Summary
Taking cues from works by Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, and Matisse, pastry chef Caitlin Freeman, of Miette bakery and Blue Bottle Coffee fame, creates a collection of uniquely delicious dessert recipes (with step-by-step assembly guides) that give readers all they need to make their own edible masterpieces.
From a fudge pop based on an Ellsworth Kelly sculpture to a pristinely segmented cake fashioned after Mondrian's well-known composition, this collection of uniquely delicious recipes for cookies, parfait, gelees, ice pops, ice cream, cakes, and inventive drinks has everything you need to astound friends, family, and guests with your own edible masterpieces.
Taking cues from modern art's most revered artists, these twenty-seven showstopping desserts exhibit the charm and sophistication of works by Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Henri Matisse, Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, Richard Avedon, Wayne Thiebaud, and more. Featuring an image of the original artwork alongside a museum curator's perspective on the original piece and detailed, easy-to-follow directions (with step-by-step assembly guides adapted for home bakers), Modern Art Desserts will inspire a kitchen gallery of stunning treats.
Author Notes
A self-taught baker and longtime owner of the San Francisco cake and sweetsshop, Miette,CAITLIN FREEMANwas inspired to bake by the confectionary paintingsof California painter Wayne Thiebaud. After selling Miette in 2008, she started the pastry program at Blue Bottle Coffee Co. and coauthored The Blue Bottle Craft ofCoffee. Her artistic creations for the Blue Bottle Cafe at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art have been featured in the New York Times, Design Sponge, Elle Decor, San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, and more. She lives in San Francisco,California.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In her first cookbook, Modern Desserts, Freeman looks to blur the lines between food and art. As head pastry chef at the Blue Bottle Cafe in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), she looks to employ the layers of cake and confection as molding blocks for the creation of taste pleasing and aesthetically imposing edible sculptures. Partially inspired as direct representation of artists' works, such as the "Thiebaud cakes" or "Mondrian cake," and partially inspired by the ideas present in an artist's work (see "Ryman cake" and "Tuymans Parfait"), each creation is intrinsically linked to the element in which it was created. Recognizing the importance of the relationship between the art and food, the book is not content with just presenting recipes; it also displays the original artwork in color photos with brief explanations next to each picture. Although there is a possibility of applying techniques and concepts in this book for personal art projects, the scope of dessert construction and baking theory is limited by the very nature of the work. Billed as recipes based on "iconic works of art," the patisserie guide never really strays into creations of one's own mind; rather it stays safely in the box of copying recipes set out on the page (of which there are 27). With a lengthy introduction and only a small section on baking equipment and ingredients (nine total pages), this book is either for those who crave modern art in edible form or those who have a lot of time on their hands to experiment. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Although all of baker-author (The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee, 2012) Freeman's inspirations have been prompted by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, it's hard to believe that photographer Francesca Woodman's works could be classified as iconic especially since her portfolio spans only a few years. Nonetheless, this is a remarkably innovative collection of more than 30 dessert recipes, all of which are modeled on art owned by the museum. Since that's the home of the author's Blue Bottle Cafe, she takes full advantage of her environment, laying a good foundation, first, for those who dare to emulate her fancibles. (The names might sound simple, but processes alone consume many hours and demand much baking expertise.) For example, the Sherman ice cream float (after Cindy Sherman's photographs) is actually two recipes raspberry sorbet and bubble-gum-soda concentrate resulting in eight floats over the space of eight hours. Each recipe is accompanied by a photograph of the artwork upon which it is based, with a short but vivid description as well as instructions (with color photographs).--Jacobs, Barbara Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Freeman leads the pastry program for the Blue Bottle Coffee Company, which operates an outlet in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. For the museum cafe, Freeman creates art-inspired desserts like Mondrian Cake, Thiebaud Chocolate Cake, and Warhol Jell-O. Here, she shows advanced home bakers how to re-create these masterpieces. The book includes detailed assembly instructions for each dessert and a list of resources for tools and serving ware. -VERDICT Cookbook meets exhibit catalog in this art-themed collection, which includes a few repeats from The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Eat Your Art Out! Foreword by Rose Levy Beranbaum I first met Caitlin in 2004 when I visited her Miette Bakery production in Oakland. The purpose of the trip was to interview top bakeries for an article for Food Arts Magazine called "High Tide in the Bay Area Bakeries." The concept was that, although San Francisco had led the way in artisanal bread baking, it had lagged behind in the area of pastry. Michael Battery, visionary publisher of Food Arts, perceived this as changing and assigned the article. Meeting Caitlin turned out to be the highlight of the interviews. I had been given a set of questions to ask each baker. When I asked Caitlin where she and her partner, Meg, had gotten their training, to my astonishment Caitlin's answer was that she had started with The Cake Bible (my book). Was it any wonder that she captured my attention? But beyond the compliment, and in addition to her solid organizational and technical skills, I was struck at once by Caitlin's extraordinary creativity. The signature Miette cake, which she named the Tomboy, consists simply of three unadorned dark chocolate layers, filled and topped with a contrasting white buttercream, and decorated with just one small pink sugar rose in the