How To Make Milk Bar Birthday Cake

Why Is It Called Milk Bar

With time, milk bars began to offer goods typically associated with grocery stores, while, according to Donnelly, the corner shops began to adopt the milkshake and therefore the title milk bar from both ends, the milk bar essentially became a term to refer to a corner shop, akin to a deli or a bodega.

Homemade Momofuku Milk Bar Birthday Cake For My 30th

Learn how to make the famous Momofuku Milk Bar birthday cake from Christina Tosi’s recipe from the Milk Bar cookbook. This birthday cake is a play on the quintessential funfetti birthday cake loaded with rainbow sprinkles .

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This recipe has a lot of steps, but isn’t too difficult. Spread out the work over a couple days, and you’ll be fine!

The Milk Bar birthday cake from Christina Tosi’s new book Milk Bar available on is THE celebration birthday cake everybody wants to make and eat.

Christina Tosi is the genius behind crack pie, compost cookies, compost pound cake, among others. She is one to follow for nostalgic, yet innovative baked goods.

I think this is the perfect cake to say good-bye to my twenties, and to greet my thirties. It’s fun, and maybe a little whimsical, full of brightly coloured sprinkles, and birthday cake crumbs. I’d suggest you make an extra batch of the Momofuku Milk Bar birthday cake crumbs so you can make these birthday cake truffles with the cake scraps. Just sayin’.

So How Do I Make A Milk Bar

It starts with a quarter sheet pan. Thats right, this cake, just like my Raspberry Ripple Cake, is not made using regular round cake pans. Instead we use a sheet pan to make one large cake. Then we use a six inch cake ring to cut out three layers. It makes baking and layering the cake quick and easy.

We then use a sheet of acetate to line the inside of the cake ring. This will allow us to build the cake inside the cake ring, going nice and tall, and keeping all your frosting and fillings inside. The cake then goes into the fridge until you are ready to unwrap and present your masterpiece.

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Best For Birthdays: Sensitive Sweets

Sensitive Sweets

Sensitive Sweets offers a whimsical selection of customizable gluten-free birthday cakes.

• Vegan and soy-, peanut-, and tree nut-free

• No cakes without fondant

When Melanie Hohmans son was diagnosed with a number of food allergies before he turned 1, she launched a search for a birthday cake that could accommodate his needs. This seemingly simple quest led Hohman deep down the rabbit hole of allergy-conscious baking. When she surfaced, she started Sensitive Sweets, a gluten- and nut-free bakery with a delightful selection of highly customizable cakes.

Customizing your cake from Sensitive Sweets is easy. Create your perfect cake by choosing from two sizes, nine flavors, four fillings, six fondant topper colors, seven accent colors, and 14 themes. If thats not enough, Sensitive Sweets will even let you request special colors and themes via a text box at checkout. And, of course, you can add your birthday kids name.

The 6-inch cake serves six to eight guests and sells for about $75, while the 8-inch cake serves up to 14 for around $85. Shipping via FedEx costs extra. Note that you must order at least seven days in advance of your required delivery date.

How Did It Taste

Lisa Kaminski/Taste of Home

After revealing every delicious layer and all those sprinkles, I definitely wanted to dive in. But looking at such a celebratory cake, I couldnt go at it alone. I sliced it up and served it at Taste of Home HQ. So how did it taste?

This cake exceeded my expectations. The cake itself was like your classic confetti cake you remember from childhood but made magic. It was light in texture but still moisture thanks to that milk soak. That simple step added a lot of impact herethe cake was moister and had more vanilla flavor. Paired with the cake crumbs inside, I honestly couldnt get enough. A bit of crunch inside gave this cake a different feel and it was a lot of fun to eat with all the layers.

Lisa Kaminski/Taste of Home

I will say, though, that the star of the show for me was this frosting! With two unexpected ingredients , I wasnt so sure how it would taste. But let me tell you, its some of the best frosting Ive ever tried. Its fluffy and perfectly flavored . Its one recipe that Im keeping handy for topping off any cakenot just this birthday sheet cake.

While this cake definitely requires some extra work, I have to say for a special celebration its more than worth it!

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Special Ingredients You Need

There are a handful of ingredients that you may/may not be familiar with:

• Vegetable shortening. Shortening is mixed together with the butter to make the birthday cake and frosting white, not too yellow.
• Clear vanilla extract. Milk Bar uses McCormick vanilla extract in the birthday cake, crumbs, and frosting. The taste of imitation vanilla recreates the classic flavor of the cake box mix. Clear vanilla extract also helps the cake components white in color.
• Grapeseed oil. Grapeseed oil is low in saturated fat and has a light color and flavor that wont conflict with the other flavors in your cake.
• Glucose. Liquid glucose, often referred to as glucose syrup, is a liquid form of simple sugar. Glucose is added to birthday cake frosting. It keeps the frosting soft and moist. You can substitute glucose with corn syrup, but the frosting will be sweeter.
• Corn syrup. The corn syrup adds moisture to help dissolve the sugar. It also makes the frosting more glossy and luscious. You can substitute half the amount of corn syrup for glucose by volume.
• Citric acid. Citric acid is a weak, organic acid naturally found in citrus fruits. It is most often used as a natural preservative or to add an acidic or sour taste to food and baked products. If you cant find any, you can also substitute citric acid for a little amount of lemon juice.

