Cookbook Excitement: Modern Art Desserts

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this cookbook! Back in 2009, I wrote a piece about pastry chef Caitlin Williams Freeman and the amazing work she was doing at The Blue Bottle Cafe, which is located at San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art. That piece was, and remains, one of my most popular posts. People can't seem to get enough of Caitlin's wonderful art-inspired desserts! And, now, with the release of her cookbook, Modern Art Desserts, you can find out exactly how she goes about converting famous works of art into gorgeous, edible desserts! Along with step-by-step instructions on how to create her most famous cakes, the Mondrian Cake and her trio of Thiebaud cakes, you will find recipes inspired by the works of Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Henri Matisse, Jeff Koons, Francesca Woodman, Roy Lichtenstein, and Richard Avedon, among others. Each recipe includes an image of the dessert, along with a photo of it's artistic inspiration, so that you get a real sense of the whole process.

Caitlin Williams Freeman is one of the true dessert art innovators. You can find out more about her cookbook by watching the video above. To order Modern Art Desserts: Recipes for Cakes, Cookies, Confections, and Frozen Treats Based on Iconic Works of Art, click here. ~Erin

{Cookbook photos by Clay McLachlan}

Whipped Bake Shop

As much as I love tile, looking at tile, dreaming about tile, I’ve never actually had the guts or the ambition to attempt a tiling project of my very own. It all seems a little too permanent to me. What if I don’t like it? What if I mess it up? What if? What if? Thankfully, Whipped Bake Shop in Philadelphia has come up with the perfect solution to my tile indecision. Tile cookies! Now you can indulge in a little tile buying frenzy, without any of the permanence, because, you know, the tiles will be going directly in your belly! The details on these cookies really are quite lovely. It is astounding how much they resemble actual tiles! And it doesn’t stop there. Whipped Bake Shop has a slew of unique cookies on their site. I’ve selected a few of my favorites  below. Each cookie is made with vanilla shortbread and hand-decorated by staff at the bakery using almond royal icing. You can find more info and buying information via their Etsy site and their website. (Thanks, Kristin!) ~Erin

Gina Beavers (Paintings)

The biggest, most obvious difference between paintings of food and the real, edible version that inspires them, is that paintings are flat, one-dimensional creations, while food, in its glorious reality, is a three-dimensional object, whose sole purpose is to be touched, picked up, and consumed. So, when I came across these wonderful paintings by artist Gina Beavers, I was instantly struck by their elevated structure. There is definitely a sculptural aspect to the work, which gives the food more of a “living” feeling that you wouldn’t necessarily get in a more traditional painting. Looking at the art, you are filled with an urge to reach out and grab a piece of the acrylic food on the canvas. There is also an unnerving sense that, at any moment, Gina’s food specimens might come alive and grab you instead! Or, perhaps, I've just been watching too many episodes of the Walking Dead! If you'd like to check out more of Gina's work, you can do so right here.  [Photos courtesy of  Clifton Benevento]

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]

Olive & Sinclair

I love every aspect of these chocolate bars by Nashville company Olive & Sinclair. The first and most obvious attraction is the packaging. You can’t help but be won over by the graphic, vintage-inspired wrapper. Next there are the unique flavors: salt and pepper, Mexican style cinn-chili, buttermilk white. (Don’t even get me started on the bourbon nib brittle.) I want to try them all! But the best part of all, tops on the “why I love this company” list, is the fact that the chocolate at Olive & Sinclair is handcrafted, slow-roasted and stone ground in small batches, using both new and vintage machinery. Owner, chef, and visionary Scott Witherow is a firm believer in the bean-to-bar process and uses single origin cacao beans to create a chocolate bar that feels so much more special and one of a kind, than your average ol’ candy bar. Check out the video above to find out more about their process. It’s a great combination of old and new chocolate making. Click here to check out all of the Olive & Sinclair products and to shop online.

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.

Sachiko Windbeil's Cupcake Toppers

I’m loving these edible cupcake toppers by pastry chef Sachiko Windbeil. Originally from Japan, and now living in New York, Sachiko’s toppers (or as she calls them “cupcake accessories”) are sooo darn cute, like little pieces of art. Of course, we all know that, at the end of the day, a cupcake has to taste good, but a sweet little Blue Jay on top certainly doesn’t hurt! Seriously, who can resist those Bird Watching toppers?? And the gourds?? Adorable! I also can’t get enough of the colorful Easter Bunny toppers. So lovely. Actually, I think all of these toppers would look equally great on top of cake, too, if cupcakes aren't your thing. All of Sachiko’s toppers are made out of fondant and available on her Etsy site, right here.  ~Erin

Pamela Michelle Johnson (Paintings)

Sometimes I’m able to look at a piece of art and I’ll instantly know what I like about it and why it makes me feel happy or sad or both. When I first saw Pamela Michelle Johnson’s food paintings, I was immediately hit with an overwhelming feeling of sadness. The pieces are somewhat upsetting to look at, and, at first, it was hard for me to really pinpoint why pictures of Oreos and Pop Tarts were upsetting me. There is real melancholy aspect to her work, a loneliness. These are painting of sweets, without any of the sweetness. Perhaps Pamela can explain it best.

From Pamela: Whether it is gluttonous quantities of larger than life junk food or the solitary empty wrapper, abandoned soon after devouring was complete, the images are charged with social relevance. The work flaunts our culture back at us. It questions embracing a culture of complete and instant gratification while ignoring the consequences of our indulgences. The work questions many of our cultural ideals and social norms. These are the pictures of our insatiable appetites; they are the pictures of the consequences. You can see more of Pamela's work below. You can also check out additional paintings via her website, right here. ~Erin

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