I started my blog in 2008 because I wanted to preserve the recipes that have been handed down to me from my mother and grandmothers. For the past two years I have been working on a cookbook that contains many of these recipes…100 to be exact…and I finally finished it, or at least the first volume, and gave copies to my children and grandchildren for Christmas. They were very happy with it and I loved hearing them as they thumbed through the recipes. I heard lots of “I remember this” and “This is my favorite” and “Grandma used to make this!”
I went over my list of recipes hundreds of times and still managed to leave out some family favorites. One of the reasons I chose the format I did is that I can have additional pages printed that can be added to the ring binder book. My photographs are included with every recipe and I could add comments about whose recipe it is, whose favorite it is, when it was served, etc. I knew if I didn’t write all this stuff down most of it would be lost so I’m breathing a big sigh of relief today that I have preserved this very important part of my family history.
I bet there weren’t many homemakers in the 1950’s and’60’s who didn’t have a recipe for HOT MILK SPONGE CAKE in their file. This is a light as a feather simple cake to make and has a lovely texture and taste. It’s sturdy enough to stand up to frosting and can be cut into shapes for special occasions. My mom made a coconut cake with it by cutting it in half, filling the layers with boiled icing and topping with shredded coconut. It makes delicious light cupcakes too. This cake is no more work than mixing up a cake mix and is so much better. I hope you will try it the way I like it…with fresh fruit and a little whipped cream.
Local Oregon Raspberries
We haven’t really gotten into winter yet and I’m already dreaming about the local berries that will appear in our farmers’ market in a few months…six months to be exact. Those that I purchased last week at the local grocery store…probably from Mexico…were pretty good. With a bite of cake and a little sweetened whipped cream they were more than passable.
- 1 cup sifted all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup HOT milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add butter to milk; keep hot. Beat eggs until thick and lemon colored, about 3 minutes at high speed on mixer. Gradually add sugar, beating constantly at a medium speed 4 to 5 minutes.
- Quickly add sifted dry ingredients to egg mixture; stir just until blended. Stir in hot milk mixture and vanilla; blend well. Pour into a paper-lined 9-inch round or 8-inch square pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes; remove to rack to finish cooling
What a wonderful project you’ve been working on Cathy! I did something like that when my daughter got married and she said it was her favorite present. I love how there’s so often stories that go along with favorite family recipes. I’ve never had hot milk cake but it looks and sounds amazing. So often the simplest recipes are by far, the best!
I have done the same thing—collecting recipes and giving them to my mom and sis for Christmas—the past three years. Great recipe here. I have never made this kind of cake.
Debra recently posted..Granola Bars
I’ve never HEARD of hot milk sponge cake, Cathy! It sure looks yummy but then ANYTHING with whipped cream & fresh raspberries is yummy in my book!
Speaking of books, what company did you us to have all your recipes printed? Surely, you didn’t print them off yourself!
Thanks for the recipe. I’m putting into MY family album someday.
rettabug recently posted..Happy New Year’s Eve, 2013!!!
I want to try this. I love the small version of cakes . I want to try your Mom’s version. I think I am just looking for an excuse to put coconut on something. 🙂
I have been dying for this information. Please let us know more about your book. I would love to be able to give my kids some of the old favorites. My son asked for a recipe that I made years ago. I had forgotten I had made it and had to really search for the recipe. Who knew he would remember it?
Madonna/aka/Ms. Lemon recently posted..Mini Almond Cake
I have a very similar recipe, Cathy, and I actually prefer it over shortcake with fresh berries. There’s just something about the texture that is so appealing to me. You’re so right about it whipping up so easily.
I would love more information on how you did your family cookbook as I e always wanted to do one.
Happy weekend to you!
Kitty recently posted..Pasta Fagioli Soup
This was always my mom’s first choice for strawberry shortcake. She loved the way the cake soaked up the luscious berry juices and cream.
Cathy recently posted..Old Fashioned Hot Milk Sponge Cake
Great idea to put these family recipes in a book, including this delicious hot milk sponge cake.
ciaochowlinda recently posted..Polenta Festa Redux
I do have a treasured one..But will try yours too..it looks so fresh and pretty with the berries..
My copy must be lost in the mail:)
Great idea! Full of Love..
Monique recently posted..New Baguettes..and a new Ricardo Soup~
I have been looking for a good sponge cake recipe that equals the one that I fell in love with in England. I can’t wait to make this one. I’ll let you know how it works for me. Thanks!
Karen Harris recently posted..A Family Favorite: Alfredo Bolognese Pasta Bake
I’ve never heard of hot milk cake Cathy but guarantee I’ll be making yours soon! The cookbook sounds like such a special gift, I’m sure everyone was thrilled to get it:@)
I commend you for putting all of your precious family heirloom recipes (and stories) on paper for your children and their children. It will cherished forever! I have been slowly working on something similar, but not nearly as far along as you are Cathy! This sounds like an absolutely wonderful recipe to enjoy a touch of sweetness with the addition of raspberries while still trying to maintain some discipline in the mouth and tummy department (so very hard for me!). But we have to enjoy life too, don’t we?
I wish you many blessings for 2014, Cathy and look forward to every single recipe and post from you in the coming year!
Be well,
Roz
Roz recently posted..Top 10 and Most Pinned Recipes of 2013!
I will have to try this, Cathy! I have never heard of it, but strawberry shortcake is one of my favorite desserts. When is your cookbook going to come out??
