Inspiration Board: Breaking Bad

(This post does not contain any spoilers!) This Sunday, Breaking Bad, arguably of the best shows on television ever, ends it's six-year run. In honor of this momentous occasion, I thought it would be a good time to post some of my favorite BB desserts. I'm sure there will be a lot of parties this Sunday, so I thought I would provide a little inspiration to get you started. The most obvious, and probably simplest way to work the BB theme into your desserts is to by using blue rock candy (aka blue meth). I've only selected a few blue meth desserts below, but the ways in which you could use it are pretty much limitless. Personally, I think my favorite piece is the pink bear cake, which was shown floating in a pool, quite mysteriously, in several episodes. It's such a creative and original idea! I hope you're inspired by the rest of the desserts as well. Enjoy the the finale on Sunday and have an A-1 day! (Cookies above by Semi Sweet) ~ Erin

Blue Meth Cake by 17 and Baking

Bear Cake by hollyicing

Cookies by Sugar Rush Treats

Cookies by Semi Sweet

Heisenberg Hat Cake by Sweet and Splendid Bakeshop

Matt's - The Chocolate Shop

Okay, let’s talk about minimalism for a second. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for minimalism. I am not a tchotchke kind of gal. That said, minimalist desserts don’t come up that often on this site. I’m not sure why. Maybe because minimalist sweets aren’t as showy, aren’t as “oh, wow,” that I wonder if people will be interested. Well, the minimalism freeze is about the thaw out right now because I am in love with the design concept of Matt’s - The Chocolate Shop! The brown and navy packaging was created by design firm Tofu and features a graphic yet simple theme, while the shop’s interior is sparsely decorated with a clean, contemporary feel. But it’s not only Matt’s branding and style that is pared down to the bone. The menu itself is an effort in simplicity, focusing on one modest chocolate fudge cake. Actually, when the shop first opened in Singapore they only sold chocolate cake. I totally love the idea of a bakery selling only one item. They have added a few things to the menu since their opening in the summer of 2012, but the focus is still on the dark, not too sweet, chocolate cake, as it should be.

Edible Art: Amy Stevens

When it comes to baking, there’s perhaps nothing braver than diving head first into a decorating idea, with little or no experience behind you. It takes a certain amount of confidence, and a certain amount of humor, knowing that what you are about to do could go terribly, horribly wrong. This was exactly the challenge Amy Stevens faced when she first started her Confections Series, which began as a response to her 30th birthday and quickly transformed into something else entirely.

From Amy: My original idea was to bake 30 birthday cakes for myself and photograph them. I ordered a kit from Martha Stewart.com and watched an instructional video on decorating cakes. When I quickly discovered my cakes were never going to look like the ones in the video and the pamphlet, I decided they were better off in their exuberantly imperfect states.

In the end, it’s the flaws in Amy’s cakes that make them so great. The unevenness and bright colors of the desserts, which are often set against similar graphic backgrounds, are so absurd that you can’t help but smile. The content is garish and trashy, but that’s the reason you love it. In a way, these cakes remind me of characters on a child’s television program, a claymation fantasy where the charm is in the imperfections.

Amy’s photographs aren’t all about the cakes, though. There is a deeper meaning beneath the layers: I am commenting on cake as a rich cultural symbol as well as the domestic fantasy world of contemporary home decorating magazines and television shows. It’s a fantasy world where entertaining, cooking and decorating unite. It’s a place where one needs to have a beautiful home, decorated seasonally, in order to entertain friends with gourmet meals and elaborately concocted desserts.

I really love the whole idea behind the Confections series and the photos are just mesmerizing. You can see more of Amy’s work on her website. You can also buy prints online, via her Etsy shop.

