Everything that Taylor Swift turns to gold these days and it’s proving to be true yet again for the iconic Milk Bar Birthday Cake she dug into at her 34th birthday party earlier this week while partying with her friends in New York City. Since she posted the photo to Instagram with the caption, ‘Can’t believe this year… actually… happened? Thank you for all your beautiful birthday wishes yesterday,’ interest in this legendary cake has been soaring, but the Milk Bar Birthday Cake has a long and illustrious past that predates the Swiftie era.
Video Credit: Hobart Food Equipment And Service/YouTube
The Milk Bar Birthday Cake has been a cultural phenomenon for over a decade since its creation by James Beard award-winning pastry chef Christina Tosi back in the mid-2010s and has earned her bakery a cult following. They’re often counted among some of the most exciting bakeries in the world and pride themselves on innovation with a purpose. As per their website, “At Milk Bar, we believe in the transformative power of a really freakin’ good cookie or an outstanding piece of cake,” and with the Milk Bar cake they proved to the world that the best things in life can be the simplest.
At its core, the Milk Bar cake is a testament to the humble boxed funfetti cake which many children growing up in the USA have fond memories of as a birthday party staple. They describe it as, “Three tiers of heavenly rainbow-flecked vanilla birthday cake, layers of creamy frosting & crunchy crumbs, all topped with rainbow sprinkles.” Nothing fancy, no, gold leaf or spherified anything, just good simple cake. And that’s what made it special.
In a time when Manhattan’s bakeries were all trying to one-up each other with creativity and wacky innovation (who can forget the great cronut wave of 2013), Milk Bar chose to put their time into recreating nostalgic flavours that celebrated a childlike love of desserts.
Today this indie bakery has turned into a baking empire with outposts across the country, many awards and accolades to the name and a loyal customer base that are always ready to include their creations in every celebration…just ask Taylor Swift.