Browse links
US residents can opt out of "sales" of personal data.
We asked Christina Tosi for all of her best tricks that you can use at home.
"I love cake fillings and surprise textures — like malted milk crumbs, curds, or jellies," says Tosi. At Milk Bar, she keeps the sides of her cakes unfrosted to show off those all those textures and layers inside.
One of the most helpful tools pastry chefs use is acetate paper. "When building our layer cakes, we use acetate, or strips of thick but flexible plastic," says Tosi. "We use it to make our cakes look clean and prevent them from sticking to the cake ring." To do this at home, just line the inside of your cake ring with a strip while assembling, and the sides of your cake will turn out nice and smooth.
"When you start with great ingredients in the mixer, your baked goods will have great flavor out of the oven," says Tosi — and this is especially true when it comes to butter. Unsalted, European-style butter has a deeper flavor compared to the generic stuff, says Tosi, and allows you to control the salt level in your final product.
When building cakes in a ring mold, it can be difficult to spread the frosting evenly. Offset spatulas aren't flexible enough and can't reach the bottom, so Tosi uses bent spoons to apply frosting and cake soaks with ease. "I suggest buying cheap spoons online — expensive spoons won’t bend as easily," says Tosi.
Another ingredient pastry chefs swear by is milk powder. "Milk powder adds an incredible depth of flavor and texture to any baked good you add it to," says Tosi. "It doesn’t impart a milky flavor, it just amps up any flavor your working with." Next time you're making cookies, try adding two tablespoons to the batter. It'll amplify the flavors and take your cookies to the next level.
Crushed pretzels are not only great for garnishing baked goods, but baking with as well. "When baking at home, one of my go-to moves is to take pretzels, grind them down in a food processor until they're a powdery, flour-like consistency, and substitute up to half of the flour in any recipe with the pretzel flour," says Tosi. "It adds a salty, malty depth that balances any baked good perfectly."
"One of the most important steps when layering a cake is adding a surprise texture," says Tosi. Sure, cake and frosting is great, but adding additional pops of texture can take a cake from good to great. "For crunch, we use crumbs that have a shortbread-like consistency," says Tosi. "Nearly anything you can think of is fair game as long as it helps tell the flavor story of your cake."
Cookies are a great vehicle for all kinds of interesting mix-ins, not just chocolate chips. "Have fun experimenting with whatever you have around the house or whatever you can grab from your local supermarket such as Cornflakes, Ritz Crackers, and marshmallows," says Tosi.
To keep up with Tosi's baking adventures, follow Milk Bar on Instagram and check out their NYC & DC class schedules to learn how to make these delicious creations IRL.