Milk Bar: Birthday Cake

Milk Bar is the creation of baking wizard Christina Tosi. She, along with Momofuku owner David Chang, combined forces to create one of NYC’s most popular bakery in 2008. Tosi’s creative and whimsical style has created some of the most popular and delicious treats in New York City and across the U.S. and Canada. Her cake creations top the list for aesthetically pleasing and irresistibly delicious. And the Milk Bar Birthday Cake is quite possibly the crown jewel of them all.

A lot of Milk Bar’s recipes require some unique ingredients. They are not hard to find (because of the internet) but you likely won’t have glucose, citric acid, milk powder or corn powder just hanging around in your cabinets. Or maybe you do … weirdo. You can find this recipe in Milk Momofuku Milk Bar by Christina Tosi, foreword by David Chang or online at http://www.milkbarstore.com.

What’s great about making Milk Bar’s Birthday Cake is that it’s sure to impress just about everyone with flavor and appearance. There are quite a few steps but crafting something this appealing takes a little work. We found it to be rather easy, just a little time consuming. We also struggled with the cake a little bit, as it came out a tad crispy. But because assembling the cake and soaking it masked the error, it turned out just fine. The end result was pretty great. The cake and the layers of frosting were a little uneven but it still looked good and tasted even better.

Recipe

Ingredients

55g butter at room temperature (4 tablespoons – 1/2 stick)

60g vegetable shortening (1/3 cup)

250g granulated sugar (1 1/4 cups)

50g light brown sugar (3 tablespoons tightly packed)

3 eggs

110g buttermilk (1/2 cup)

65g grapeseed oil (1/3 cup)

8g clear vanilla extract (2 teaspoons)

245g cake flour (2 cups)

baking powder (1 1/2 teaspoons)

3g kosher salt (3/4 teaspoon)

50g rainbow sprinkles (1/4 cup)

Plus

25g rainbow sprinkles (2 tablespoons)

STEP 1

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

STEP 2

Combine the butter, shortening, and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the eggs, and mix on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes. scrape down the sides of the bowl once more.

THERE’S A REASON FOR EVERY STEP!

We use room-temperature butter and mix for a long time in our Birthday Cake recipe to make sure that our layers cake come out moist and fluffy — and we bake them in sheet pans so they’re easy to cut and stack (no worrying about misshapen cake rounds here).

STEP 3

On low speed, stream in the buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. increase the mixer speed to medium-high and paddle for 4 to 6 minutes, until the mixture is practically white, twice the size of your original fluffy butter-and-sugar mixture, and completely homogeneous. don’t rush the process. You’re basically forcing too much liquid into an already fatty mixture that doesn’t want to make room for that liquid. There should be no streaks of fat or liquid. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl.

STEP 4

On very low speed, add the cake flour, baking powder, salt, and the 50 g (¼ cup) rainbow sprinkles. Mix for 45 to 60 seconds, just until your batter comes together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

STEP 5

Pam-spray a quarter sheet pan and line it with parchment, or just line the pan with a silpat. Using a spatula, spread the cake batter in an even layer in the pan. Sprinkle the remaining 25g (2 tablespoons) rainbow sprinkles evenly on top of the batter.

STEP 6

Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes. The cake will rise and puff, doubling in size, but will remain slightly buttery and dense. At 30 minutes, gently poke the edge of the cake with your finger: the cake should bounce back slightly and the center should no longer be jiggly. Leave the cake in the oven for an extra 3 to 5 minutes if it doesn’t pass these tests.

STEP 7

Take the cake out of the oven and cool on a wire rack or, in a pinch, in the fridge or freezer (don’t worry, it’s not cheating). The cooled cake can be stored in the fridge, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 4 days.

BIRTHDAY CAKE SOAK

INGREDIENTS

55g milk (1/4 cup)

4g vanilla extract (1 teaspoon)

STEP 1

Whisk together the milk and vanilla in a small bowl.

NOTE ON VANILLA EXTRACT

We use two different kinds of vanilla extract, brown patisse brand and clear McCormick brand. neither is of any fancy caliber, but we use these specific vanilla extracts on purpose because they are the flavor that most people relate to in their baked goods. Vanilla beans and fancy vanilla paste do not taste like home to me, but commercial vanilla extract does.

We use brown (standard) vanilla extract in 90 percent of our baked goods. It’s the extract that flavors nearly every homemade chocolate chip cookie. We use clear McCormick vanilla extract for the birthday cake, birthday cake crumb, and birthday cake frosting. It is vanilla in flavor, but not flavored by any actual vanilla beans. It’s “vanilla” in more of a guilty tub-of-frosting, box-cake way. The two are not interchangeable in recipes. Both patisse brown extract and McCormick clear vanilla are available online.

