I know many people (including our bow tie-clad founder) don’t like angel food cake, but—forgive my heresy—I have a bit of nostalgia for the bouncy, dry fare of grocery store chains across America. Some of my more elegant classmates would have it at their elementary school birthday parties, drowned in whipped cream to make it easier to choke down, and I too requested it for a couple of years.

But Hot Milk Sponge Cake—one of the best recipes you’ve never heard of—is what angel food cake aspires to be. Introduced to Milk Street by viewer Linda White, who wrote into My Family Recipe for help decoding her grandmother’s partial recipe, the old-fashioned cake is impossibly light for its size, while remaining fluffy and moist.

Why use hot milk?
About 20% of the protein found in milk comes from whey. Whey protein inhibits gluten formation, which you need to help the cake rise to its full height and produce a tender interior crumb, rather than a dense one.
But whey protein is heat-sensitive—it’ll break down when exposed to enough heat (roughly 181 degrees Fahrenheit, if you want to whip your thermometer out). Scalding milk denatures some of the protein in the dairy, allowing the gluten to do its job and giving your cake the right texture.

If you’re scalding without a thermometer, look for tiny bubbles around the edges and a good amount of steam—a bare simmer. This happens fast! Stop before your milk boils or burns at the bottom of your pan.

Don’t make scrambled eggs
When combining hot liquid with eggs, as in the case of a custard or crème anglaise, a method called tempering makes sure the two substances—at vastly different temperatures—successfully combine without making scrambled eggs. The key is to do so gradually.

Here, you want to similarly avoid dumping all of your milk into your mixing bowl at once and causing your egg yolks to cook and seize. After you’ve creamed your egg yolks, sugar and orange zest (everything should lighten up to a beautiful pale color and drip off the spatula in ribbons), drizzle a bit of hot milk down the side of your mixing bowl with the whisk running on low. Let that incorporate for a few seconds to bring up the temperature of the eggs, then drizzle in the rest of the hot milk slowly.

Underwhip your whites!
For successfully whipped egg whites, we have to start with a clean bowl. (You’ll need a second bowl for your mixer here, or plan to transfer your egg yolk mixture into another large bowl and wash out the first one before proceeding.) One trick I use is to wipe out the bowl of my clean stand mixer with a paper towel dunked in vinegar. Follow up with a damp paper towel to remove any residual vinegar and let the bowl dry. Any fat in the bowl will keep the egg whites from whipping correctly, so an extra cleanup step provides some insurance.

As you whip your egg whites, forget everything you’ve ever been told about stiff peaks and take a leaf out of Violet Bakery owner Claire Ptak’s book: Only whip to soft peaks. The egg should fold down on itself immediately if you hold your whisk attachment up. Stiff peak egg whites can’t take on any more air and will lose their aeration as you fold them into the rest of the batter. They won’t be able to expand further in the oven, which means your cake will still taste nice, but it won’t be as pillowy and tall as it could be. Plus, it’s easier to incorporate like textures, rather than using brute force to make stiff, soapy egg whites mix nicely with flowing batter.

If you’re nervous about over-whipping, you can always finish the egg whites by hand—just stop the mixer, take out your bowl and use your whisk attachment.

Unmold with care
After combining the dry ingredients with the wet mixture, pour the batter into an un-greased tube pan. You want the batter to cling to and climb the pan’s walls, thus the lack of grease, but that means you have to carefully separate the cooled cake from the pan before turning it out. While I find this the trickiest part, just take your time and use a butter knife to gently coax the cake from the pan. All will be well.

When you’re ready to serve, a light dusting of powdered sugar or a scoop of our Citrus-Macerated Strawberries are all you need.

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Priyanka Shahane