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Special Ingredients To Make The Milk Bar Birthday Cake

• liquid glucose: you may find it at Bulk Barn or your local bulk ingredients store, or restaurant/baking supply stores in your area. If not, you can Wilton brand glucose from .
• citric acid: you may find it at Bulk Barn or your local bulk ingredients store. If not, you can order citric acid from .
• rainbow jimmies: the sprinkles used for this cake recipe are rainbow jimmies, that kinda look like tiny coloured grains of rice. Your grocery store will most likely have rainbow jimmies that you can buy. If not, order them on .
• cake and pastry flour: cake and pastry flour has a lower protein content than regular all-purpose, which will help you achieve a fluffier, more tender cake. You can find it on if your grocery store doesn’t have it.
• grapeseed oil: grapeseed oil is a flavourless oil. If you don’t want to buy grapeseed oil, Tosi recommends using canola oil. If you feel like buying grapeseed oil, you can buy it on .
• imitation vanilla: Christina Tosi recommends using artificial or imitation vanilla for many of her recipes because imitation vanilla tends to have a more pronounced vanilla flavour that is very nostalgic. Use a clear imitation vanilla extract if you can find it. You can also buy it on . You can also use real vanilla extract if you prefer, but the flavour won’t be the same.

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How To Make Milk Bar Birthday Cake Funfetti Crunch Topping

Step 1- Crumble – Use a food processor or small blender to crumble the fruity pebbles and vanilla cookies separately.

Step 2 – Mix – Place both crumbles in a bowl and mix. Ready to eat.

If you do not have a food processor or blender, use a plastic storage bag and rolling pin to crumble the cookies.

Do not over blend or process, to prevent a very fine or flour like mixture. You want to see some crumble chunks.

Momofuku Milk Bar Chocolate Birthday Cake

This chocolate birthday cake is a variation of Christina Tosis Momofuku Milk Bar confetti cake. Instead of a vanilla confetti cake, we use a chocolate cake.

Not too long ago, my family and I were watching a show on Netflix. I cant remember the name of it, but it featured chefs from all types of cuisines from around the country. The one episode we caught highlighted Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar. She talked about her journey to creating Milk Bar and her inspirations for recipes.

She featured two recipes that episode confetti birthday cake and grasshopper pie. Naturally, my husband and daughter both asked me to make these. I cheerfully told them that I had already made the confetti cake but I would be happy to try to make the pie. With my husbands birthday AND Fathers Day approaching, he asked if I could make a chocolate version of the confetti cake for his birthday and the grasshopper pie for Fathers Day.

Challenge accepted.

I did a quick internet search and found a recipe for Christina Tosis chocolate cake so I used it here. I kept everything else from the original confetti cake from the crumbs to the soak to the frosting. If you dont want sprinkles in your cake, leave them out. If you want to use a chocolate frosting instead, be my guest.

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband! And Happy Fathers Day to all the wonderful fathers!

Husbands rating: 5 out of 5Addies rating: 4.5 out of 5My rating: 5 out of 5

Make the frosting

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Q& a With Christina Tosi

What Makes a Good Dessert?

Good food is good food, Christina told me over the phone. And when it comes to good food, anything is fair game to Christinanot just the fanciest gourmet ingredients. In fact, the menu at Milk Bar and the recipes in her cookbooks read like a sugar-fueled fantasy: sprinkles, cake mix, chocolate chips, cornflakes and even potato chips .

These are the flavors that everyone can relate to, she said. The secret to a good dish comes from balance, not some far-fetched flavor combination no ones ever heard of before.

How to Make Milk Bar Treats at Home

As for creating Christinas Milk Bar treats at homeor any homemade bakeChristina told me her most important piece of advice would be starting from a place of humility.

While Christina is an absolute pro , she explains that she doesnt like to get overly fussy in her baking. In fact, she prefers all her bakes to look comfortably human. In her books, you wont find her calling for piping bags or hard-to-find tools. Instead, Christina relies on spoons, spatulas and kitchen basics to achieve this human look.

A dessert should look like something you want to dive into, she told me. A great dessert should be an invitation to eatnot something thats too pretty to slice into.

With that advice, my mind was put at ease, and I was totally ready to tackle her confetti sheet cake recipe. Lets get into it!

How To Make A Gluten Free Milk Bar Birthday Cake

Prepare the cake batter according to the directions and bake. Once the cake is cool, flip out onto a piece of parchment paper. Use your pastry ring to cut 2 six inch circles and 2 half circles.

Place your ring on a serving plate. Line the inside of the ring with acetate. The acetate will stick up higher than the top of the ring. If needed, use a small piece of tape to secure the acetate.