Sweet Testing: Pumpkin and Bee Pollen Cake

I almost didn’t make this cake. I went back and forth, and back and forth, over and over and over again. Yes! No. Yes! No. It went on like this for days! All because I couldn’t decide whether bee pollen + cake was a good combination! You see, this is the first bee pollen recipe that I have ever come across and, at first, I couldn’t wait to try it! Then, after doing a bit of research, I discovered that some people have extreme reactions to bee pollen supplements. Oh, no! What if someone has to be rushed to the hospital after eating my cake! None of party guests seemed all that concerned about bee pollen side effects, though, so, in the end, I finally decided that I would go ahead and make the cake, and I’m sooo glad that I did. This is a really tasty cake. Really. The coconut and the pumpkin go really well together and the date crust is simply wonderful! It’s also very easy to assemble and it is, visually speaking, so bright and sunny that you’ll feel better just by looking at! As far as the bee pollen is concerned, I don’t really think it’s a necessary ingredient, although the creator of this recipe, artist Kirra Jamison, considers it to be an essential element. Perhaps, I just didn’t use it correctly. It makes a good story, but it didn’t add much in my opinion. If you do use it, you may want to warn your guests beforehand, in case they are allergic to bees or have problems with asthma. You can find the complete recipe after the jump.

Edible Art: Cake Decoration Machine

I’ve never been very good at cake decorating. Oh, sure, I can fake it, to a certain extent, but, when it comes to fancy icing, I am no expert. So, as you can imagine, when I first saw this cake decorating machine, I immediately thought, Ohhh…where can I get one of those?? In reality, this clever device is not a bakery standby, but was created for the exhibition Design Criminals or A New Joy into the World, in which designers “were asked to react to Design activities such as tattooing, hair dressing, or arranging flowers, which usually happen outside design discourses.” The cake decorating exhibit, created by Studio mischer‘traxler and titled Till You Stop - How Much is Too Much?, allows the visitor to apply frosting to a cake, letting them choose whether they want a lot of decoration or a little. The user watches as the machine constantly updates it’s palate and must decide when to stop the process. Once the user stops the machine, it cannot be started again. It’s an interesting look at the art of cake decoration, replacing work that is traditionally done by hand and replacing it with a machine. It also forces users to make design decisions rather quickly, raising the question, What do you find visually exciting? Are you attracted to simplicity or something more elaborate?

The cake decorating machine is currently part of the permanent collection of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna. ~Erin

Cookbook Excitement: Bake It Like You Mean It

Pastry chef and author, Gesine Bullock-Prado, is a woman after my own heart. Her cookbooks are always filled with recipes that are not only delicious, but visually exciting as well. Her new cookbook, Bake It Like You Mean It, is no exception. The book is completely devoted to unique, graphic, and beautiful cakes! Each chapter centers around a different kind of cake technique. You know those sweet and colorful rainbow cakes that have been popping up everywhere over the last few years? Have you ever wanted to make one of those, but have been just too intimidated to try it? Well, Gesine will show you exactly how to do it! In fact, her new book specializes in just these sorts of eye popping desserts. The kind that, when cut, reveal intricate layers of patterns and designs, such as hearts, checkerboards, helixes, and stripes. For more info on Gesine’s new book, click here. [Photos by Tina Rupp]

Hanna-Riikka Heikkilä's Cakes

I’ve always been a little bit in awe of home bakers who are always decorating their cakes in such original  and interesting ways. They’re not professional pastry chefs. They’re cakes are not necessarily perfect. They simply enjoy using food as a creative outlet and bringing joy to the people around them Hanna-Riikka Heikkilä is one of those people. A visual artist and art teacher by trade, she makes the most gloriously unique cakes for her friends and family in Finland. Each and every one of her creations is so vibrant and funky, like little pieces of art. It really seems to me that, as an artist, Hanna-Riikka has found an ideal base material in cake!

I asked Hanna-Riikka to share a little bit about her cake making process with dessert girl readers. Here is what she said:

When did you start baking?

I feel like I have always been baking. I was able to bake at home when I was little girl. That's when the first attempts to decorate cakes took place. I remember, when I was a young girl, my mother let me to bake my own cake. I decided to make it green and she let me to do it! It was very important to me. A few years ago, when my children were born, I started baking again. Luckily, in the cake shops, there are many kinds of decorative accessories that you can buy.

What inspires you?

