Hot Milk Sponge Cake

Since my dad's birthday is coming up in 2 days, I was in a pretty urgent quest to find the perfect sponge cake base recipe for his birthday cake. At first, I wanted to find a recipe that has cream of tartar as one of its ingredient because I just bought cream of tartar the other day I recalled reading on some baking science website that cream of tartar is often used to stabilize sponge cakes.

I did found a recipe with cream of tartar, however, I changed my mind. I went for another recipe that calls for 2 eggs instead (I was in a short supply of eggs and didn't want to use it all for my "experiment" cake).

Anyhow, I enjoyed making this cake a lot. It still fascinates me each time how an egg with beating and whisking can turn into a foamy consistency. The steps to making this cake is quite simple. Just make sure to measure out all the ingredients and prepare pan before starting.



Hot Milk Sponge Cake
recipe adapted from Oui, Chef
-makes 1-9" round cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated white sugar ( I used a little less than 1 cup)
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F.
Butter and flour pan. (I lined it with parchment paper)
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.
In another bowl, beat the eggs with electric mixer until light (about 4 minutes). With the mixer running on medium speed, slowly add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light yellow and comes off the whisk in a ribbon when the whisk is lifted (about 7-8 minutes).
Bring the milk and butter just to a boil in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir the vanilla into the hot milk.
With the mixer running on medium speed, slowly add the hot milk mix to the egg mixture.
Mix until combined, then reduce the mixer speed and add the flour mixture slowly, just until thoroughly combined, stopping to scrape down the bowl once or twice. Pour the batter immediately into the prepared pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the edges are browned (you may also test with a toothpick).
Let cool slightly in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.



Taste-wise, I am not really satisfied. I would give this a 2.5 stars out of 5. Although the cake smelled really good (& egg-y), the cake lacked the egg taste that I prefer and .. I just feel like something is missing (maybe the cream of tartar? Haha). Maybe this is how hot milk sponge cake is like? I am going for the 5 eggs recipe tomorrow!