center. Caitlin most generously gave me permission to include the recipe in my book Rose's Heavenly Cakes and even sent me some of the pink sugar roses for photography. The art director loved the cake so much that she used the photo to span the end pages, and by enlarging it created an impressionistic dreamy appearance, contrasting spectacularly with the all-dark chocolate cake I had designed for the cover. Over the years, as I watched Caitlin's work evolve, I saw that generosity, creative genius, and integrity were the hallmarks of her personality and character, permeating everything she touched. With every project or visit, Caitlin continued to gain my respect, and ultimately a deep friendship evolved. It may sound like a small thing, but any baker will realize how much it meant to me that when I traveled to San Francisco to make my friend chef Daniel Patterson's wedding cake, Caitlin loaned me a turntable from her bakery, and not just any turntable but the one that turned the most smoothly. She also drove all over the Bay Area amassing the equipment and special ingredients I deemed essential for my production. The launch of my most recent book, Rose's Heavenly Cakes, coincided with the opening of James Freeman's (Caitlin's husband) Blue Bottle roastery in Oakland. Caitlin came up with the inspiration to have a book party at the new roastery and invite bakers from the Bay Area to make their versions of recipes from the book. Caitlin and her baking partner, Leah, made artistic renderings of the Diebenkorn using my génoise, mini Mondrians using my white velvet cake, and a Josef Albers cake using layers of my carrot cake, quail egg cake, and red velvet cake, each covered with rolled fondant from The Cake Bible. People came from all over the Bay Area to taste the cakes, enjoy a special coffee drink created for the occasion, meet the bakers, and the author who never stopped meeting, greeting, signing books, and talking for a solid three hours. I first met James Freeman at the Old Oakland Farmers' Market when Caitlin and he had just started dating. I remember thinking that he had the same reverence for the quality of his coffee as Caitlin and I had for our baking. Given the grace, harmony, and focus of her life choices, is it any wonder that Blue Bottle coffee happens to be the best coffee I have ever tasted? Happily, Blue Bottle coffee and Caitlin's wonderful pastries are now available in New York City as well as the Bay Area. When Caitlin started to create recipes for SFMOMA inspired by designs from paintings she loved, I knew this would be the perfect expression of her talents as artist and baker. Three of Caitlin's edible art desserts, featured in this book, that I find the most enchanting are the white velvet cake and chocolate ganache, consisting of cake squares and rectangles of different sizes and colors held together by thin lines of ganache--a perfect replica of Piet Mondrian's Composition (No. III) Blanc-Jaune / Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue; the pistachio and honey parfait with cardamom/white chocolate--a stunningly simple cube constructed from thin white chocolate squares, charmingly decorated with line drawings of bees, and containing a deliciously ethereal filling, inspired by Richard Avedon's Ronald Fisher, beekeeper, Davis, California, May 9, 1981; and the adorable salted chocolate and vanilla bean ice cream sandwich--shaped to emulate the poodles in Katharina Fritsch's Kind mit Pudeln (Child with Poodles). I'm so proud and honored that Caitlin chose to use two of my cakes as the base for some of her creations. She asked permission, saying: "They are perfect as they are--I'd rather credit you than adapt and change them." How like Caitlin not to change things just for the sake of "owning" them. To me that is the ultimate sign of creative integrity and shows such a strong sense of certainty and security in her vision. Beyond the visual beauty, and engagingly accurate renditions of the paintings that inspired them, Caitlin's desserts are also uncompromisingly delicious. This book is unlike any other and a perfect reflection of the soul of Caitlin Williams Freeman. It is with great pleasure that I welcome this dear friend and fellow baker to the world of cookbook writing. --------------------- Kelly Fudge Pop Makes 8 to 10 fudge pops Hands-on time: 15 minutes From start to finish: 4 to 5 hours Do Ahead: Stored in an airtight container, the fudge pops will keep for up to 2 weeks in the freezer. Above and Beyond: This recipe works well in any ice-pop mold, but if you want to create a miniature edible Ellsworth Kelly sculpture in your home, see Resources (page 205) to order the silicone ice-pop molds we use at the café. 8 ounces (227 g) high-quality bittersweet chocolate (62% to 70% cacao), coarsely chopped 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 11/4 cups (10.4 oz / 290 g) heavy cream 1 cup (8.6 oz / 242 g) whole milk 1/4 cup (1.8 oz / 50 g) sugar 4 teaspoons natural (not Dutch-processed) unsweetened cocoa powder 1 teaspoon kosher salt Have ready 10 ice-pop molds. If your molds are flexible like the ones we use at the museum, set them on a rimmed baking sheet. Place the chocolate in a large heatproof bowl, add the vanilla extract, and set aside. In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the cream, milk, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking often to break up the lumps of cocoa powder, until bubbles start to form around the edges and the temperature of the mixture registers 180°F to 190°F on a digital thermometer. Immediately pour the cream mixture over the chocolate and stir with a whisk or blend with an immersion blender until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is a smooth liquid (a thoroughly emulsified mixture will yield the most creamy fudge pop). Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a liquid measuring cup. Pour the chocolate mixture into the ice-pop molds and freeze until solid, at least 4 hours or up to 2 weeks; follow the manufacturer's instructions for inserting the sticks. If you don't have ice-pop molds, pour the chocolate mixture into ice cube trays; freeze until partially frozen, about 30 minutes, and then insert a toothpick or short wooden skewer into each ice pop. Continue freezing until solid. Unmold the fudge pops, dipping the molds into warm water to loosen, if needed, and serve. Excerpted from Modern Art Desserts: Recipes for Cakes, Cookies, Confections, and Frozen Treats Based on Iconic Works of Art by Caitlin Freeman All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
