Hot Milk Cake
A Soft, Simple Vintage Favourite
If you’d like to try a vintage bake, Hot Milk Cake is a wonderful place to start. Sometimes affectionately called Boiled Milk Cake by home bakers, this soft and simple treat was once a staple in many households.
It’s easy to make, gentle on the palate, and uses everyday pantry staples—perfect for a weeknight treat or a nostalgic weekend project.
This tender, buttery cake gets its unique texture from scalded milk — a once-common technique in vintage baking. The result is a moist crumb and gentle vanilla flavour that feels both comforting and familiar. Perfect with tea or just a dusting of icing sugar.
Curious about the origins of vintage cakes like this? Don’t miss our feature article on what makes a cake ‘vintage’ and the forgotten bakes worth reviving.
🕰️ Did You Know?
Hot Milk Cake is considered a vintage bake, but it’s not as old as some may think. It became popular in the early 20th century — long after baking powder had found its way into most home kitchens.
Before chemical leaveners, cakes relied on whipped egg whites, sour milk, or even yeast for lift. But by the 1920s and 30s, recipes like Hot Milk Cake embraced baking powder to create a soft, tender crumb with much less effort — a true marker of the modernising kitchen.
A small amount of butter was often used in vintage cakes like this — just enough to add richness without waste. Scalding it with the milk helped stretch its flavour and soften the crumb, making this a clever and comforting bake in its time.
Ingredients
- 140g plain flour
- 1¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 150g caster sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 120ml whole milk
- 55g unsalted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 175°C (fan 160°C). Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until pale and thick — about 3–4 minutes using an electric mixer.
- Stir in the vanilla extract.
- In a small saucepan, heat the milk and butter together over medium heat just until the butter melts and the milk begins to steam (do not boil). Remove from heat.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture.
- Immediately pour in the hot milk-butter mixture and mix until smooth and combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top.
- Bake for 30–35 minutes, or until the top is golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve plain, dusted with icing sugar, or topped with whipped cream and seasonal fruit.
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