Becki’s Whole Life recently posted..Cherry Berry Banana Smoothie
My mum had a similar recipe – great for strawberry shortcake or for a quick week-night dessert – because there was dessert every night when I was growing up.
It has been AGES since I last had and baked a hot milk sponge. This is so gorgeous, Cathy.
Angie@Angie’s Recipes recently posted..Chocolate Spelt Cookies
Your cake looks magnificent, even if you had to use winter berries. When in Rome as they say – about the imported berries.
How wonderful that you are putting together a cookbook with old family recipes for the next generations. What a precious gift. I so wish my mother and grandmother had done so, but sadly they hardly ever wrote anything down. Can you imagine what our grandmother’s would think of computers and our blogs? I smile when I think about it. My mother, who passed away almost 30 years ago, would have loved my blog, even though she didn’t teach me how to cook, my husband had too. (And of course I learned so much from the cookbooks of Julia and Craig Claibourne.) But I remember following her around in the kitchen and watching, even if I wasn’t allow to touch or help 🙂 She would be very surprised to know how much I learned from her.
Sam
Sam @ My Carolina Kitchen recently posted..Italian Seafood Salad
I forgot to add that my husband’s step-sister started a very success catering business with her mother’s sponge cake recipe. You never know what future generations will do with your recipes …..
Sam
Sam @ My Carolina Kitchen recently posted..Italian Seafood Salad
Girl, you have me craving this for breakfast! How do you think it would work with eggs? 😉
xo
Sheila
I’m not sure about the eggs Sheila, but it is delicious with fresh fruit and yogurt. I like a little piece by itself with a good cup of coffee.
Cathy recently posted..Old Fashioned Hot Milk Sponge Cake
Congrats on finishing that cookbook. I published our family cookbook about 7 years and it was incredibly rewarding. My aunts ordered so many copies to give to friends, the cousins loved it.
Lea Ann (Cooking On The Ranch) recently posted..La Sandia Restaurant Tamale Festival
If you missed that arctic blast that hit us…….good for ya’ll. It was awful.
The cake looks fantastic and I can remember seeing the name before. Have never made one. My Mom was not a good cook and only had a few recipes that she could read and understand. She didn’t make cakes, only a few candies, pies and one ice box fruitcake.
Oh yum that looks delicious!
Yes, I do remember having cakes such as this one when I was younger.
It looks so good I might just make it soon. I must admit I do weaken
occasionally and buy berries in the winter. Last weekend it was raspberries.
Marilyn recently posted..Book Making
This recipe brought back memories for me, Cathy! My mom baked a Sponge Cake often. My sister & I never located the recipe for this family favorite, but I never forgot it’s texture & taste. It looks & sounds like your Sponge Cake. Thanks! I bookmarked this!
~Judy
JG recently posted..~Dreaming~
I was married in 1959 and had a recipe for Hot Milk Sponge cake that I often made, it was really good and I liked it better than Angel Food cake. As my husband was in the Navy for 30 years and we moved so often, the cookbook with this recipe got lost. Thanks for posting this recipe Cathy!
My mom always made this cake and we loved it. She used an old jelly glass as her measuring device and knew just when to stop putting in the flour and the sugar. She served it with chocolate frosting or strawberries and whipped cream, or just plain right out of the oven. I WILL be making this tomorrow for New Year’s Eve to take to a get-together. Thank you sooooo much for the recipe. My mom died without writing it down and even though I watched her make it so many times, my memory failed me as to how to make it. She used to heat the milk and butter until the edges just started to scald, then cooled it a bit while she put the rest of the ingredients together. I am very, very excited to be able to pass this down to my own children. I’ve already printed it and will put it in my “personal” cookbook. Happy New Year and God bless. (Please let us know when your cookbook becomes available for purchase.)
My mom used this some cake to make Pineapple Upside Down Cakes when I was a child. I’ve used it myself for a cake to frost, the pineapple cake and as a shortcake for berries. She got the recipe from her paternal grandmother, who called it a Lazy Daisy Cake. So simple and if I want a multiple later cake, I just double the recipe. Makes me want to make one tomorrow, which I think I will. I am working on a cookbook for the family, with old recipes, favorite recipes of my sisters, kids, nieces and nephews, in laws, out laws, the whole fang family! I love the binder idea. I was going to take to FedEx/Kinkos, to have them do a “spiral” bound… Bit is they want to add more records, then no problem with it using a binder. When my sons got married, I gave their new brides recipes that were the boys’ favorite. I put them on a computer but never printed or a copy or make a disk or or on s jump drive. That’s why I’ve set up the blog on WordPress. I was going to make a Facebook page but I have ownership/copyright abilities on WordPress. And that’s very important to me. Because like you, there will be stories of family stuff and I want to be able to copyright it, in the event I want to write something to sell.
Thanks for sharing this recipe because it’s such a lovely cake. Ic have mine still written on a “recipe card” from the late 60s, early 70s. I’ve been cooking and baking since I was about 8. I taught myself more than learning from my mom. She’s an okay cook, a better Baker, but I am the DESSERT QUEEN, according to my boys. They started calling me that before the oldest was 5 because I was always baking and giving away, kept some for my family and took to Command Picnics. We were in the Navy. Boy my husband and myself.
I don’t have an electric mixer so it came out a little dry. I think if I add a little apple sauce next time it make up for that. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! My family really liked it.