Birthdays to me are reminiscent of butter cake filled with cheap vanilla buttercream frosting. Back in the days, that was the kind of cake we got from the bakery to celebrate birthdays at home. This Momofuku Milk Bar Birthday Cake is exactly what birthdays taste like to me. The first bite I took really brought back old memories of birthday celebrations when we were still kids. We used to have some friends over for home cooked noodles, red eggs and chicken nuggets, and after hours of video games, we would get bored and it was time to sing the birthday song and cut the cake. The fun filled celebration always ends with a sweet note with a slice of creamy birthday cake for everyone.
This cake has several components and requires things that a home baker does not usually have like a quarter sheet pan (specifically 10" x 15") and acetate strips. The cake is baked in a sheet pan and cut out so that the sprinkles can be seen on the layers of the cake.
Even the ingredients like glucose, corn syrup, citric acid and clear vanilla extract are not what I normally use for baking at home. Since this was a test cake to find out how it tastes like, I didn't go as far as to buy acetate strips, sheet pan or glucose. I baked the cake in an 8 inch square pan, cut out a 6 inch square cake, sliced it into two layers and used the remaining cake for the middle layer. Without the acetate strips, the icing is a bit messy but it's not something you can't live with.
Not only does this cake looks fabulous, it is super delicious. My nephew loves it so does my mum, so it is not a cake that only appeals to kids. One ingredient which I had to reduce dramatically was the sugar in the cake and frosting. The cake would have been sickly sweet had I not done so. Even with the sugar reduced, my mum said she would have still reduced a bit more sugar in the cake, so imagine if I were to used the amount of sugar called for by the recipe.
Ingredients such as glucose, corn syrup and citric acid were not used and I didn't think that the frosting was materially lacking in taste or texture. The function of glucose and citric acid can be found in the notes below. It is perfectly fine to substitute citric acid with a squeeze of lemon juice, just don't go overboard or you will get frosting running down the sides of the cake. Clear vanilla extract is non-negotiable since the cake and frosting have to be pristine white. It is not just about the looks because you also won't get the imitation vanilla taste from the clear vanilla essence with regular brown vanilla essence. I think that is the heart and soul of birthday cakes.
Apart from preparing the necessary ingredients and utensils, you would also need to plan ahead and allocate a day for baking and a day for assembling. This is not a cake where you can rush through the process. So if you're planning to bake this for a birthday, ensure that you have at least 3 days as the cake has to be chilled in the fridge for a day. Although the recipe calls for the cake to be frozen, I don't think you'll miss out anything by just chilling it in the fridge.
This birthday cake is yet another wonderful creation by the talented bakers at Milk Bar. It purports to be something whipped up from cake mix and tub icing but is complex in taste and comprise of different notes in one bite. It is the quintessential cake for any birthday celebration.
Preparation time: Approximately 1 hour 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour + 1 day to chill cake
Utensils needed: Quarter sheet pan, Acetate Strips, Pastry brush, 6 inch cake ring
Serves 16 (small but tall slices)
Level of difficulty: **
Birthday Cake
55g butter, at room temperature
60g vegetable shortening
250g caster sugar (reduced to 200g)
50g light brown sugar (reduced to 40g)
3 eggs
120ml buttermilk
80ml (1/3 cup) grape seed oil
2 tsp clear vanilla extract
245g cake flour (200g SR flour and 45g cake flour)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder (1/2 tsp baking powder)
3/4 tsp salt (1/2 tsp salt)
50g rainbow sprinkles
25g (2 tbsp) rainbow sprinkles
1. Heat oven to 175C.
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 2-3 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl, add the eggs and mix on medium high for 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once more.
3. On low speed, stream in the buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Increase the mixer speed to medium high and paddle for 4-6 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.
4. On very low speed, add the flour, baking powder, salt and 50g rainbow sprinkles. Mix for 45-60 seconds, just until your batter comes together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
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 2 tbsp rainbow sprinkles on top of the batter.
6. Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes. As the cake was still jiggly, I baked for a total of 40 minutes. The cake will rise and puff, doubling in size, but will remain slightly buttery and dense.
