Published: · Updated: by Kevin Williams | 26 Comments
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This Amish Sour Milk Cake recipe makes a moist, delicious peanut butter-chocolate cake
I put this in the category of a "comfort cake." Chocolatey peanut butter bliss accurately describes this beauty of a recipe which comes to us from the Amish settlement in Arthur, Illinois.
The key to this Amish sour milk cake recipe is a wonderful flavor of sour milk. Now, the sour milk I am talking about is the kind where an Amish farmer gets some milk from their cows in the morning and by evening it is starting to sour. This stuff is rich in flavor and thickens up in a wonderful baking agent. I don't think you'd get the same effect from supermarket "sour milk." I think that is called "spoiled milk."
The Amish kind of sour milk is a great replacement for buttermilk, yogurt, etc and adds a wonderful tart taste to baked goods. To make your own sour milk, do it the safe way and just take 1 cup of supermarket milk and add 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Let it sit for 5 minutes or so to let the vinegar work its magic and then add. You'll get the same basic effect as the Amish sour milk. Here is a link about how to make homemade sour milk.
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- 🍰 Cake Ingredients
- 🧁 Icing Ingredients
- 📋 Baking Instructions
- 🥛 Amish Recipes using Sour Milk
- 📖 Full Recipe
🍰 Cake Ingredients
- 1 /4cupSoft Margarine
- 1 /4cupPeanut Butter
- 1 1 /2cupBrown Sugar
- 2Eggs
- 1 / 2cupWarm Water
- 1cupSour Milkthick
- 2cupsFlour
- 1tspSalt
- 1tspBaking Soda
🧁 Icing Ingredients
- 2tbspPeanut Butter
- 1cupChocolate Chips
- 2tbspButter
- 1cupPowdered Sugar
📋 Baking Instructions
Cake
- Mix together in a large mixing bowl for several minutes.
- Pour into two greased and floured 9 inch layer pans or a 9 x 13 pan.
- Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes.
Frosting
- Melt butter, peanut butter, and chips over low heat.
- Blend in other ingredients until thick and creamy.
- Spread on a cool cake.
🥛 Amish Recipes using Sour Milk
Sour milk is a traditional ingredient in Amish Cooking. Throughout the years we've curated some amazingly sweet treats using sour milk! Go figure.
Old-Fashioned Sour Milk Pie
Milk pie is a classic confection among the Amish, a scratch-made sweet that utilizes the basics of baking: sugar, eggs, molasses, and, of course, milk.
Amish Apple Grunt Cake Recipe
It is not uncommon for Amish homesteads to have a few apple trees, just enough to provide enough fruit for homemade applesauces, canned pie filling, and some Apple Grunt!
Never Fail Sour Milk Cupcakes Recipe
The name says it all, this wonderful sour milk cupcake recipe will not fail you!
Sour Milk Cookies
📖 Full Recipe
Amish Sour Milk Cake
Chocolatey peanut butter bliss accurately describes this beauty of a recipe which comes to us from the Amish settlement in Arthur, Illinois.
4.27 from 26 votes
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Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 30 minutes mins
Total Time 40 minutes mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine Amish
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 /4 cup Soft Margarine
- 1 /4 cup Peanut Butter
- 1 1 /2 cup Brown Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1 / 2 cup Warm Water
- 1 cup Sour Milk thick
- 2 cups Flour
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
Frosting
- 2 tablespoon Peanut Butter
- 1 cup Chocolate Chips
- 2 tablespoon Butter
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar
Instructions
Cake
Mix together in a large mixing bowl for several minutes.
Pour into two greased and floured 9 inch layer pans or a 9 x 13 pan.
Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes.
Frosting
Melt butter, peanut butter, and chips over low heat.
Blend in other ingredients until thick and creamy.
Spread on a cool cake.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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About Kevin Williams
Hi, my name is Kevin Williams and I am owner of Oasis Newsfeatures and editor of The Amish Cook newspaper column.
Reader Interactions
Comments
Steve
I notice that a lot of the Amish recipes call for margarine. Why not butter?
Reply
Kevin
Steve, that is a really good question....and, if you don't mind, I am going to "kick the can" on this one and answer it in a whole separate post sometime in the next day or two, so stay tuned!
Reply
Donna
In a pinch, can you use buttermilk instead?
