FSL Field Trip: NYC Cake Class (Part 2)

If you’re just tuning in, catch up on part 1 here.

Our stomachs were growling and the steam from the piping hot steak and pan-fried mashed potatoes was not helping.  I mean, I’ll have cake for dinner, it wouldn’t be the first time, but steak would be a nice pre-game.

We walked through the green doors, past the shelves of stacked take out containers and saw a stainless work table that was half of length of the room.  There was a man with a smiling face that greeted us and crossed our name off of a print out.  I felt like we were on a VIP list at an exclusive club. Or like Ron Burgundy.

It was hot.  It was about 75 outside and 80 inside.  My mascara would be running down my face soon, I was sure of it.  My curly fro fro would definitely be in some sort of messy bun by the end of the night.

The long table had a bucket of water bottles, some cereal milk, cookie mixes for sale, and bottles of Brooklyn Brewery beer.  How appropriate and welcoming! I snatched up a beer and we were told to head to the back of the room to set ourselves up at a station.  Each station had a 1/4 sheet cake (a 9″ x 13″ cake),  various baking gadgets, tubs of frosting, sweet crumbs, an apron, and a sash.

That picture looks like heaven.  No really though.  I was seriously on cloud 9.  Now that I look at it, this actually looks a lot like my baking set up at home.

 

Christina Tosi (the head pastry chef) wears a trademark sash tied around her head, so all of the Milk Bar bakers wear one too.  We tossed on our aprons and tied on our headbands.  We were ready! So, obviously I instagrammed us an obnoxious amount of times.

Cakes, bows & beers?!  This was my jam.  For reals.

Behind us were three huuuuge stand mixers.  Huge, like 6 feet tall. That’s a large broom behind it just so you could get an idea of the sheer enormousness of the thing.

Each mixer had a name.  This made me happy 😀   The photo above is a shot of Large Marge.  From Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.

This place was even quoting movies I grew up on?!  I am fluent in movie quotes and characters so, ya, I love.

Our station was in front of Lil Kim. Obvi.  Hoochies.

So, Tosi starts explaining how to properly assemble a layer cake.  And. I. Die.  She’s so down to earth and normal.

She even asked if there were any baking questions in general before we started.  I had a 30 second inner debate about this to work up the courage to raise my hand. I was star struck. The beer splish splashed in my hungry empty belly and finally Bazoo (AKA me) had her hand up and waving.  I asked why my cornflake cookie attempts were all fails.

Exhibit A:

She suggested rolling the marshmallows in cornstarch.    My marshmallows would melt and burn.  Also, my compost cookies went flat a few times.  She told me that I needed to cream the butter for a few minutes longer than the recommended 10.

We learned how to turn a 9 x 13″ cake into a three tiered masterpiece.  Tosi explained the soak technique and that we don’t need super fancy gadgets at home to recreate an awesome cake.  She went in to detail about how to make a cake more complex in taste and texture. The chefs walked around and monitored our progress. Thankfully they didn’t see us wolfing down chunks of steak from our bagged dinner that we smuggled in. 

Here’s me sweaty, ecstatic, and a little buzzed while scooping some fluffy frosting.

Once our cakes were assembled and put into the freezer closet to set.

We took our scraps and make cake truffles AKA cake balls.

These weren’t the insanely sugar-laden hard shell frosted ones we all use to make cake pops with.  They were like cake pop’s more sophisticated older sister.  Christina jumped right into the mix and was rolling them with us.

Once we finished rolling, we went back to our stations and our cakes were brought back to be boxed.  Tosi flipped on a boom box and 90’s R&B was bumpin’ (EnVogue to be exact) I can’t freaking love this any more than I do!

Like I predicted, my face was greasy and hair piled on top of my head. I got my Milk Bar cookbook signed and snapped a quick sweaty, greasy faced, happy photo that will live in my kitchen!

The cake balls didn’t make it to the next evening.  I ate them for breakfast.  And lunch.  Oops.  At least I got a Milk Bar shout out via a retweet to compensate for my absurd caloric intake for the day. Holla!

The next day was my dad’s birthday and guess what we ate 😉

I’m psyched that I got to cross this off of my bucket list (see my bucket list here)!  What an awesome experience.