Soft Plumcake with Hot Milk: The Recipe That Doesn’t Collapse (The Secret of Whipped Eggs)
IS YOUR PLUMCAKE ALWAYS LOW AND DRY? HERE’S HOW TO GET A SOFT BATTER THAT DOESN’T DEFLATE!
Many people love plumcake, but often the result is a compact, dry cake or, worse, one that collapses irreversibly once out of the oven.
The main issue? Often you can’t keep the air incorporated during preparation.
This Hot Milk Plumcake recipe is the definitive solution to those problems.
The turning point is adding hot milk and butter to a perfectly whipped egg-and-sugar mixture.
If done correctly, this process won’t deflate the batter; on the contrary, it makes it soft and elastic, allowing it to rise during baking and remain cloud-like.
I assure you that, following my tips on temperature and mixing, you’ll get a spongy cake that not only soaks up milk perfectly at breakfast but is also ideal as a base to fill with jam or creams.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Cooking time: 35 Minutes
- Portions: 8 servings
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 259.16 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 38.92 (g) of which sugars 23.39 (g)
- Proteins 5.99 (g)
- Fat 9.56 (g) of which saturated 5.65 (g)of which unsaturated 3.71 (g)
- Fibers 0.49 (g)
- Sodium 34.32 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 90 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- all-purpose flour (1 3/4 cups (about 220 g))
- granulated sugar (1 cup + 2 tbsp (about 220 g))
- whole milk (2/3 cup (about 160 ml / 5.4 fl oz))
- eggs (4 medium/large)
- butter (6 tbsp (about 80 g / 2.8 oz) (or about 3/4 stick))
- baking powder (2 tsp (about 8 g))
- vanilla bean (seeds from 1 vanilla bean)
- to taste powdered sugar
Preparation: Hot Milk Plumcake
Whip for a long time: In a stand mixer or with an electric whisk, whip the eggs (at room temperature) with the sugar for at least 10–15 minutes.
Consistency: The mixture must become voluminous, frothy, and pale, and its volume should at least triple. The air incorporated at this stage is what will make the cake rise.Sift: Sift the flour and baking powder into a separate bowl.
Gentle movements: Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture little by little, using a spatula and folding gently from bottom to top. This is essential to avoid deflating the whipped base.Heating: In a small saucepan, warm the milk, butter and vanilla seeds. Remove from the heat before it boils and as soon as the butter is melted.
Homogenization: Take a small portion of the base batter (about 1/3) and mix it in a separate bowl with the hot milk. Whisk quickly until you have a thick warm mixture. This step prevents thermal shock and fat separation.
Final Incorporation: Pour this warm, thick mixture (mini-batter) into the rest of the base batter. Mix again gently with the spatula from bottom to top.Bake: Transfer the batter into a loaf pan (about 10 x 4 in) previously buttered and floured.
Baking: Bake in a preheated conventional oven at 356°F for about 35–40 minutes.
Test: Always perform the toothpick test.
Cooling: Remove from the oven and let cool completely before unmolding and dusting generously with powdered sugar.
