Evap. Milk substitute

I have a recipe for Polish Pound Cake that calls for one cup of evaporated milk. I don't have any. Do you think I can substitute one cup of fresh milk for it? I've read on the internet the differences and I think in some recipes it would make a difference but I can't figure out if this would. Pls advise.

I am guessing it would make a difference for this reason: evaporated milk has half the water content of regular milk - or twice the solids, depending on the way you look at it. I think you can substitute one for the other when you don't mind your end product being a bit watery.

The internet offered a couple suggestions: subbing cream (which will increase the fat, but that's probably not a bad thing in a pound cake) subbing dry milk powder with about half the recommended liquid, (one recipe suggests 2/3 cup non-fat dry milk to 3/4 cup water) or make your own by simmering your milk in a pan on the stove until a little more than half the volume is gone - watch out! Milk not only tends to boil over easily (don't go over a simmer) but will stick to your pot (stir constantly.)

Thanks. Another thought is to mix a little sour cream in the milk to make it thicker keeping the one cup measurement. I don't have any fresh cream but I might have some sour cream. That probably would not hurt either in a pound cake.

It probably won't hurt, but it might change the composition of your chemical leavener: sour cream might tip the balance to acid. I'm not certain, but if it were me, I'd reduce the milk myself.

Of course, I'm just guessing here.

Toria,

What is the leavening in your cake? If it were baking soda, then acid balance is present somewhere in the recipe to activate the baking soda. Baking powder has tartaric acid included to activate the baking soda in baking powder. Unless you are using egg whites or yeast for leavening, there will be some acid present in your recipe.

When I make pumpkin pie, I skip evaporated milk and substitute cream. I buy the Costco half gallon, so it is using something I have excess of and I like it.

I would simply use milk for the evaporated milk in your cake. Evaporated milk is often use for economy and for people who may not always have fresh milk available. There might be a change in the output, but I estimate there will be none discernable. If you made this recipe before and know how it should be, I would be interested in your thoughts on one made with milk.

Regards,

That's what I was thinking too. I could just use cream or half and half or even regular milk or a combination. Oddly enough, there is no leavening in the cake, and I've looked at a few different recipes for it. I've never made the cake before. I'll report on my progress. I'm hibernating and cleaning out some of my cabinets and frig and cooking up a storm but I need to cook with what I have on hand. The link at the bottom is an article on Spanish Bar Cake (I remember it well) and Polish Pound Cake. Interesting.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 91437.html

Looks like the weather will break tomorrow.

Hi,

I looked at a number of pound cake recipes on the internet. Most, but not all, had some leavening. If I hadn't found a few recipes without leavening, then I was going to suggest maybe there is an ingredient omission.

I look forward to your report on this cake.

Regards,

When confronted with substitution questions like this I turn to my trusty Food Substitutions Bible. It may not be infallible but it's the best thing I've ever found out there on the subject. FWIW, the author (David Joachim) recommends that a variety of items that can be substituted. The best of the lot are (for 1 cup of evaporated milk (adjust accordingly)):

1 cup Milnot (probably not exactly a standard pantry item, but ya never know)
or
2 1/4 cups whole milk gently reduced to 1 cup [this would get my vote since it most closely approximates the slightly caramelized flavor of evaporated]
or
1 cup whole milk
or
1 cup half-and-half

Good luck!

Thanks everyone. As it turns out, the weather got better so I went to the store and got the evaporated milk.
I made the cake and it is very good. There is no leavening but it appears to not need any. It is a nice pound cake with cherries and nuts. I baked it for two hours not two and a half hours.