Milk and water serve as sources of moisture for a cake. Both of these liquids will dissolve the sugar, encourage the baking powder or soda to react, provide steam for leavening, and allow for the development of gluten, the tough, elastic substance that holds in gas bubbles so the cake can rise. Liquid also encourages starch gelatinization, or the setting of the cake structure that occurs during baking. But milk and water have different properties, so substituting milk for water, or vice versa, in a cake may give you a different result than the one you intended.
Texture
The sugar and fat in milk serve as tenderizers; they make a cake soft and extend its shelf life. The proteins in milk also enhance the structure of a cake. If you use water in a cake recipe that calls for milk, the cake could be a little tougher unless you increase the amount of sugar or fat in the cake to compensate for the change. If you use milk in place of water, you can expect the cake to be a little more moist and tender. But if you are only using a small amount of liquid in the cake, like a half cup, the texture difference between a cake baked with milk and one baked with water could be minimal.
Color and Flavor
Milk encourages browning, which occurs when sugars and proteins in the cake batter interact during the baking process. Browning gives baked cakes a pleasing, slightly darkened color. If the cake is already a dark color and has flavoring added, such as a gingerbread or chocolate cake, water instead of milk may make little difference. It is just as easy to find a chocolate cake recipe that uses water as it is to find one that uses milk. Because of the milk fat, milk adds a little richer flavor to cakes, though.
Nutrition
Milk contributes valuable nutrients to a baked cake. When you add milk to a cake batter, you are adding calcium, potassium, phosphorous, vitamins A and D and other trace nutrients to the cake that water would not supply. Milk also adds calories to a cake, to the tune of 149 calories per cup of whole milk. That would mean an added 12 calories per serving for 1/12 of a cake baked with 1 cup of milk.
Considerations
For best results, use the liquid specified in the recipe. Unless otherwise specified, use whole milk in cake recipes calling for milk. If all you have on hand is skim milk, you can use that plus two teaspoons of canola per cup of skim milk. Another substitution for whole milk is a mixture of half evaporated milk plus half water. Soy or rice milk is an option if you don’t consume dairy products.
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