The Hot Milk Cake from MIETTE

With company coming for dinner tomorrow, I decided to make a new cake tonight.  I opened my Miette cookbook--a beautiful book with lots of errors, but a corrected edition is coming out soon--and trusted that this cake would be error free.  And it almost was.

Six inch cake pans are small. 

The hot milk and butter must remain thoroughly mixed. 

The eggs, sugar, and vanilla are melted and mixed in a double boiler. 

The moment I touched this in the oven, I had a feeling it was under done. But the tester came out clean--should have trusted my gut instinct. 

This is what it should look like. One out of two isn't bad. :-) 

The first thing you have to know about Miette cakes is that they are small--they bake in two six inch pans, and each cake only requires one pan (you're supposed to freeze the other one for later).







I sifted together the required flour, baking powder, and salt, then mixed the whole milk and butter on the stove.  This mix must cool to 80-85 degrees before it can be added to the batter, so I quickly realized I had to take it out of the copper pot, as copper retains heat very well.  :-)

















The eggs, sugar, and vanilla must be heated in a double boiler to 110 degrees for the sugar to melt--again, a thermometer is indispensable for this recipe.  Then it is whipped on high with a stand mixer, and goes from a yellow mix to a white, fluffy mix.  Then you stir in the dry ingredients, and finally you pour in the cooled hot milk.


















I doubled the recipe, thinking I'd like to make some cupcakes, and they turned out very well.  But when I went to remove the golden cakes from the oven, the first cake jiggled--and I should have left it alone.  I did take it out and stab it with a tester, which came out clean, but a toothpick didn't' fare so well.  I returned it to the oven, but apparently the damage was done.








Tomorrow we'll see how I do at decorating the cake that didn't collapse in the middle.  :-)  BTW, the cupcakes are lovely--golden and crunchy on top, not-too-sweet interior. With a little frosting, they'd be perfect.  :-)

More tomorrow!

~~Angie

BTW--A manufacturer has dumped a load of copper pots and pans at Marshalls, Home Good, and TJ Maxx.  I've always wanted a set and have been stocking up at bargain prices--I love them, though they are a bit on the fragile side.  Easy to scratch, easy to tarnish, and they don't go into the dishwasher.  But boy, do they cook.  :-)