The Mixing Bowl: Bakewell Tart by Katie Green

I am such an illustration geek that when Katie Green sent over these illustrations/pictures for her Mixing Bowl recipe, I had a little internal freak out (in a positive way, of course). Illustrations make me sooo happy and these Bakewell Tart drawings by Katie are just perfect! I was also really thrilled, and quite honored, to discover that Dessert Girl is now officially part of Katie's What I Wore Today series, in which she playfully chronicles her daily outfit choices, not in photos, but in illustrations! It's a great, whimsical alternative to all those fashion blogs out there. Here she is making her (vegan) Bakwell Tart for us!

But, wait, that's not all Katie's got up her sleeve! For a lot of designers, having one creative outlet might be enough, but not Katie. She's also has found time to write and illustrate a super cute vegan cookbook, in which this Bakewell Tart recipe appears and she is in the process of writing and illustrating a graphic novel that is set to be published by Jonathon Cape (see b&w image below). Oh, did I also mention the painting, papergoods, toys, jewelry, and graphic design work?? It's making me tired just thinking about it!

I hope you enjoy Katie's Blackwell Tart! She has assured me that it tastes as good as it looks in the pictures. Oh, and in case you're wondering, Katie used natural uncoloured glacé cherries on her version, which is why they look dark and prune-like instead of red! [click on the image at the top of this post to see a large-print, readable version of the recipe.]

Click here for more info on Katie’s latest projects, including her graphic novel. Also, you can check out her What I Wore series on Flickr, right here. If you're interested in ordering her vegan cookbook, Bake Me a (Vegan) Cake, you can contact her directly. Thanks, Katie!

More tart pics and artwork after the jump.

Pepi Sings A New Song

I’m always excited to hear about what past Mixing Bowl contributors have been up to, so I was thrilled to hear from Laura Ljungkvist about a children's book that she wrote and illustrated titled Pepi Sings a New Song. The story is about an enthusiastic parrot that roams his neighborhood looking for things to sing about. Among the places that Pepi visits are a music studio, an art studio, and, of course, a bakery! So cute! The book will be released April 20th and can purchased right here. Thanks, Laura!

The Mixing Bowl: Very Berry Lemon Mousse by Silvana Ferreira

I had just finished watching Coco Before Channel when I first came across Silvana Ferreira's photos on Etsy. I was already in full French mode after spending ninety minutes in turn-of-the-century France, so it didn't take me long to become mesmerized by Silvana's gorgeous photos of Paris. There's something about her colors that just lures me in, especially the image of the Place des Vosges.

The striking blue of the sky against the red of the building...together the two transport you to a whole different place entirely. I'm a big fan of old buildings, too, so I think that one is definitely my favorite in the bunch, but there are so many other photos that I love, and not all of them are of Paris! She has a lot of beautiful nature photos as well, including some floral images that are just lovely.



Today Silvana is kind enough to be sharing with us a recipe for Very Berry Lemon Mousse, which she made using lemons and mint that she picked directly from her own garden! It sounds like the perfect summer treat! Check out the recipe and photos after the jump to see what it's all about.

You can check out Silvana's Etsy site by clicking here. You can also visit her Website, right here, and her blog here. Thanks, Silvana!

You can find the complete recipe after the jump.

Lamb Cake: Clever or Disturbing??

I think it's safe to say that not everyone is going to love this cake. I'll admit that when artist Andrea Everman emailed it to me, I looked at the first pic and thought, oh, that's sooo cute and then I saw the second photo and my feelings changed to hmmm…it's also kind of disturbing, and then quickly switched back to but, it is clever. My emotions continued to sway back and forth like this for several minutes until I just couldn't take it anymore and had to ask for another opinion! I think it's definitely well done and interesting, but, as an animal lover, I don't know if I could actually eat it! On the other hand, the less emotional part of my brain keeps saying, why wouldn't you eat it! It's just cake! So, what do you guys think of this particular lamb cake or lamb cakes in general??? Clever or disturbing?