Kevin Williams
Yes, you could use buttermilk in this recipe and it would still turn out great!
jimmie souza
I made this cake today because I had some milk that had gone sour. When I put it in the oven I went about cleaning up and found the eggs still laying there. It still turned out so moist and delish. I did not even frost. Thanks for the great and easy recipe.Reply
Kevin
Thanks, Jimmie, for sharing, that is a good cake!
Reply
Eileen
The peanut butter cake recipe has frosting that doesn't turn out the way stated......way too thick. Maybe something was missing? I had to add milk to it.Kevin
Thanks for telling me, Eileen, I have not made that in awhile so I will have to dig deeper to see if the instructions are wrong and correct it, did it turn out OK once you added the milk?
Reply
Kris
My frosting turned out super thick also and had to "fudge" (no pun intended) around with it. My husband loved it though and I LOVED the cake!! Will definitely be making more sour milk recipes!
Reply
Kevin
i'd off my apologies for the too- thick frosting, but it sounds like it turned out tasty!
Reply
Amanda
What is sour milk,and can u make it,or can u buy it?
Kevin Williams
Yes, just take one empty cup and add tablespoon of vinegar to it, then fill the rest with milk. Let it sit for five minutes and then use in the recipe, the vinegar will "sour" the milk.
Barbara
Can I substitute butter milk for the sour milk ?? I have powdered butter milk or make my own. I also have new half & half too.
This cake sounds good. Want to try it soon. Thanks!!!Kevin Williams
Yep, buttermilk will work fine!
Joy
I've been holding on to my REALLY sour half & half. Will it work the same as sour milk? Is the sour milk supposed to be chunky?
Reply
Kevin Williams
Sour milk can be chunky, but doesn't have to be to add great flavor, depends on how sour it is! But, yes, use the half and half, the fat content is a little higher, but should make a great cake!
Reply
Rachel
I had some milk go sour and happened to find this recipe and it was AMAZING. A subtle peanut butter flavor and very moist and fluffy cake. I used butter instead of margarine. Like other comments have said, the frosting was rather thick so I added a bit of milk to thin it out so I could spread it easily. The frosting hardened on the cake when I put the leftovers in the fridge which we really enjoyed as well. I want to try the cake without peanut butter to see how it turns out but this will definitely be a go-to cake recipe for my family.Reply
Kevin Williams
Glad you liked it, Rachel, it is one of my favorite cakes and a great use for milk that sours!
Reply
JMHome
Found this recipe while looking for uses of soured milk (was getting thicker by the minute:). Excellent! Used butter. Used part almond butter mixed with the rest of my peanut butter for both cake and frosting. Added cream to frosting and then a bit of water. Whisked the heck out of it. Quite moist and yummy. Thank you.Reply
Kevin Williams
Yum, almond-peanut butter mix, great idea!
Reply
Dawn Gebben
I also found the frosting way too thick to use. I added 1/4 tsp vanilla, a pinch of salt and enough milk to make it usable.
Reply
Roxanne
I made this this evening, and it was delicious! I converted the recipe to fit an 8 x 8 pan (about 1/4 less per each ingredient, but still used 2 eggs). I have to agree that the frosting needed a little milk, but that was an easy fix. Although I didn't need it, I had 2 helpings! It was tasty, considering the small amount of peanut butter, and it has to be low fat with such a small amount of butter. I'll be saving the Amish recipes for future reference and will bake this cake again, thanks for sharing!Reply
Kevin Williams
Thanks, Roxanne, for sharing your experience, it is a great cake!
Reply
Martha
Cake turned out great. Seeing all the comments about the icing, i have a suggestion for the icing, cooking in a double boiler (pan inside a pan that has an inch of water in it) is the norm for melting solic chocolate, chips etc to prevent scorching or too-fast melting. I did also need a little bit of milk (one or two tablespoons) while beating in the sugar.
Reply
sallyanne
I think the last time I made a cake was 22 years ago - I'm not a baker. Today I had some skimmed milk "on the turn" so made this cake and it's FAB-U-LOUS!!!! Followed the recipe to the letter, using crunchy peanut butter - it's so easy! Can't wait to eat all the cake and make another with some variations, possibly coffee flavour. Thank you so so much for this recipe. 11/10
Reply
Kevin Williams
Oooh, coffee flavor, good idea!
Reply
