The Mixing Bowl: Tarte Tatin by Judy Kaufmann

Barcelona-based illustrator Judy Kaufmann is sharing a recipe today for a truly beautiful dessert, the Tarte Tatin, which is essentially an apple pie baked upside down! Judy sent along several images of the baking process and it really is a wonder to behold. And the finished product looks absolutely delicious! All I’d need to do is add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and I’d be in heaven!

 I was first introduced to Judy Kaufmann’s work via her colorful portrait of Frieda Kahlo. The image is so whimsical and fresh that it’s practically begging to be put on a wall! Her use of bright colors and her quirky spin on the ordinary makes her simple illustrations really stand out. My favorite pieces come from her Circus series (love these!) and from the Famous Print Collection, which includes the Kahlo print. You can check out the full range of prints, and shop online, right here. You can also check out more of her work, and additional product info, via her website.

You can find the complete Tarte Tartin recipe, plus more images after the jump. Thanks, Judy! ~Erin

Ayako Kurokawa

Chouquette

I love it when I come across work that perfectly embodies the merging of dessert and art. Something that is not only visually exciting, but also completely edible. Today, that something, or someone, is Ayako Kurokawa. Based in NYC, Ayako is a patissier, pastry sculptor, and food stylist who infuses her work with such humor, creativity, and beauty, that I could not take my eyes off of it! It makes complete sense to me that she used to work as a patissier at The Modern, which is a restaurant located at the Museum of Modern Art. (She also used to work at the Plaza Hotel). Her work is, in itself, a small piece of art, and now that I’ve discovered her desserts, I’ve sort of become obsessed with them, in case you hadn’t noticed! If you’re like me, and looking at these pics has made you go all googly-eyed, you can check out even more of Ayako’s work on her web site, right here. You can also buy some of her treats, right here.

Baby shower cakes

Butter sandwich cookies with rum raisins

Cheese souffle

Mont blanc

Manhattan graham cookies

Strawberry Cookie

Ginger bread house

Hands sable

 

The Mixing Bowl: Blue Hawaiian Ice Cream by Lili Chin

Lili Chin is a woman after my own heart. Her website, We All Scream, combines three of my favorite things---illustrations, ice cream, and unique flavor combinations---to create an illustrated recipe site that equally appeals to both my stomach and my eyes! Seriously, with ice creams flavors like Ginger Caramel, Strawberry Bourbon, Mexican Corn, and Sunflower Seed, how could I resist! There’s even an ice cream recipe for dogs! I was in dessert/design heaven. And it doesn’t stop there. In addition to these wonderful recipes, Lili creates individual labels for her ice creams that feature her designs. How cute is that?? When I first laid eyes on her site, I instantly knew that I had to ask her to contribute a recipe to The Mixing Bowl and when she sent over this recipe for Blue Hawaiian ice cream, I couldn’t wait to share it will all of you. I’m a huge fan of tropical flavors (tropical lifesavers were always my favorite pack) and I can’t take my eyes of the ice cream’s lovely blue hue. Who doesn’t love blue-colored food??

Malaysian-born Lili Chin is an artist and animator based in Los Angeles. She is the co-founder of FWAK! Animation, which produced its first feature-length animated film in 2006, Los Campeones de la Lucha Libre (The Champions of Wrestling). She was also the co-creator, producer and designer on Mucha Lucha, a Warner Bros' hit animated series which ran for 52 episodes on Kids WB and Cartoon Network. When not animating, Lili draws the cutest dog portraits over at Doggie Drawings. I love the retro kitsch look of her dog portraits and, as an animal lover, the idea of a getting a personalized pet painting really appeals to me! If you don’t own a dog, have no fear, she draws other animals as well. In addition, as the proud dog owner of a rescued Boston Terrier named Boogie, Lili donates a percentage of her Doggie Drawing sales to Boston Terrier/Animal rescue (woo hoo!).

To check out Lili's ice cream site, We All Scream, click here. If you’re a fan of this site, I’m sure you’ll love it as much as I do. You can see more of Lili’s work via her Flickr page and on her Doggie Drawings site. Thanks, Lili!

To see a larger version of the recipe, simply click on the image at the top of this post. You can also view additional images from Lili after the jump.

Jelly Babies

Photo by Brian Valentine

As far as sweets/desserts are concerned, I’m not a fan of jellied things. I never liked Jell-o, not even as a kid. Nor did I like jellied candy, like worms or bears. I don’t even really like jelly beans, although I do quite enjoy Jelly Bellies. Don’t ask me to explain the difference. Needless to say, I don’t really enjoy eating gelatin-spiked foods, but I do seem to be fascinated by them. Jelly keeps popping up on this site over and over and over again. As an object of interest, I can’t seem to resist a wobbly thing! I think some of it comes from the fact that jellied foods often take on the oddest and most bizarre shapes, like these Jelly Babies, for instance. There is something so wrong about them, yet I can’t look away! For starters, who wants to eat a tiny person? Not to mention the fact that there’s something almost alien-like and scary about their design. I can almost imagine them coming to life and forming a small army of jelly people, which will then take over the planet, filling it with tiny jelly houses, tiny jelly trees, and tiny jellied jelly donuts. I’m just saying. It could happen.

Image by Paul Frank

Jelly babies have been around, in some form or another, since 1918. But artist Mauro Perucchetti was the first person to turn them into art. The sculptures, which are made out of  polyurethane resin, have been featured in several of his exhibitions and were most recently installed at Marble Arch in London's West End.

From the artist: “Twelve years ago I created a body of work inspired by the dilemma between cloning and religion, and cloning and medical ethics. I decided to use the jelly baby as an impersonation of cloned mankind. I was trying to capture the ambiguity that could be present in a cloned being. On first glance, they seem very sweet, but from certain angles, they can look slightly sinister, especially on a large scale."

My thoughts exactly. Like I said, watch your back. To learn more about the history of Jelly Babies, click here. You can also find more information on Mauro's work via the Halcyon Gallery right here, as well as on his personal website, here.