FSL Field Trip: NYC Cake Class (pt 1)

It’s no secret around here that I love me some sweets.  I am pretty sure it’s genetic.  My mom’s family legitimately considers chocolate to be its own food group.  Well, duh it kind of is right?  😛 She grew up in a house where my grandparents have always had a long coffee table in their living room with 6 to 8 different filled candy dishes at any given point in time.  To this day, the coffee table is the candy station.  I am not exaggerating.   Our family is big on baking too, not just candy.  At family gatherings, we usually have the food catered or just do chips & dips and tons of desserts.  Just the good stuff right?

I eat pretty healthy most of the time except at family picnics and parties.  A handful (or five) of potato chips, 7 tootsie rolls, a slice of my cousin Nicolle’s latest meringue concoction, and one of Auntie Roxy’s triple chocolate fudge brownies usually does me good.   My cousin Jackie’s all time favorite, funfetti cupcakes pretty much sum up my childhood.  A fun colorful twist on the usual vanilla. This is the food that makes me nostalgic.  See her recipe for 3 ingredient funfetti cookies here. 

This is probably why Christina Tosi (the brain child of Momofuku’s Milk Bar) is my baking idol.  She combines the tastes of childhood favorites, isn’t afraid to mix in some junkfood for texture, and does it all using classical grown up baking techniques.  Keep it classy.  So when I heard Milk Bar was offering a chance to take a cake class with her I almost spit out my KitKat!  Not just any cake, “Birthday Cake” funfetti style.  Here’s an FSL recipe for funfetti cake batter truffles.

I obviously reserved my seat immediately and asked a fellow crafty, Pinteresty, baker buddy Tina.  Last Tuesday we both got babysitters and zipped off to the city for a rockin’ night.  Yes, my idea of a rockin’ night in NYC for me no longer consists of 4 margaritas and dancing until I break the heel of my spikey shoe.  I’d rather eat my calories than drink them and I’d rather be hanging with a well respected chef than a snobby bartender.  I digress…

It’s never a dull moment for me.  This trip was no exception.  It was an adventure.

The class was at their Brooklyn location which is where they bake everything then it ships out to its stores.  I’ve been to Manhattan a zillion times, but never to Brooklyn. We actually drove by Marcy where Jay-Z grew up and obviously had to take a picture of this.  Hoooovaaaaa!

 The class started at 7,  so we needed to grab dinner before the class to avoid me getting delusional due to lack of food.  We parked and ended up at St. Anselm which had an open grill kitchen.  It was very cool in terms of the weathered wood and Edison bulb decor.

We only left ourselves with about 45 minutes to order, eat and be in the class (across the street).   We figured we’d sit at the bar to eat since it’s usually faster.  Tina and I walked in and pulled out a bar stool.  The hostess ordered us to walk back to the door and wait to be seated.  Yes maaaaaam! We got to the door and she walked over to us and sat us in the same seats we were at a second earlier.  Rawr!  We ordered our food and told the server we were in a hurry.  The hostess sat across the bar from us and blankly stared at us the entire 45 minutes.  Here’s a picture of half of this little angry bird.

Poor lady must have been having a bad day.  Either way, she was rude.  It didn’t bother us much since we were clearly annoying and couldn’t stop laughing.  Anyway, the bar was very cool.  Here’s a better pic of it I cut & pasted from NYMag.com

Now imagine this photo with two laughing Italian girls dressed in neon and spiked studded sandals.  We were annoying.  And didn’t care.  Time was ticking away and we were going to be late.  We got our steaks and pan fried mashed potatoes in truffle oil to go (yes our mouths were watering!!!).  Aside from the dragon lady, I’d definitely go back!  They knew we were in a rush, so they even cut our steak into bite size pieces.  We ran across the street with our take out bag of steak and saw this inconspicuous alleyway with a small chalkboard that said “Cake Class Here”.

This was so freaking cool!  I felt like we were getting into Bungalow 8 through the back door or something.  Ve ry secret entry. It was a real bakery where real creativity meets deliciousness.  Not some bakery that lures you in with some gimicky, over decorated, glitter coated smoke and mirrors.  This was the factory, my Mecca,  and we were about to walk in…