I am a visual artist and art teacher so the biggest inspiration is art. Usually one sees very figurative cakes, but I am more interested in abstract cakes. Colors, different textures and combinations inspire me. Quite often I become inspired in a shop where you buy cake accessories---the colors they have and so on. Usually I use sugar paste on top. It is the most important thing in my cakes. But of course I want the cake to be delicious, too.

I want somehow to break the conventions of the cake world. I hope every cake I bake and decorate is a piece of art.

Hanna’s cakes really are incredible. I think my mouth was hanging open a little bit when I first saw them. I wasn’t even entirely sure that they were cakes! For more info on Hanna-Riikka, you can visit her blog, right here. (Thanks, Hanna-Riikka!)

You can find more cake pics after the jump.

Rifle Wedding Cake

I am a huge fan of Rifle Paper Company, the stationery brand and design studio created by illustrator Anna Bond and her husband Nathan. Anna’s drawings manage to be extraordinarily lovely, while still maintaining a feeling a fun and whimsy. I’ve admired her work for years now, so when I saw this Rifle-inspired wedding cake by pastry chef Melody Brandon, I couldn’t resist sharing it!

Inspired by a popular Rifle floral print, Melody painted the cake by hand and then added tiny sugar flowers to the cake to create a 3D effect. Frankly, I did a little happy dance inside when I saw it. How could I not? It combines two of my favorite things:  Rifle and cake! It’s so sweet and charming, I don’t know if I could bear to cut into it, but I would…because it’s cake! For more info on the Custom Floral Portrait Print that inspired the cake, visit Rifle's website, right here. You can find more info on Melody Brandon’s dessert studio, My Sweet & Saucy Shop, on her website. ~Erin

M. Robin Cakes

Where wedding cakes are concerned, the old saying "if you've seen one, you've seen 'em all" generally holds true. There isn't much variety in the wedding cake industry. It's a traditional sweet and most bakeries don't veer too far off course in their wedding cake offerings. It is definitely a business that needs a good kick in the pants and M. Robin Cakes in Portland, Oregon, is just the bakery to do it! Instead of making run-of-the-mill wedding cakes, owner, baker, and designer Marcella Robin makes these amazing and beautiful entrement cakes, which is a European style cake also known as a torte. It is made with sponge cake and layered with a variety of creams, custards, and mousses. The cake designs are created using a jaconde, which is a decorative sponge cake. The design in not applied to the cake like frosting, but actually baked into the sponge, creating a smooth finish. It is a completely fresh approach to wedding cake design and it makes perfect sense that Marcella is not only a graduate of the Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver, but that she also has a bachelors degree in sculpture. She treats her cake design in much the same way as any traditional artist.

From Marcella:  I can’t always predict how a design will “read” on a cake, so a big part of what I do is testing to see whether a design is truly spongeworthy. The tests are never eaten. They get wrapped, labeled, and frozen for inspiration and archiving. Instead of a sketchbook, I have a sketch pile — of spongecake.

Needless to say, I am a huge fan. When I first saw their website, I immediately jotted down the link and wrote the words "so awesome" next to it. You can check it out for yourself, right here.

Greely Myatt

I love wood. I love dessert. Put the two together and, wowzers, I’m in design heaven! That said, it should come as no surprise that I’m a big fan of these whimsical wooden desserts by artist Greely Myatt.  A faculty member at the University of Memphis, Myatt’s work is at once playful and realistic, rustic yet campy. My favorite pieces are definitely the cake sculptures. The craftsmanship, with these pieces in particular, is amazing and I’m seriously in awe of how lifelike they look, considering that they’re made almost entirely out of wood (with a little acrylic frosting). In addition, the environmentally concerned part of me is happy to report that Greely often works with reclaimed materials (wood, metal, etc) when creating his art, which is always a good thing. If you like what you see here, be sure to check out more of his pieces. Dessert art is only a small part of his work. ~Erin

Photos courtesy of PDX, The Running Horse, and Koelsch Gallery

Oh, and for anyone who is interested, I just started a Dessert Girl Pinterest page. I've been on Pinterest for a while now, but decided to start a page for DG as well. I hope to see you there! :-)