Milk Bar founder Christina Tosi shares her top 3 tips for upgrading your store-bought desserts
Milk Bar
- Christina Tosi spoke to Insider about her tips for upgrading store-bought desserts for celebrations.
- The Milk Bar founder said focusing on presentation is an easy way to elevate any sweets you buy.
- She also said to look for opportunities to add mix-ins and make the guest of honor feel seen.
Celebrity pastry chef and television host Christina Tosi rose to fame following the success of her bakery Milk Bar. Her birthday cakes, cookies, pies, and more all have looks — and flavor profiles — that are uniquely Tosi and undoubtedly beautiful.
In an interview with Insider ahead of the season two premiere of Netflix's "Bake Squad" on January 20, the chef shared her tips for how people of all skill levels can elevate store-bought desserts for celebrations.
Whether you're making a cake from a boxed mix or picking up already-made confections, this "MasterChef Junior" judge has a hack for making it look even more special.
Courtesy of Netflix "Bake Squad"
The power of presentation
Tosi told Insider that she thinks considering presentation is "the easiest way to elevate a cake mix or a store-bought dessert."
She said you can play around with stacking things like cookies or small cakes and spreading them out throughout the party space to really showcase the desserts.
Tosi also said you can think about contextualizing them for the specific celebration happening, whether that's through specific flavors or something else that makes the guest of honor feel seen.
"So much of the creations that we make at 'Bake Squad' are about someone's occasion," Tosi said. "So if it's someone's birthday, it's not just a birthday cake — it's a birthday cake surrounded by things that personify the person that we're celebrating or the event or the occasion that we're celebrating."
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Play with the shapes and sizes of the desserts
Related to presentation, Tosi also suggested completely altering the visuals by cutting desserts into bite-sized pieces.
So if you go to the store and buy a pre-made cake, a box of cookies, a tray of brownies, or anything else of the sort, you can make them look a bit more festive by cutting them up and removing that classic store-bought look they might have.
It's a small change, but it can show that you put a little extra effort into the desserts, even though you didn't make them from scratch.
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Get creative with mix-ins
Milk Bar cakes famously feature lots of colorful and eclectic ingredients, and Tosi says you should feel free to do this at home too. If you're making a cake from a boxed mix, cookies out of store-bought dough, or even serving up something that's already made, think about ways you can add your own extra flair or flavors.
"You can take your average boxed cake mix and swirl in color, texture, flavor, etc.," Tosi said, adding that it's about conjuring up "those spirited moments that create even more of a cause for celebration."
The chef said using things like mix-ins in cookie dough or cake batter, and colorful swirls in batter or frosting will make the desert much more eye-catching. But, she added, those upgrades can also make the person or people you're celebrating feel cared for.
Regardless of what adjustments you make, Tosi said making the guest of honor feel understood is the best way to scale up something you bought from a store in a hurry.
"You don't have to be a pastry chef to make something awesome happen, that's for sure," she said.