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By Sarah Condley

Columnist

A couple of weeks back, Brad and I were going to our daughter for a visit with her, her husband and our grandson. We were taking supper, and I also wanted to take a simple dessert. I had a recipe for Hot Milk Cake that I’d wanted to try forever and ever and figured there was no time like the present.

I prepared the cake the night before our visit by beating the eggs quickly with my handheld mixer for five minutes, then gradually adding the sugar. I continued beating the mixture while I added the vanilla. Once all of those ingredients were combined, I turned off the mixer and put the flour and baking powder in a small bowl, stirred together and then gradually added these dry ingredients to the batter. After everything came together, I turned off the mixer and began the next step of the recipe.

I poured the milk into a small saucepan (I used skim milk because that’s what was in the refrigerator) and added the cubed butter. Once the butter melted, I turned off the stove, gently added the hot mixture to the batter, and turned on the mixer to stir everything together.

The baking dish was greased (I lightly floured it too), and I poured the cake batter into the pan. It baked for 35 minutes then I used a toothpick to test it for doneness; it was not done, so I baked it for another five minutes. Perfect. I removed the cake from the oven and let it cool before covering it for the night.

This cake was not going to be iced and since I had fresh, local strawberries in the refrigerator, I thought they might be an excellent addition to the dessert. Before we headed to our daughter’s, I cut up some of the berries and put them in a bowl and we headed to Lexington.

After playing with Owen, our grandson, we sat down to have supper with him and his mom and dad. Brad said a prayer, thanking God for all He has provided and blessing the food to nourish our bodies. We ate our meal and then went straight to dessert.

Everyone, except Owen, cut themselves a square of cake and topped their piece off with strawberries.

I’d forgotten to take whipped topping with us, but nobody seemed to mind.

After everyone had a chance to take a few bites, I asked what they thought about this new dessert. I got nods, indicating that they were enjoying it. I thought the Hot Milk Cake was okay, but the strawberries really made it good.

I’m riding the fence on whether this is a Nailed It or a Failed It since I’m not sure I’d like the cake without something to go with it (berries, caramel sauce, or chocolate – well, not chocolate since I don’t like chocolate, but maybe other people would like chocolate). I’ll hang on to the recipe for a little while before deciding if to add it to my self-made cookbook.

Hot Milk Cake

Ingredients

• 4 eggs

• 2 cups sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 1/4 cups 2% milk

• 10 tablespoons butter, cubed

Instructions

• In a large bowl, beat eggs on high speed for 5 minutes or until thick and lemon-colored.  Gradually add sugar, beating until mixture is light and fluffy.  Beat in vanilla and baking powder; gradually add to batter; beat at low speed until smooth.

• In a small saucepan, heat milk and butter just until butter is melted.  Gradually add to batter; beat just until combined.

• Pour into a greased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack.