Milk chocolate cake?

[buttertart]

A friend who loves milk chocolate's birthday is on New Year's Eve - I would like to make him a cake but recipes primarily call for bittersweet of course - does anyone have a recipe or link to same for a really snazzy, big-deal-birthday cake made of/with milk chocolate by any chance?
Or ideas for subbing milk chocolate for dark (I have tried this and not been thrilled with the results, too sweet, chocolate flavor too wimpy, etc).
Thanks in advance.

[kim shook]

I am a milk chocolate lover and think that German Chocolate cake is a good not-too-dark chocolate cake.

[Non Cognomina]

My great aunt had a recipe for a Milk Chocolate Cake. The key ingredient is the sour milk, but you can sub buttermilk instead. She frosted it with Mint Milk Chocolate Frosting, but I like the Cake Bible Milk Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting better with it.

Milk Chocolate Cake
1/2 cup lard (or Crisco)
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup sour milk (or buttermilk)
1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
1 3/4 cups AP flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp kosher salt (iodized salt will make it bitter)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp cider vinegar

In a mixer, cream together shortening and sugars.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Combine milk and vanilla.
Combine dry ingredients.
Add wet and dry ingredients alternately to mixing bowl, beginning and ending with dry and mixing only enough to combine after each addition.
Add vinegar last, stirring by hand until just combined. Batter will be streaky.

Pour into prepared round cake pans or a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 F until done.

My great aunt sometimes added 1/4 tsp peppermint extract and 2 cups of milk chocolate chips. Baked in a bundt pan you don't have to bother with the icing.

[buttertart]

Sounds great - and I will make it with lard, I bet the texture is fantastic...thanks very much to all responding.

[foodie_girl]

What is sour milk?

[Non Cognomina]

Back in the day when milk was still gotten straight from the cow (not pasteurized or homogenized), and when it was kept in an ice box rather than a fridge, it would go sour in a few days. With our pasteurized milk these days, one effective way to "sour" your milk is to add about 1 Tbsp per cup of milk and let it sit out at cool room temp for a few hours. If that makes you nervous, you can use buttermilk, but the tangy flavor is more pronounced.

[foodie_girl]

Thank you for the information.

[gamer1]

Had a couple of questions regarding your recipe. Is the vanilla suppose to be 1 Tbsp.??? Same with the cider vinegar???? 1 Tbspn. sounds like alot.

[HillJ]

Could you add instant espresso powder to cut the sweetness or add chile for a bit of heat to the chocolate?

[foodie_girl]

Espresso is such a strong flavor, it might mask the chocolate flavor of the cake.

[JK Grence the Cosmic Jester]

Foodie girl is right on the money. Milk chocolate cake is not a good thing; as others have said, it comes out too sweet. The big thing is that there isn't as much chocolate flavor, and the cake doesn't taste much like chocolate at all.

[foodie_girl]

You can reduce the sugar amount to make up for the sweetness of the milk chocolate, but I would suggest to make the cake in a semi-sweet chocolate and then fill it with a milk chocolate mousse or top with a milk chocolate frosting.

[flipss]

ditto.

[chowser]

For a frosting, Rosie Beranbaum's Cake Bible has a great milk chocolate buttercream recipe. I agree about substituting milk chocolate for bittersweet or dark--too sweet.

[lupaglupa]

Chowser that was the first thing I thought of too! It's very easy to make and does, as she says, taste like a soft milk chocolate bar.