7. Take the cake out of the oven and cool on a wire rack. The cooled cake can be stored in the fridge, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 5 days.
Birthday Cake Crumbs
(Makes about 275g. This will produce more crumbs than you will need)
100g caster sugar
25g light brown sugar
90g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
20g rainbow sprinkles
45ml grapeseed oil (+3 tsp)
1 tbsp clear vanilla extract (+ 1 tsp regular vanilla as flavour was not strong enough)
1. Heat oven to 150C.
2. Combine the sugars, salt, flour, baking powder and sprinkles in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed until well-combined.
3. Add the oil and vanilla and paddle again to distribute. As the crumbs were still a bit dry, I added extra 3 tsp of oil. I like a stronger vanilla flavour so an extra 1 tsp of regular vanilla extract was added. The wet ingredients will act as glue to help the dry ingredients form small clusters. Continue paddling until that happens.
4. Bake for 15 minutes.
5. Let the crumbs cool completely before using in a recipe. Stored in an airtight container, the crumbs will keep fresh for a week at room temperature or 1 month in the fridge or freezer.
Birthday Cake Frosting
(The original recipe will not give you enough frosting for the cake so this recipe is 1 1/2 of the original recipe)
175g butter, room temperature
75g vegetable shortening
85g cream cheese
1 1/2 tbsp glucose (*omitted, trust that taste is not compromised)
1 1/2 tbsp corn syrup *see above
1 tbsp clear vanilla extract
300g icing sugar (this is crazy amount. Reduced to 170g)
3/4 tsp salt
pinch of baking powder
pinch of citric acid (substituted with a squeeze of lemon juice)
1. Combine the butter, shortening and cream cheese in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium high for 2-3 minutes, until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
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 2-3 minutes, until the mixture is silky smooth and glossy white. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add the icing sugar, salt, baking powder, 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 2-3 minutes, until you have a brilliant stark white, beautiful smooth frosting. It should look just like it cam 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 a week.
Birthday Cake Soak
60ml (1/4 cup) milk
1 tsp clear vanilla extract
Whisk together the milk and vanilla in a small bowl.
Cake Assembly Instructions
1. Put a piece of parchment paper 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.
Bottom Layer
2. Clean the cake ring and place it in the center of a sheet pan lined with clean parchment or silpat. Use 1 strip of aceatate to line the inside of the cake ring.
3. Put the cake scraps together inside the cake ring and use the back of your hands to tamp the scraps together into a flat even layer.
4. Dunk the pastry brush into the cake soak and give the layer of cake a good, healthy bath of half the soak.
5. Use the back of a spoon to spread 1/5 of the frosting in and even layer over the cake.
6. Sprinkle 1/3 of the birthday crumbs evenly over the frosting. Use the back of your hands to anchor them in place.
7. Use the back of the spoon to spread a second fifth of the birthday frosting as evenly as possible over the crumbs.
Middle Layer
8. With your index finger, gently tuck the second strip of acetate between the cake ring and the top of 1/4 inch of the first strip of acetate, so that you have a clear ring of acetate 5-6 inches tall - high enough to support the height of the finished cake.
9. Set a cake round on top of the frosting, and repeat the process for layer 1.
Top Layer
10. Nestle the remaining cake round onto the frosting.
11. Cover the top of the cake with the remaining frosting. Give it volume and swirls or opt for a perfectly flat top. Garnish the cake with the remaining birthday crumbs.
12. 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 freezer for up to 2 weeks.
13. 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.
14. Slice the cake into wedges and serve.
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Notes:
Glucose is an invert sugar. It is used in liquids to add body and reduce the chance of crystalization. In ice-creams, it is used to keep them soft and smooth, even after they have been in the freezer for a while. In cookies, it is used to give them fudgy centers and crispy edges and it also increases their shelf life. It is used in ganache to keep it smooth, adding viscosity and fullness and helping to bond the ingredients. So many glorious things happen through the wonder and beauty of glucose.
Happy baking! xx
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