I, my mom, and even my grandmother have struggled with reaching ribbon stage for hot milk cake for decades -- across multiple recipes, stand mixers, and even an immersion blender with a whisk attachment. No matter what I do, I can't get my whole eggs and sugar to whip to more than double volume. They do lighten in color and become slightly thicker, but they never become fluffy, and the part that falls from the whisk never piles up in little ribbons like it does in the pictures. 3 min at kitchen aid 8 with whisk attachment, even 10 minutes at the same, with no improvement past the 2nd minute mark. Paddle attachment is worse. By the time I've added the milk, I always end up with batter soup -- and then a flat or dense cake.

If age of eggs doesn't matter (and I've tried fresh and older without success), what does? What tips could I use to get just a little bit more air in -- heating the eggs on a double boiler like for Genoise? Using baker's sugar instead of cane sugar? CAN whole eggs be overbeaten -- should I just leave them on the stand mixer as long as it takes, even if that's 20 minutes????

Please help -- that 2019 birthday cake recipe is quickly becoming my white whale after 3 failed attempts....

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