Milk Bar Cakes?

That is the one I am considering. But, likely the large one.

I definitely do not have the skill set to ship a decorated birthday cake (or cupcakes).

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Just making sure you noted that the larger size serves 20-30 people.

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The birthday cake is really tall and rich. Unless you are shipping for a party, Iā€™d get the smaller size.

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A question for those who ordered and tastedā€¦ How sweet are their cakes? Is the frosting more like the European kind (real buttercream with just a touch of sweetness) or do they pack it with sugar?

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It can serve 8 to 10 people because it is very tall.

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They should give the height in the dimensions, as they only supply the circumference.
Where is the school you are shipping to, because there might be people on this list who know of excellent bakeries in the areaā€¦

I am not shipping to a school. My ds graduated in 2018.

I am waiting to hear back from one of his roommates as to what they are planning on doing to celebrate, so I donā€™t have a head count yet.

Iā€™m trying not to burden the friends with going to pick up a cake in addition to whatever else they are going to do. Iā€™m trying to contribute something to the gathering. :slight_smile:

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Itā€™s been a while, but I recall the cake being very rich and very sweet. A very small piece is plenty. For the frosting, I donā€™t remember it being overly sweet - I canā€™t stand the sugary buttercream frostings and usually donā€™t eat them. But because there are so many layers the cumulative effect is a lot of sugar!

It was really delicious, but I didnā€™t want a large piece. Itā€™s very dense.

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Thank you!

I wouldnā€™t say overly sweet either but very rich and dense.

Last summer I took a 30-day intensive online baking class with Christina Tosi, the owner of Milk Bar. We spent 10 days each on cookies, cake and pie. In the cake segment, we learned to make her MilkBar birthday cake. It is very tastyā€¦and very time consuming to make. I was quite proud of myself with the result, but it took me 2 days to make a 6" round cake. Plus all the special ingredients I had to buy. I think the cake was $50-55 last year and I thought it was well worth that price given how much time and effort it took me to make one. I see that the price has gone up this year and still worth it.

For any of you who enjoy baking, Cristina is very generous with sharing her recipes on the website and rotates out which ones are available at any given time. She is a delightful instructor and really talented baker. I enjoyed the class a lot and look forward to trying more of her recipes.

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There is also a good episode of Chefā€™s Table featuring Christina Tosi on Netflix from a few years ago for those who donā€™t know about Milk Bar but are interested.

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I think Iā€™ll pass on these cakesā€¦ shortening in the frosting is something I try to avoid.

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I love, love, love their Red Velvet cake - only appears to be available around Valentines. But I also have both cookbooks and have mastered the confetti cake and a few others. So yummy and a lot of fun to make. Just made the banana cream pie last week - the chocolate crust is everything.

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Christina Toisi got her start as the dessert chef at Momofuku, I believe. I think the full name used to be ā€œMomofuku Milk Barā€. Iā€™ve been making my own version of her corn cookies for years - itā€™s Wā€™s favorite cookie.

Your cake story reminds me of the time I was making a pretty elaborate cake that called for buttercream icing. I trimmed off the edges to square up the cake, and W took the pile of trimmings in to work. She set it out in the kitchen and a horde descended and polished it off, proving that normal people donā€™t care too much about how dessert looks as long as itā€™s yummy :rofl:

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when in DC, we came across the Milk Bar bakery (storefront? Not a conventional bakery, I thought).

i was very excited, and we waited a good long time in line but ultimately the cookies we bought were unremarkable in just about every way but the packaging. maybe the cakes would have been a better choice!

Your post about cake crumbs reminded me of the ā€œpotatoā€ pastries we periodically get at the local euro deli. The baker who created that pastry apparently was looking for a way to utilize mountains of cake crumbs. He had an idea: mix the crumbs with some frosting, cocoa powder, and nuts and shape the mix into a ball. Those balls looked like potatoes freshly pulled out of the dirtā€¦ the name stuck. :slight_smile:

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Circling back to report on the waffle cone pie. H loved it! I thought it was just OK. I didnā€™t love the ā€œpuddingā€ middle that was supposed to replicate the ice cream. I think the other milk bar cakes are much better.

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Hmmm good to know. Iā€™m here to report local Zippyā€™s Peach Barvarian cakes are very good but have to be special ordered and were minimum of 1/4 sheet. It fed the 20 guests plus a bit leftover. We took some home and the guy taking photos took some home. It was a bit more than the other cakes but we loved it and all the guests did as well. It was like $60-70 plus $10-20 for decorations/wording.

It was light and very refreshing. Just the right ending to a nice party.

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