For those of you interested in trying this at home, the cake is strawberry and those are cilantro leaves filling in for the grass. Oh, and Andrea is a lovely lady and is going to making us a vegan dessert later in the year, so if you hate this cake, please don't take it out on her! :-) Thanks, Andrea!

Gummi Bear Chandelier

I've always been drawn to bold, statement making lighting fixtures, so when my friend Alja posted this beautiful chandelier on Facebook, I was instantly intrigued. It was only after I started reading the text that I realized that this isn't any ordinary light source. It's not made out of glass or plastic, but, drum roll please, gummi bears! Okay, so they're acrylic gummi bears, but the real thing probably wouldn't last very long once the light was turned on! Created by Kevin Champeny of the deign group Jellio, the chandelier is made out of 5,000 gummi bears and takes two months to complete. In addition, only ten of these babies will ever be made, so you will definitely be getting an original piece!

Jellio's Web site also features a number of other dessert-themed furniture, like an ice cream bench, cupcake table, and gummi bear lights. I'm not really sure these pieces would work with my décor sense, but I have to admit, I kinda like the Pop Art feel of that ice cream bench! There’s lots more to see at their site, so click here for more information. Thanks, Alja!

Inspiration Board: Easter

I love Easter, the spring air, the flowers, the bunnies, the Easter egg hunts, and the Easter basket filled with fake grass…and, of course, candy! My favorite Easter candy has changed quite a bit over the years. When I was a kid, I was crazy for Peeps and Cadbury Crème Eggs. As I grew older, I lost my taste for those too sugary treats and and now, when Easter comes around, I start craving Cadbury Mini Eggs and Resses Peanut Butter Eggs! Everyone has their favorite Easter candies and memories, but if you're looking for some new and fun ideas for your Easter table, check out the photos below! {Above: Raspberry-Lemon Easter Cake from The Food Network}

Chocolate Mousse-Filled Easter Eggs by Lauren at Fisher&Paykel. Gorgeous!


Martha Stewart's Springerle Easter Bunny Cupcakes


Easter Bunny Cake by Andrea Meyers. I love, love, love this cake! So cute and retro, like a cake I would have had when I was a wee girl.


Martha Stewart's Easter Paper Chains A super cute and easy way to spice up a simple cake!


Martha Stewart's Sugar-Coated Marshmallow Bunnies. These homemade Peeps made the rounds last year, but I still really love them!


Mini Cheesecakes from Bright Ideas. Again, I really like the old school feel of these. So sweet.


Easter Cookie Purse ($3) by Route 29. I have no idea what these taste like, but I'm a sucker for cute packaging and the illustration on this box is just great!

Edible Art: Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Couch/Cake

Someone once told me that buying fancy, and expensive, chairs and couches by designers like Mies van der Roche was ridiculous, when, really, when it comes to sitting, a rock will do just as well as a store bought chair. I don't know if I completely agree with that statement, but I did stop and wonder what he'd think about this particular piece of furniture, which is an exact reproduction of Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona couch. It's a fancy designer couch that you can't even sit on, but you can, at least, eat it . . . because it's a cake! And believe it or not, it sounds like it was actually pretty tasty. ARTINFO described it as "a moist, buttery layer cake with hints of cream, coffee, and liquor buried inside. The pillow was even softer, fashioned from an airy angel food cake spiked with vanilla."

Right about now you may be saying to yourself, wow, that's pretty cool, but why even make a couch cake? Well, this yummy replica was created by artist Leandro Erlich and pastry chef Guido Mogni as part of "cake happening" in New York that was organized by Raphaël Castoriano’s cake-art group Kreemart, which encourages artists to "explore dessert as a medium."

Now, I love this cake and the idea of thinking creatively about food, but anything with the word "happening" attached to it is a little too pretentious for my taste. Personally, I was getting annoyed just reading about the event. I could barely get through the article! That said, if you don't mind the possibility of getting annoyed, and would like to learn more about the "cake happening," click here.

Oh, by the way, this is also not the first time that Mies van der Roche's work has been captured in edible form. Remember the edible version of the Farnsworth House that I posted in January of 2009?

The Mixing Bowl: Brown Butter Berry Tart by Saelee Oh

Good morning! It’s a warm and sunshiny day here, so I thought it would be nice to start the morning with a delicious seasonal recipe and some cheery, colorful images. Saelee Oh's recipe and gorgeous artwork certainly fits the bill on both accounts! I don't know about you, but I have been dreaming about fresh raspberries for weeks now, so I thought it was the perfect time to post Saelee's recipe for Brown Butter Berry Tart. I hope it inspires you to make something sweet and sunny this weekend. Happy (early) Spring!



Saelee Oh is an illustrator, painter, and paper cut artist, who uses mixed media to create wonderful and whimsical worlds filled with animals, nature, and magic. Her beautiful and distinctive work has been exhibited around the world in cities like Los Angeles, Tokyo, and New York and has been featured in magazines like Juxtapoz and Giant Robot, as well as on wall graphics, t-shirts, and iphone cases. She also finds time to create a lovely calendar each year with fellow artist Jill Bliss that I just LOVE.

For more of Saelee's work, check out her Web site and online shop, right here. Thanks, Saelee! More pics and the complete recipe after the jump.

American Fashion Cookbook

The American Fashion Cookbook ($45) has my name written all over it! Fashion + Food + Colorful Illustrations by Designers??? Yes, please! The recipes included are both sweet and savory, but I, of course, immediatly foucused in on the desserts! Featured among the sweets are recipes for Betsey Johnson’s Cherry Sour Cream Pie, Cynthia Steffe’s Apple Crisp, and Mark Ecko's "Adults Only" Chocolate Chip Cookies ("adult" because they contain espresso).

From the publisher: Isaac Mizrahi’s Mushroom Truffle Spaghetti, Carolina Herrera’s Pommes Toupinel, Mark Ecko’s “Adults Only” Chocolate Chip Cookies, Derek Lam’s Yellowtail Crudo, John Varvatos’s Calaloo Soup—food can be fashionable too! Published with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and with a foreword by Martha Stewart, American Fashion Cookbook is a chic objet containing recipes and original illustrations by more than 100 American designers. Brimming with color, flavor, and personality, here are the fashion community’s favorite dishes and preparation tips. From the flirtatiousness of Strawberry Shortcake to the minimalism of Chocolate Ganache to the zip of Andalusian Gazpacho, here are all the recipes a stylish soul needs to whip up a tasteful brunch, a romantic dinner, or simply prepare comfort food, in a collectible volume.

Click here for more info and to buy online.

Devil's Food White-Out Cake w/ Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting

I've been wanting to make this cake since the day I bought Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. Quite honestly, it's the main reason that I bought the cookbook in the first place! So, when my sister's bday came around this year, I sent this cake, along with a few others, as possible choices for her cake. As you've probably already guessed by now, she picked this one! She did have one condition, though. Do not use the marshmallow frosting because, in the words of my sister, marshmallow is kind of yucky.

Luckily, Dorie states right in the recipe that you can use any sort of thick frosting for this cake, so, at my sister's suggestion, we went with a Bailey's frosting, instead. Well, actually my mom went with the Bailey's frosting, as she was the one who actually made the cake. I was, well, let's just say that I was not in a baking mood at the time. It all turned out well, though, because this cake was awesome! Sooo good! For some strange reason, my mom's cake was not nearly as high as Dorie's. Maybe the frosting wasn't as thick or sturdy. Regardless, it was mighty tasty! It's booze and chocolate! What's not to love? Btw, this doesn't taste like liquor, at all, but you can always add more Bailey's, if that's what you're into. :-)

You can find the complete recipe after the jump.