BIRTHDAY CAKE FROSTING

Ingredients:

115g butter at room temperature (8 tablespoons or 1 stick)

50g vegetable shortening (1/4 cup)

55g cream cheese (2 ounces)

25g glucose (1 tablespoon)

18g corn syrup (1 tablespoon)

12g clear vanilla extract (1 tablespoon)

200g confectioners’ sugar (1 1/4 cups)

2g kosher salt (1/2 teaspoon)

0.25g baking powder (pinch)

0.25g citric acid (pinch)

STEP 1

Combine the butter, shortening, and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. scrape down the sides of the bowl.

STEP 2

With the mixer on its lowest speed, stream in the glucose, corn syrup, and vanilla. Crank the mixer up to medium-high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture is silky smooth and a glossy white. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

STEP 3

Add the confectioners’ sugar, salt, baking powder, and citric acid and mix on low speed just to incorporate them into the batter. Crank the speed back up to medium-high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes, until you have a brilliant stark white, beautifully smooth frosting. It should look just like it came out of a plastic tub at the grocery store! Use the frosting immediately, or store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

BIRTHDAY CAKE CRUMB

Ingredients

100g granulated sugar (1/2 cup)

25g light brown sugar (1 1/2 tablespoons tightly packed)

90g cake flour (3/4 cup)

2g baking powder (1/2 teaspoon)

2g kosher salt (1/2 teaspoon)

20g rainbow sprinkles (2 tablespoons)

40g grape seed oil (1/4 cup)

12g clear vanilla extract (1 tablespoon)

STEP 1

Heat the oven to 300°f.

STEP 2

Combine the sugars, flour, baking powder, salt, and sprinkles in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed until well combined.

STEP 3

Add the oil and vanilla and paddle again to distribute. The wet ingredients will act as glue to help the dry ingredients form small clusters; continue paddling until that happens.

STEP 4

Bake for 15 minutes at 300°f.

STEP 5

Let the crumbs cool completely before using in a recipe or scarfing by the handful. Stored in an airtight container, the crumbs will keep fresh for 1 week at room temperature or 1 month in the fridge or freezer.

BIRTHDAY CAKE ASSEMBLY

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

1 (6-inch) cake ring

2 strips acetate – each 3 inches wide and 20 inches long

STEP 1

Put a piece of parchment or a silpat on the counter. Invert the cake onto it and peel off the parchment or silpat from the bottom of the cake. Use the cake ring to stamp out 2 circles from the cake. These are your top 2 cake layers. The remaining cake “scrap” will come together to make the bottom layer of the cake.

STEP 2 (LAYER 1, THE BOTTOM)

Clean the cake ring and place it in the center of a sheet pan lined with clean parchment or a silpat. Use 1 strip of acetate to line the inside of the cake ring.

STEP 3

Put the cake scraps together inside the ring and use the back of your hand to tamp the scraps together into a flat even layer.

STEP 4

Dunk a pastry brush in the birthday cake soak and give the layer of cake a good, healthy bath of half of the soak.

STEP 5

Use the back of a spoon to spread one-fifth of the frosting in an even layer over the cake.

STEP 6

Sprinkle one-third of the birthday crumbs evenly over the frosting. Use the back of your hand to anchor them in place.

STEP 7

Use the back of a spoon to spread a second fifth of the birthday cake frosting as evenly as possible over the crumbs.

STEP 8 (LAYER 2, THE MIDDLE)

With your index finger, gently tuck the second strip of acetate between the cake ring and the top ¼ inch of the first strip of acetate, so that you have a clear ring of acetate 5 to 6 inches tall – high enough to support the height of the finished cake. Set a cake round on top of the frosting, and repeat the process for layer 1 (if 1 of your 2 cake rounds is jankier than the other, use it here in the middle and save the prettier one for the top).

STEP 9 (LAYER 3, THE TOP)

Nestle the remaining cake round into the frosting. Cover the top of the cake with the remaining frosting. Give it volume and swirls, or do as we do and opt for a perfectly flat top. Garnish the frosting with the remaining birthday crumbs.

STEP 10

Transfer the sheet pan to the freezer and freeze for a minimum of 12 hours to set The cake and filling. the cake will keep in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.

STEP 11

At least 3 hours before you are ready to serve the cake, pull the sheet pan out of the freezer and, using your fingers and thumbs, pop the cake out of the cake ring. Gently peel off the acetate, and transfer the cake to a platter or cake stand. Let it defrost in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours (wrapped well in plastic, the cake can be refrigerated for up to 5 days).