8-inch cake pan with 2 inch sides, feel free to bake it in an 8-inch springform pan.

I've also baked this recipe in a square 9x9 cake pan (a brownie pan) and even a loaf cake pan. Both of these pans also work for this recipe. It all depends what you want to make with the baked cake.

Sponge cake cooling on a wire rack.

What to make with sponge cake

This tiny bubbles and spongy texture of this cake makes it ideal for soaking flavourful syrups, or liqueurs like sweet sherry. Use it to make:

  • Trifle, like this berry trifle in summer or an eggnog trifle in winter, layered with pastry cream and whipped cream.
  • Framboisier or fraisier cakes filled with mousseline cream from pastry cream and fresh berries like raspberries or strawberries.
  • Victoria sponge cake layered with whipped cream and berries.
  • Lamingtons, like these raspberry lamingtons, are squares of sponge cake dipped in jam, melted chocolate, or salted caramel, and coated in shredded coconut.
Sponge cake split into two equal layers.

This hot milk cake recipe is my mom's favourite cake and it's a recipe we all go back to year after year, passed down from her mom. And now, I'm passing it on to you so that you can enjoy it too! You can use this recipe to make the framboisier cake.

Hot milk sponge cake cooling on a copper wire rack.
Print

Hot milk cake

This hot milk cake recipe is the easiest homemade sponge cake you can make!
Course Dessert
Cuisine British
Keyword hot milk cake, hot milk sponge cake
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 12
Calories 130kcal
Author Janice

Equipment

  • OXO whisk
  • Artisan mixer
  • 8-in springform

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 ºF. Butter and flour an 8-inch cake pan or an 8-inch springform. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
  • Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
  • In a small saucepan (or in a microwave safe bowl), heat the milk with the butter until the butter is melted on low heat. Add the vanilla and let cool slightly.
  • In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the eggs with the sugar until very light and fluffy. The mixture should at least double in volume, if not more.
  • Add dry ingredients alternately with wet ones.
  • Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown. A cake tester inserted into the middle should come out clean. The cake will be spongy and light and spring back when gently pressed.
  • Let cool slightly before unmoulding onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

- If you have the patience, you can beat the eggs and sugar to the ribbon stage. If you don’t have the time, just make sure that they are frothy. I’m not sure that beating them to the ribbon stage is necessary, but this time I did go the extra mile and was pleased with the extra sponginess that it gave the final cake.
- When adding the wet and the dry alternately, remember to start and end with the dry. Thus: dry, wet, dry, wet, dry. This is one of the golden rules of baking, although I’m not quite sure why.
- We always butter (or spray with cooking spray) the inside of the pan and coat it with sugar (not flour) because sugar is delicious, whereas a layer of flour on the outside of a cake can taste gross. This means that you have to be very careful and get the baked cake out of the pan when it is just cool enough to release from the pan, but not so cool that the sugar has recrystallized, thereby irreversibly gluing the cake to the inside of the pan. Let it cool a maximum of 10 minutes before removing the cake from the pan.
- The 35-minute baking time is pretty exact. Normally, my mom and her mom would bake this in a tube pan (like an angel food cake pan). It always takes exactly 35 minutes for the cake to bake. No joke. This time, I chose to deviate from the tradition, and I baked it in a loaf pan. And, once again, it came out perfectly! The only difference was that it baked for 47 minutes. Now, I’ve only baked it once in the loaf pan, so I cannot say for sure that it will take you 47 minutes. So start checking it after 45 minutes, or when you notice the edges coming away from the sides.

Nutrition

Calories: 130kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 56mg | Potassium: 77mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 88IU | Calcium: 35mg | Iron: 1mg

Instead of making a trifle, I opted to top slices of Zilla's cake with whipped cream sweetened with just a touch of sugar (and please, no whipped topping! It's REALLY not the same as fresh whipped cream), and a fresh raspberry sauce made with crushed fresh raspberries, sugar, and Chambord (raspberry liqueur). The end result was divine, for dessert (and breakfast the next morning). Zilla, I love you, whoever (or whatever) you are! Your cake rocks!

Cake with cream and berries

The post Hot milk cake appeared first on The Bake School.


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