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Thursday, October 15, 2015

Milo and Condensed Milk Bundt Cake - #BundtBakers



This month, the Bundt Bakers are making cakes based on their favorite beverages. On a daily basis, I pretty much only drink water. But my friends had no suggestions for a "water cake".A boozy cake would have been great as I love baking cakes based on cocktails. However, the truth is that I only drink alcohol about once a year. On those occasions, I'll choose a drink that someone else loves (screwdriver) or I'll go for a strawberry daiquiri. Daiquiris are delicious and remind me of hanging out at Flanigans in Miami. But still, I wouldn't call it a favourite. Since I really don't have favourites, I really wanted to create something that had some really special meaning to me.

I was a greedy baby. If I saw food, I ate it - even if it wasn't meant for me. My mother likes to tell the story of her taking a mango from someone to pass to someone else. I was sitting in her lap and as the mango passed by, I lunged out and took a bite. I was definitely not a picky eater. I like to think that I was helping her out. She had her hands full with my brother who barely ate.

One of the things that I loved was porridge. I'm not sure if there is a particular kind that I loved but oatmeal, cornmeal, and banana are among the more common types in Jamaica so I suspect it was one of those. My mother would make a large batch for me each day and I would happily finish it. One week she was particularly busy and our helper (what we call a housekeeper/nanny) had to make porridge. No one knows what really happened during that week. But I suspect we had a bit of a Little Albert situation on our hands. Did the helper burn me? Were her porridge making skills just not up to par? We don't know. But what we do know is that I never drank porridge or milk or milky drinks ever again. My mother said I would scream and cry if she brought it near me. To this day, I still shudder if I'm near porridge.

I paused my milky drinks embargo when I was 4. Suddenly I developed a craving for Milo but only at 2 am. Every night I would wake my mother up asking for Milo. My poor mother would get up, make me Milo and then shuffle back to bed. Understandably, this started to take a toll on her. Eventually she started telling me to go back to sleep and she'd bring my Milo to me. Lies! I'd wake up each morning Milo-less. I'd complain but it didn't help. Soon, I stopped asking. Mummy: 1. Kelly: 0.

It's been decades since I've had a cup of Milo sweetened with condensed milk. (Condensed milk goes into everything in Jamaica - Milo, coffee, porridge, fruit, spoons.) But I do look back at that period and smile. I laugh actually - laugh at my mother tricking me into going back to sleep. I wasn't hungry and she knew this. Her getting her much needed rest was definitely more important.

Fun Fact: I wrote all of the above back in July. I was on the phone with my mother while writing and sure enough, she brought up the Milo incident. Forever reading my mind! We weren't even talking about food so I have no idea what primed her. I need a foil hat. Also, I wrote all of that assuming that everyone knew what Milo is. Milo is a chocolate flavoured malt beverage from Australia. It's similar to Ovaltine and Horlicks.

 Enjoy all of the other Bundts below!


 Milo Cake with Condensed Milk Glaze

Ingredients
Cake
1/2 cup milk. room temperature
4 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup Milo powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, cut into pieces and softened

Glaze
3 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup condensed milk
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Thoroughly grease and flour a Bundt pan. I used a 10 cup pan.
Whisk milk, eggs, and vanilla together in a small bowl. Add flour, Milo, baking powder, and salt to a mixer bowl. Mix until combined then add butter one tablespoon at a time, mixing until only small pieces of butter remain.
Add  half of the egg mixture and increase the speed and beat for a minute or until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed and add the remaining egg mixture. Increase the speed again and beat for 30 seconds or until incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Bake 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the glaze, beat together butter and sugar then add enough condensed milk to reach your desired consistency. Pour over cooled cake.

 
 post signature

BundtBakers

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving Bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest Board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme or ingredient.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers can be found on our homepage.
BundtBakers

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving Bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest Board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme or ingredient.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers can be found on our homepage.

9 comments:

  1. Milo is all over the world! Except perhaps in the US although I suspect you'd find it in ethnic grocery stores. I grew up on it too but in South America. And I raised my daughters drinking it, but in Southeast Asia. :)

    Your Milo and condensed milk Bundt would be a favorite at our house, Kelly!

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  2. I am so glad that you added the note about what milo was. I had never heard of it before but I have heard of ovaltine. I love the memories, thanks so much for sharing. Your cake looks luscious

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  3. This sounds really interesting! I've never heard of milo but now I really want to try it (along with a big slice of your cake of course!)

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  4. Haha, a water cake that'd be good.
    I like what you went with, and thanks for explaining Milo! In the South there's a Famous Sweet Tea under the brand Milo's and that's what I originally came in here expecting. Yours sounds delicious.

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  5. I am so curious now -- what happened with the porridge incident?! How do you go from loving it to hating it so quickly. So interesting.

    I had heard of Milo but was wracking my brain the whole time reading this post trying to remember what it was. Ovaltine! Of course. Sounds perfectly delicious :)

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  6. Looks delicious, Kelly! Never heard of Milo but we do have Ovaltine here in Holland (in Spain I can't find it by the way :S). A water cake sounds really good though, that would cut back some calories ;-) Certainly going to try this with my Ovaltine :-) XX from Spain

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  7. Your story is hilarious! Thanks for the note about Milo. I did not know what it is. You could have come up with a water cake as well ;) but this sound delicious as well.

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  8. I like Ovaltine a lot, especially before going to bed. Your can sounds lovely. Laura@ Baking in Pyjamas

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  9. So interesting! I'm not at all familiar with Milo, but I love being introduced to new things. I'm not much of a drinker myself...so I totally understand the dilemma, but this cake looks great! :D

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