layer cake

Cinnamon toast crunch 

I am planning out the birthday cake for the little lady. I have to manage to get M&Ms. chocolate cake, cinnamon toast crunch, chocolate chips, pink frosting, and sprinkles all into one cake. This could potentially taste horrible.  I decided to make a triple layer chocolate cake and add layers of sprinkle crunch and M&M's.  I haven't decided where the cinnamon toast crunch comes in, it may have to be served on top of the vanilla ice cream or it might have to be an entirely different cake with apples and cinnamon (apple jack cake? thanks Paul for the tip).

Here are the recipes of what I have made so far. These are modified recipes from the Momofuku milk bar cookbook.  If there is one thing I have learned from reading Christina Tosi's milk cookbook it is layers, texture and intense flavor combinations are the best.

Cinnamon Toast crunch*:

170 g of Cinnamon toast crunch

40 g milk powder

40 g sugar

4g kosher salt

130 g melted butter

Heat for about 25-30 minutes at 275F after mixing all the ingredients. Let cool and store until needed.

Chocolate Birthday Cake Crumb*

100 g sugar

25g light brown sugar

90g cake flour

2g baking powder

2g kosher salt

20g rainbow sprinkles

1 1/2 teaspoon chocolate powder

40 g grapeseed oil

12 g clear vanilla

Heat for about 20 minutes at 300F after mixing all the ingredients. Let cool and store until needed.

Chocolate birthday cake crumb

*these recipes have been adapted from Christina Tosi's cornflake crunch and birthday cake crumb.

Friendship is magic!

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My daughter loves "my little pony friendship is magic". What a shock that an almost 4 year old girl loves pink and fruity colored little horses. For her upcoming birthday she gave me very specific instructions for this years cake. Namely, she wants a my little pony chocolate cake, filled with m&m's and cinnamon toast crunchy bites. Now, I am not 100% down with the flavor combination but I will try to include m&m's and some kind of cereal. I will try to built a momofuku like cake from the inside with a major pony explosion on the outside. Here are some of my current favorites from around the web. I will definitely include a rainbow made out of fondant with clouds (she always draws rainbows that way) as well as some nice smooth fondant around the cake.  As a cake topper, I will most likely use an edible print of the entire pony gang. Also, how amazing are these sugar cookies below?

sugar sugar bakery, photo credit

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photo credit via sugar cookies cake and more