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Creams and frostings

Vtáčie mlieko: floating islands in custard that tastes like melted vanilla ice cream

Name: Vtáčie mlieko
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Slovak
Ingredients: 1 l Milk (whole); 1 packet Vanilla sugar; 4 Eggs (whites and yolks separated); 100 g Granulated sugar (60 g for the meringue, 40 g for the custard); 1 packet Vanilla pudding mix (cook-type powder, 40 g); 1 tbsp Grated chocolate (for sprinkling)

Vtáčie mlieko is a dessert of meringue dumplings poached in milk and served in vanilla custard made with egg yolks. Makes 4 servings.

Slovak cuisine · Vegetarian · Gluten-free · Grandma’s recipes · Quick recipes in 35 minutes · Translated from Slovak · November 2, 2026 · Rate the recipe

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Recipe at a glance

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Servings: 4 servings
Difficulty: Medium
Cuisine: Slovak

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Vtáčie mlieko, a Slovak floating islands dessert, consists of egg-white meringue dumplings floating in vanilla custard. The dumplings are poached directly in sweetened milk, and that same milk is then cooked with egg yolks and vanilla pudding mix to make a custard that tastes like melted vanilla ice cream. The whole eggs are used, both whites and yolks. It shares only its name with the Russian cake of the same name: literally “bird's milk,” an expression the ancient Greeks used for an extraordinary rarity.

Ingredients

4 servings

Units

Milk (whole) 1 l
Vanilla sugar 1 packet
Eggs (whites and yolks separated) 4
Granulated sugar (60 g for the meringue, 40 g for the custard) 100 g
Vanilla pudding mix (cook-type powder, 40 g) 1 packet
Grated chocolate (for sprinkling) 1 tbsp

Gluten-free. If you have celiac disease, buy chocolate and pudding mix labeled gluten-free.

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Instructions

Tip: tap a step to mark it as done.

Heat the milk
5 min
Pour the milk into a wide saucepan, add the vanilla sugar, and heat to just below boiling. The surface should ripple gently; do not let it boil.
Whip the meringue
5 min
Beat the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add 60 g of sugar and continue beating until the meringue is thick and glossy.
Poach the dumplings
15 min
Using two wet spoons, shape the meringue into dumplings and place them on the hot milk, 4–5 at a time. Poach for 2 minutes, turn over, and poach for another 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. Leave the milk in the saucepan for the custard.
Cook the custard
5 min
Whisk the egg yolks with the remaining 40 g of sugar, the pudding mix, and 100 ml of milk from the saucepan until smooth. Pour into the hot milk and cook, stirring constantly, for 2–3 minutes, until the custard thickens. Keep it thin enough for the dumplings to float.
Serve
5 min
Pour the custard into bowls and let cool slightly. Arrange the meringue dumplings on top and sprinkle with grated chocolate. Serve lukewarm or chilled.

Tip: Do not poach the dumplings in rapidly boiling milk, as they will puff up and then collapse. You can make the dessert a day ahead, but wait until just before serving to place the dumplings on the custard.

Nutrition facts

Approximate values per serving, calculated from the ingredients

Energy: 361 kcal
Protein: 15 g
Carbohydrates: 52 g
of which sugars: 44 g
Fat: 10 g
of which saturates: 5.1 g
Fiber: 0.2 g
Salt: 0.5 g

Calculated from the raw ingredients, without frying oil. Where an amount is “to taste”, typical amounts are used. Food composition: USDA FoodData Central and product labels.

This recipe was translated from the Slovak original: Nadýchané vtáčie mlieko: snehové knedličky v kréme, ktorý chutí ako roztopená vanilková zmrzlina