Chef Christina Tosi Talks Cereal, Birthday Cakes, And The Unicorn Trend

Christina Tosi is the creative culinary mastermind behind Milk Bar's sweet concoctions, a two-time James Beard Award-winning chef, and the Queen of Sweet. We caught up with her at the Kellogg's NYC cereal bar in Times Square where she demonstrated one of her cereal creations — a Baklava Bowl made with Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats, toasted walnuts, pistachios, and a drizzle of honey.

Some of her other bowls, made in collaboration with Kellogg, are "Do the Twist," made with Crispix, ground coffee, mini chocolate chips, passion fruit jam, and mini pretzels; and "Pucker Up," made with Frosted Mini-Wheats, grapefruit marmalade, tarragon, and raw sugar.

"Breakfast is such a fun starting place to innovate around," Tosi told The Daily Meal. "A bowl of cereal for me creates an infinite world of innovation and opportunity."

Tosi told us her personal favorite bowl creation was the Baklava Bowl, but when she's craving a treat late at night, she would mostly likely whip up a homemade batch of Rice Krispies Treats with a twist: she doesn't always use Rice Krispies (Sometimes Froot Loops are better in a pinch). But nothing beats  a good old-fashioned birthday cake.

"The 'Christina Tosi Cake' is our birthday cake with pickled strawberry jam, birthday crumbs, passionfruit curd and birthday frosting on the top," she said. "But I have to confess, my birthday tradition is just a regular Funfetti cake and that frosting you eat with a spoon when you're a teenager."

Tosi is clearly a fan of colorful foods, so what does she think of the pastel-colored unicorn trend that's blown up recently?

"I love the spirit of this, like there are grown-ups who are obsessed with the beauty of colorful rainbow foods and all things magical," she said.

Tosi's newest cookbook, Cakewalk, based on Milk Bar's cakes, comes out next year. You can catch Tosi as a judge on MasterChef Junior this season, starting Feb. 9.