From Michael Jackson to Hot Milk Cake
The other day we got to hear radio in the car and we heard about the Hot Milk Cake. Why is that so special, you ask?
Imagine listening to Micheal Jackson and nothing but Micheal Jackson songs in the car for over a year and half. I have nothing against MJ, but after a year and half, it definitely gets on your nerves. Sonshine is a big fan of MJ and just would not let us listen to any songs other than MJ when he is with us. There were times when we used to drop him to one of his activities and instead of staying back to watch him (like normal parents did), we would sit inside the car and listen to our kinda songs. But these occasions were very rare - almost nil.
After a few months of MJ and MJ only, even the background music for my dreams nightmares was the Thriller (viewer's discretion advised) song.
I was surprised when I heard my husband started humming Black Or White (viewer's discretion advised) in the shower. You see, he is a semi -classical/classical carnatic music kinda guy. For a guy like him who sung songs like Sangeethame..., this was a gargantuan change.
So, the other day, we begged Sonshine to let us change the songs and to listen to something other than MJ. And he took pity on us and agreed. My husband and I rushed to grab the car audio system's control knob before Sonshine could change his mind. Between us, we managed to change it to the channel NPR while Sonshine was wondering why his parents are behaving as if they had never seen a radio before.
That's where we heard about this wonderfully moist Hot Milk Cake. The RJ and these guys who were being interviewed were raving about this super spongy milk cake and about the light butter cream frosting. OMG!!! We were all drooling by the end of the interview.
The baker in me woke up. I had not baked anything since Sugar Kissed Cardamom Cake and the urge to bake was so strong that as soon as we came home, I started my research on this Hot Milk Cake. I found a few recipes and they all used like more than ½ cup butter. I am trying to bake with as little fat as possible these days and this recipe from Martha Stewart looked promising.
And bake, I did. And the cake was definitely a moist sponge cake. I loved it as a plain tea cake.
My husband and Sonshine wanted a little bit of frosting on it - they love celebration style cakes.
I followed the original recipe except for the the baking pan used. I divided the batter into two 4X9 loaf pans. My research on the cake told me that beating the egg to correct consistency is the key to a good Hot Milk Cake. To quote the Martha Stewart website - "Beat until very thick and the batter falls from the whisk in a thick ribbon". This is a wonderful tip to keep in mind.
Each of us enjoyed the cake - in our plain and frosted styles. I have frozen (I have used parchment paper to wrap my cake loaf and then wrapped it with cling film) the other loaf - I have big plans for my lovely left over Hot Milk Cake.
Hot Milk Cake
Hot Milk cake is a sponge cake and is supposed to be of Mid-Atlantic states origin. The cake gets it's name because the recipe uses hot milk as one of the ingredients. It can be served with your favorite frosting or as a plain tea cake.
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups All Purpose Flour or Maida
- 1.5 cups Sugar
- 3 Eggs large
- 1 tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 1.5 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
- ¾ cup Milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degree Fahrenheit (165 degree Celsius).
- Using a pastry brush, coat the loaf pans with butter.
- Cut a parchment paper exactly to the size of the base of the pan and line the base of the pan.
- Whisk together all purpose flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl.
- Break 3 eggs into a large mixing bowl.
- Add sugar gradually to the eggs, beating it at the same time.
- Beat the eggs and sugar till the mixture is thick and very pale in color. Check the consistency of the egg batter. (See Recipe Notes).
- Add milk and butter in a pan and heat over medium heat on the stove top, just until the butter melts.Add the vanilla essence to the milk- butter mixture.
- Gradually pour the milk-butter-vanilla essence mixture to the egg, beating continuously.
- Fold in the flour using a wooden spatula.
- Divide the batter into the two loaf pans and bake at 325 degree Fahrenheit (165 degree Celsius) for 50 minutes (or till the skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.)
- Remove from the oven and loosen the edges of the cake using a knife or a sharp spatula. Remove the cakes from the pan and set them on a wire rack to cool down to room temperature.
Serving Suggestions
- You can serve it as plain tea cake with fruits.
- If you like, you can frost the cake slice with a little whipped cream frosting or butter cream frosting.
Notes
A wonderful tip from Martha Stewart website regarding the egg and sugar batter consistency: "Beat until very thick and the batter falls from the whisk in a thick ribbon".
Hot Milk Cake
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups All Purpose Flour or Maida
- 1.5 cups Sugar
- 3 Eggs large
- 1 tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 1.5 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
- ¾ cup Milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degree Fahrenheit (165 degree Celsius).
- Using a pastry brush, coat the loaf pans with butter.
- Cut a parchment paper exactly to the size of the base of the pan and line the base of the pan.
- Whisk together all purpose flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl.
- Break 3 eggs into a large mixing bowl.
- Add sugar gradually to the eggs, beating it at the same time.
- Beat the eggs and sugar till the mixture is thick and very pale in color. Check the consistency of the egg batter. (See Recipe Notes).
- Add milk and butter in a pan and heat over medium heat on the stove top, just until the butter melts.Add the vanilla essence to the milk- butter mixture.
- Gradually pour the milk-butter-vanilla essence mixture to the egg, beating continuously.
- Fold in the flour using a wooden spatula.
- Divide the batter into the two loaf pans and bake at 325 degree Fahrenheit (165 degree Celsius) for 50 minutes (or till the skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.)
- Remove from the oven and loosen the edges of the cake using a knife or a sharp spatula. Remove the cakes from the pan and set them on a wire rack to cool down to room temperature.
Serving Suggestions
- You can serve it as plain tea cake with fruits.
- If you like, you can frost the cake slice with a little whipped cream frosting or butter cream frosting.
kalyani kamath says
Banana freetets r fabulous.
Sandhya says
Fabulous!! - this is the one!!
one doubt though- when you add hot milk to egg, won't the egg get cooked?
Framed Recipes says
The milk is not "hot", it's kinda of warm - you heat it only till the butter melts. SO, the eggs wont get cooked.
Deepti Anand says
Good one! Will definitely try this sometime...
Framed Recipes says
And to satisfy your chocolate cake loving family, you can give it chocolate butter cream frosting.