Kimberly McIntosh: Baking for a Cause

How an act of activism fueled one Las Vegas baker whose impact is generously felt among her ever-expanding community—near and abroad.

By Oprah Davidson

Kimberly McIntosh stands at the helm of MILKFISH Bakeshop, alongside her husband, Joshua. Her recognition by the James Beard Foundation as a semifinalist in the Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker category in 2024 and 2026 is a testament to her lasting footprint within her community. Operating out of a commissary kitchen and opening just one day a week, MILKFISH isn’t your traditional brick-and-mortar bakery, yet its impact reverberates far beyond its limited hours, catching the attention of one of the industry’s highest honors.   

Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, the pop-up aims to uplift her Filipino culture through heritage, technique, and ingredients. McIntosh calls it her passion project. 

It was birthed from a movement.

In 2020, during political unrest and a global pandemic that left much of the hospitality industry inactive, Bakers Against Racism spread through the culinary world. Initiated by Pastry Chef Paola Velez, the movement invited bakers to host fundraising bake sales supporting social justice causes. BAR raised funds for food distribution, while providing legal and social services to immigrants and families who power the restaurant and food industry.

For McIntosh, jobless at the time and searching for purpose, this call to action became something deeply meaningful, and she found solace in her kitchen. 

“Bakers Against Racism was just amazing to me because it was the best outlet to help,” she says “And the fact that it was through baking was just a best-case scenario.” In her mind, activists were the ones on the front lines marching and protesting. She didn’t initially see herself that way. “Even when you hear ‘bake sale,’ you don’t picture it racking up a lot of money,” she says. “It changed my perspective of what a bake sale can be.”

McIntosh’s first sale had a simple menu: rice Krispy treats, chocolate chip cookies and banana bread. Comfortingly classic. Familiar. Nostalgic. The same recipes she once made beside her mother. Her earliest memory of baking dates back to when she was nine-years old, folding in chocolate chips and helping portion dough. “My mom would always get me involved with her baking in one way or another,” she recalls … “I was always mashing the bananas [for banana bread].”  During the COVID lockdown, McIntosh found herself recreating that ritual with her own daughters. “My passion and love for baking grew really fast during that time because it was very personal to me,” she says… “I was sharing it with my daughter. It was bringing back really great memories of doing it with my mom. But it was also my way of activism.”

With a background heavy in restaurant management and guest-facing roles, McIntosh isn’t the typical pastry chef. Before launching her own concept, she worked at Christina Tosi’s Milk Bar in Las Vegas, starting as a barista and cashier and rising to managerial status. Affectionately nicknamed “Hard Body” for her front-of-house strength, she thrived in service. “It was a dream of mine to work there,” she says. “I love how fun her desserts are. You can tell it’s a lot of fun coming up with them.” McIntosh would sneak peeks at R&D sessions, observing how chefs’ minds worked and how flavors came together. She still watches cooking competitions for that same reason as she explores the method behind the creative madness. McIntosh’s method? Highlighting Filipino desserts and putting her own twist on them.

When you think of Filipino desserts, you likely picture ube and pandan. But MILKFISH goes beyond that. Take their Mango Float. Traditionally an icebox cake is layered with graham crackers, whipped cream, condensed milk and fresh mango. McIntosh reimagined it as a layered parfait with Philippine mango curd, condensed milk cheesecake mousse, and brown butter graham cracker crumbs. “I personally just am not an icebox cake kind of person,” she says. “So I thought, how would I want to eat it?” 

McIntosh insists on sourcing mangoes from the Philippines—not just for regional representation. “I think Philippine mangoes are the best in both flavor and texture,” she says. “They taste and smell extra sweet, and are super juicy. The texture is very lush and not as fibrous as other mangoes can be.” And it’s not just her opinion. The Carabao mango, also known as the Philippine or Manila mango, has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s sweetest mango, a title it earned in 1995. 

Admittedly, cooking as a career wasn’t McIntosh’s first choice. She initially pursued nursing. It wasn’t until she went to Santa Barbara City College, where she had to prepare her own meals, that she realized she had a knack for crafting delicious food. She enrolled in SBCC’s culinary program, worked in catering (meeting celebrities along the way) (WHO), and eventually landed at Wine Cask Restaurant in Santa Barbara, CA., where she started as a hostess before transitioning into pastry. She later earned a hospitality management degree from San Francisco State in 2009.

Throughout her career; whether in a 14-table restaurant she still holds close to her heart or managing a large financial district restaurant owned by three powerhouse women in San Francisco; McIntosh always considered the front of house to be her foundation.

“I enjoyed interacting with guests,” she says. “Getting their reactions. That connection, that’s what I loved.” That guest-first mentality became the backbone of MILKFISH; treating each customer like they’re dining in her living room. 

So what’s in a name? When you hear “MILKFISH,” you might wonder about the connection. Milkfish (bangus in Tagalog) is the national fish of the Philippines. But the name is more than a cultural reference. Before becoming bakery owners, Kimberly and her husband originally had their eyes set on opening a speakeasy. Swiftly, Josh made the connection and thought of a tag, “Milkfish would be interesting,” he explained at the time, “because if you think about it; you drink milk, you drink like a fish.”