International Edible Book Festival

I was so thrilled to hear from artist Béatrice Coron about her wonderful edible book Hard Boiled Thriller: Tales of a Tough Cookie and a Smart Cookie, which she created for The International Edible Book Festival. Béatrice and Judith A. Hoffberg created the festival in 1999 and each and every year, on April 1st, people around the world show-off their own versions of edible books. Anyone can participate and the guidelines for what constitutes a book are very flexible. Click here for more info on the festival and here for more of Beatrice's edible books. Thanks, Béatrice!

Working in the cutout method, Béatrice Coron creates glorious images that have appeared on books covers, in subway stations, and on street corners, as well as having been included in the museum collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Getty, and the Bibliotheque Nationale of France. It really is amazing work. You can find other, nonedible examples of Béatrice's amazing art by visiting her Web site. You can also find some examples after the jump.

Sugar Bliss Cupcakes

I'm pretty taken with the frosting on these cupcakes by Sugar Bliss Cake Boutique in Chicago. Cupcakes have been everywhere for the past decade, so it's nice to see a new design option for this classic sweet.



Sugar Bliss offers more than 20 varities of cupcakes, with flavors ranging from cinnamon carrot to orange creamsicle and everything in between. They also carry breakfast cupcakes like apple cinnamon and berry berry. In addition, if you're jonzing for a sugar rush, you can also order up a frosting shot, for those who are so inclined. Personally, I prefer my frosting on cake, but I know people who can't resisit a shot of frosting in the middle of the day! Click here to visit their Web site and to order online.

Eating Animals, The Book

Let me preface this discussion by saying that, yes, it is true. I am a vegetarian. But I'm not the kind of vegetarian that forces my beliefs down the throats of friends, family, or any random passer by that happens to cross my path. I don't appreciate it when people tell me that what I believe is wrong, so I try not to treat other people with the same disrespect. That said, today, while I was engaged in a completely tedious and boring work activity, I passed the time by listening to various audio clips of writer Jonathan Safran Foer discussing his book Eating Animals. The more I listened, the more I realized something: I need to do more, personally, to make sure that what I'm eating is coming from a healthy and clean source, not a place that abuses animals or pollutes the earth, not one that makes me, or others, ill.

To some, that may seem like an obvious statement to make and, no, it wasn't a complete epiphany for me, either. It's not as though JSF was telling me anything that I hadn't heard, and thought about, before. As a person that is already conscious about what I eat, a person who already reads ingredient lists, and is concerned with animal welfare, his words didn't shock me, but they did serve as a reminder, a reminder to not be so lazy. As consumers, we come to rely on packaging and labels, which often, don't mean anything at all. Free Range, Cage Free, Organic, these words don't necessarily mean what we think they do. We have to take it upon ourselves to find out where our food is coming from.

I know that this is a dessert blog, so at first I wasn't sure if this would even be relevant, but then I realized that the major components of baking, ingredients such as eggs, butter, milk, are also a large part of factory farming. I'm not telling you what to do or how to eat, but I think it's important information, even if you eat meat, to know where that meat is coming from, how the animal was raised and treated and processed. Even small changes, even minor adjustments, in the way we eat food, in the way we think about it, can make a big difference. Just something to consider.

Inspiration Board: Kiss

Anyone who reads this site religiously or anyone who knows me personally, knows that I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day. It's not because I'm not romantic or sentimental. I just think it's silly, the way some people make such a big deal about it. Don't even get me started on Sweetest Day! Just writing the words "Sweetest Day" makes me angry! :-) That said, even I cannot resist the perfect Valentine card or the perfect Valentine cookie, so when my brother sent me this picture of the Kiss cookies that his friend made for her man on Valentine's Day, I immediately went, awwww. They are just sooo awesome! Make them for your man friend today or tomorrow or some other random day. Not because it's Valentine's Day, but just because you love him. :-) Check out more inspiring Kiss desserts below.

Kiss Cupcakes by Clever Cupcakes


Kiss Cake, from Kiss Online