Start with the two half pieces of cake and place them in the bottom of the ring. Fill in any extra space with scraps of cake. Ensure that the bottom layer is flat. Use a pastry brush to soak the cake layer with a portion of the vanilla milk. Then top the layer with about 3 tablespoons of frosting. Spread the frosting all the way to the edge of the cake, it will be a thin layer. Top the frosting with crunchy crumbles. Press them down gently to secure them in the frosting. Top the crumbles with another portion of 3 tablespoons of frosting. Again spread the frosting all the way to the edge of the cake.

Repeat the steps for the second layer cake layer, milk soak, frosting, crunchy crumbles and frosting.

Add the third layer of cake. Soak with the vanilla milk. Cover with the remaining frosting. Top with the remaining crunchy crumbles.

Place cake in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

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What Do I Need To Make This Milk Bar Cake

Ok yes heres the thing you will need a few things to make this cake that you may not have on hand. Ill be perfectly honest its got some unique tools and ingredients but its all worth it.

• 6-inch cake rings You will use these to cut the cake rounds out and then to stack the cake. You might be able to try baking this in a 6-inch cake or 8-inch cake round but you would need to adjust the baking time.
• Jelly roll pan You need to use a specific sized jelly roll pan so the batter fits. You need a 10×15 jelly roll pan.
• Acetate Cake Collar This is used to wrap around the cake rings to create that look that is the Milk Bar cake.

If you dont want to get all these things but want to experience the wonder that is the Milk Bar cake you could try baking in a 6-inch cake pan and then frost without the cake collar. I havent tried this method, but I think it would work. It wont have the same look but no one will care once they take a bite.

Healthy Ingredients In Birthday Cake Energy Balls

You might be wondering: how did I make an actually healthy version of one of Milk Bars best sellers? If youre new here, thats kind of my core motivation in life. But honestly, it took A LOT of batches to get these just right and plenty of internet research which led me to an epic discovery: that a teensy bit of almond extract almost exactly mimics that flavor of vanilla cake batter! Especially when you combine it with oat flour and an overdose of vanilla extract. Thus, the Birthday Cake Truffle Energy Ball was born! Heres whats inside:

• Cashew butter: I opt for organic, unsalted creamy cashew butter for these energy balls.
• Oat flour: gluten-free oat flour will keep these energy balls together and add plenty of fiber!
• Coconut sugar: a great, refined-sugar free natural sweetener for these birthday cake energy balls.
• Almond and vanilla extracts: as stated, the mixture of these natural extracts gives total vanilla birthday cake vibes.
• Dairy-free milk: just a splash of unsweetened plant-based milk will give these energy bites perfect consistency.
• Fine grain sea salt: this will help make the energy balls flavors pop!
• Organic sprinkles: give your healthy energy bites big birthday cake energy with organic sprinkles

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Whipping Up The Super Fluffy Frosting

Lisa Kaminski/Taste of Home

Whats a good cake without an equally amazing frosting? To make Christinas trademark birthday frosting, start by combining two sticks of softened butter, a half cup of vegetable shortening and four ounces of cream cheese together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat this on medium-high speed for about three minutes. This will start to build the fluffy foundation of this frosting.

Then, with the mixer set to low, stream in three tablespoons of corn syrup and two tablespoons of vanilla extract. Once added, turn up the mixer to medium-high and let it go to work! After three minutes, it should look nice and shiny.

Give your bowl a quick scrapeyou want everything well combinedadd in your powdered sugar, salt, baking powder and citric acid. Mix this on low until combined just to avoid that dreaded sugar cloud. Once incorporated, crank up the speed to medium-high until the frosting is bright white and incredibly fluffy.

If youre like me, those last two ingredients might throw you for a loop. When it comes to the citric acid, it adds a bit of tartness that cuts through all that sugar. You can find it in the canning section of some grocers. If you cant find it, I wouldnt sweat it too much! As for the baking powder, I was stumped. Our food editors suspect it helps prevent the syrup from crystallizing.

How To Assemble The Milkbar Birthday Cake Recipe:

Day One:

• Make the Birthday Cake Crumbs: they mix and bake pretty quickly. So make them first and let them cool on the tray while you make and bake your cake layers. Once cooled, store them in an airtight container.
• Mix and bake your layer cakes: The original recipe calls for baking the cake batter in a sheet pan and then turning out the sheet pan and cutting your cake rounds using the 6 cake ring. My sheet pan was quite a bit smaller than the 10×13 size called for in the cookbook. So I baked my cakes in the 6 cake pans I always use. I prepped my cake pans as usual and measured about 350 grams of batter per tin. I baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Another tip is to measure all your ingredients using the gram measures provided by Christina. Its how she developed and makes all her cakes. I figure if the pastry chef says use the grams then Im using the grams. Its not hard to switch from cups to grams and once you do you will wonder why you waited so long. Once the cakes are baked and cooled, put them in an air tight container and pop them into the fridge for over night.
• Mix the cake soak: This is literally adding a little clear vanilla extract to the buttermilk so no big deal. But measure your milk and combine it with the flavoring so it can sit and steep over night in the fridge.

Day Two:

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