Cooking Lesson #145 Rita’s Hot Milk Cake

Rita's Hot Milk Cake

How you doin’? Over the weekend Joan made a Hot Milk Cake and brought it into the office. This is a wonderful, old-fashioned, mid-western dairy state cake using ingredients easily found in the average kitchen.
 
Joan’s mother used to make this Hot Milk Cake for her when she was growing up in Brown Deer, Wisconsin. Joan thought the family recipe was lost forever, but it was recently recreated in the Perspectives’ California Kitchens. I came into the kitchen one afternoon and there stood Joan—with flour on her nose (and everywhere else)—holding up the cake of her youth. I thought the cake was extra-yummy, too.

It is just a little heavier than a yellow chiffon cake, but still has the egg and vanilla flavor. It’s easier to make than a chiffon and much less temperamental. It was a lot of cake for very few ingredients and very little time to make it. Look to the end of this post far a bonus Chocolate Hot Milk Cake.
 
Prep time:  15 minutes
Bake time:  30 to 35 minutes
Yield:  12 to 16 servings
 
Ingredients
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for the pan)
2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
4 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1-1/4 cups 2% milk
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
 
Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350°F.
2. Grease and flour two 8 or 9-inch cake pans or a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder; set aside.
4. In a mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat the eggs at high speed until thick and lemony colored for 5 minutes (Set a timer! This step is very important, do not under-beat the eggs or the cake will fail to rise).
5. Gradually beat in sugar and vanilla until mixture is light and fluffy.
6. Gradually fold in flour mixture just until combined.
7. In a small saucepan, heat milk and butter until hot, but not boiling, stirring occasionally.
8. Add hot milk mixture to cake batter, stirring until combined.
9. Pour cake batter into prepared baking pan.
10. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes for rounds and 30 to 35 minutes for the 9x13-inch or until cake tests done when a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.
11. Cool on wire rack. Frost as desired.

ChefSecret: The success of the cake depends on beating the eggs until they are thick and lemon-colored. Under-beating will result in the cake failing to rise.
 
                                        Joan’s Chocolate Hot Milk Cake
 
Leave it to Joan and chocolate. This is a play on the old-fashioned mid-western farm cake that has gone to the “dark side.” Joan and the R&D team took her mom’s recently recreated Hot Milk Cake recipe and added a chocolate touch. As with the original recipe the success of the cake depends on beating the eggs until they are thick and lemon-colored. Under-beating will result in the cake failing to rise.
 
You can frost this cake with a chocolate ganache buttercream frosting or simply sift a little confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder on the top. 
 
Prep time:  15 minutes
Bake time:  30 to 35 minutes
Yield:  12 to 16 servings.
 
Ingredients
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus extra for the pan, (I prefer Guittard Rouge)
2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
2-1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1-1/4 cups 2% milk
10 tablespoons butter
3 ounces chocolate (64%), coarsely chopped
 
Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350°F.
2. Grease and dredge with cocoa powder two 8 or 9-inch cake pans or a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; set aside.
4. In a mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat the eggs at high speed until thick and lemony colored for 5 minutes (Set a timer! This step is very important, do not under-beat the eggs or the cake will fail to rise).
5. Gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla until mixture is light and fluffy.
6. Gradually fold in the flour mixture just until combined.
7. In a small saucepan, heat the milk, butter and chocolate until hot, but not boiling, stirring occasionally. Add hot milk mixture to cake batter, stirring until combined.
8. Pour the cake batter into prepared baking pan.
9. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.
10. Cool the cake on a wire rack.
11. Frost as desired.

ChefSecret: When you dredge your baking pans with cocoa powder there won’t be any white flour streaks on your beautiful baked chocolate cakes. The cocoa powder should be unsweetened and lightly alkalized.

Covid-19 Quip of the Day: “This whole pandemic thing has been like a Las Vegas vacation in my house… we’re losing money by the minute, cocktails are acceptable any hour of the day and no one knows what time it is (or even cares).”
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