With such an unexpected and playful moniker, passersby were compelled to go inside. And that’s all the McIntosh’s needed: a lead-in.  “We’ve always enjoyed conversation starters like that,” she says. “We’re very front-of-the house driven. Me and my husband, we love talking to people. And so being able to touch on that fun story and then dive into what the bakery is, is always fun for us.” 

For anyone new to Filipino desserts, the chef strongly recommends the Karioka. “It’s a really good representation [of our cuisine],” she says, “because it’s like you’re in the heart of the Philippines.”  It also happens to be her favorite item on the menu.   

The dessert is inspired by the sought-after Filipino street food, a coconut mochi-like fritter that’s served on a skewer and coated in a coconut milk glaze. McIntosh goes the extra mile, drizzling house-made coconut jam toffee sauce and finishing with a sprinkle of Xroads Philippine Sea Salt and latik (crispy toasted coconut curds). Considering coconut is her ingredient of choice to work with, McIntosh truly makes this dish her own, adding different textures and flavors all from this one versatile tree nut.

The final composition is a crispy, chewy and sweet treat that has an added balance of savory and crunch. If there’s any dish that highlights the resourcefulness of Filipinos it would be this. Even the salt is cooked over coconut husk, a practice that dates back to pre-colonization and became widely used by the 17^th century. “(Coconut) is a lot more versatile in flavor than people think,” McIntosh says. “If you treat it in a different way . . . it has almost that little acidic edge to it. It can be a little savory. I personally love coconut . . . It’s such a perfect representation of Filipino people, of the way that they look at their environment. Literally [using] every single part of [the coconut].”

The playful twist on Karioka reminds the chef of donut holes, the ones you’d get at an All-American bar-and-grill style restaurant, loaded with garnishes and toppings. “For me, that’s how I wanted the karioka [to turn out],” she explains. “I felt it would be something that people [could] picture [themselves] having a version of in their childhood.”

Another chef-recommended crowd-pleaser at MILKFISH is the Ube Jammy, a French-inspired brown butter almond cake transformed into a tender sandwich cookie filled with halaya. Often eaten by spoonfuls when McIntosh was a child, halaya is homemade ube jam that can be as enjoyed as both a condiment and a standalone dessert. 

In recent years, her menu has been heavily driven by Filipino history. The catalyst? A book her cousin sent her: Taste of Control: Food and the Filipino Colonial Mentality Under American Rule by Rene Alexander D. Orquiza “That title alone just piqued my interest,” she says. “I started learning how impactful the American colonial mentality was on Filipino food.”

The Philippines has been colonized by Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Americans. Tracing pre-colonial Filipino identity in food is complex and layered. But instead of resisting that complexity, McIntosh leaned into it. Her Pandan Tres Leches Cake became the prime example; a dessert bridging two cultures historically connected through Spanish trade routes. “I wanted something that was Philippines and Mexico together,” she explains. “My dad is from this town in the Philippines that was hugely connected to Mexico.”

Usually paired with coconut, pandan can get outshined. So in her tres leches, McIntosh ensures pandan is the star by steeping fresh leaves into coconut milk and boosting it with essence to help accentuate the flavors and, as she says, “to give it that extra bump.” Pandan is often called the vanilla of Southeast Asia. “There are similarities between pandan and vanilla, but pandan is kind of in a world of its own,” McIntosh explains. “It’s a little vanilla, a little almond, [and a touch of] pistachio. There are herbaceous and floral notes.” This ingredient infused in the sponge cake, milk soak, and Chantilly cream gives the dessert its vibrant green hue, a visual that makes the gleeful chef think of her childhood. “It’s really fun to hand someone a bright green slice of cake,” she says.

In the same year of her inaugural James Beard nomination, McIntosh took the opportunity to share her heritage on a larger scale. She curated a collaborative dining experience with fellow JBA semifinalists Chef Brian Howard of Sparrow & Wolf, and Chef Steve Kestler of Aroma Latina American Cocina. The media dinner served as a dual celebration, showcasing Las Vegas’ gastronomic talent while marking the city’s debut as host of the 2024 World’s 50 Best Awards ceremony. Kestler and Howard curated the savory courses, while McIntosh and her husband closed out the meal with the beloved Southeast Asian dessert halo-halo.

McIntosh honors her heritage by incorporating Japanese flavors into her halo-halo, an adaptation of kakigori, the traditional shaved ice dessert introduced by Japanese settlers. The MILKFISH Bakeshop version consists of shaved coconut ice, toasted coconut milk, ube halaya ice cream, matcha ice cream, sweet corn leche flan, yuzu gulaman and traditional garnishes usually found in halo-halo: kaong (sugar palm fruit), nata de coco (coconut gel), monggo beans (sweetened red beans) and pinipig (pounded, toasted immature rice).

The creation of MILKFISH was an awakening to what a humble pastry chef was capable of and what a community was waiting for. “MILKFISH Bakeshop brings me so much joy, because it has made such a positive impact in my life in more ways than one,” says McIntosh. Through her purpose-driven bakery, she is making life around her tastier and better.

Photos by Kelli Nguyen

(This article appeared in the Spring 2026 issue of Pastry Arts Magazine)