Blue Bottle Coffee

It’s no small feat to (ever-so-carefully) pack cakes into a carry on and shlep them on a plane from one event to another, as we have done a few times over the last month.  It is no less of a feat organizing the right ingredients, space and time to set up a cake-assembly across country.  The butter acts differently, the oven temperatures vary and sometimes you can’t get the ingredients you have come to rely on.  Not to mention imposing on another pastry team of three’s production schedule.  We were so lucky during our stay here to get to use the kitchen at Berry Street location in Williamsburg to not only get to use their space, but also have their enthusiasm, patience and help.

East Coast pastry manager, Lauren, still smiling after day two of Mondrian cake assembly.

Setting up in a new space with different ingredients, humidity levels, people (and aprons!) at moments made us feel like we were doing these things we have done a thousand times, for the very first time.  Then finally, after assembling your seventh Thiebaud cake of the day, you feel like yourself again…maybe even settled in.   It was throughout this time that we thought about all the people who may have their own copy of Modern Art Desserts making these cakes for their first time.  Caitlin expresses gratitude, encouragement below for all of you brave and creative souls!

from caitlin:

When writing Modern Art Desserts, I was well aware that many people would assume the recipes are too complicated to attempt, so I worked very hard to make everything easy(ish) to make at home. I made many modifications for how the more complicated desserts could be simplified for the home baker, and gave above and beyond instructions if you really want to go for the gusto. But, really, there isn’t really a way to make the Mondrian Cake any less complicated. Making the Mondrian isn’t impossible – oh no – it’s just that it’s a big mess while you’re making, it takes a few days of preparation and cooling time, and you don’t have anything resembling a satisfying or beautiful pattern until it’s all done and you cut into it. But then, then it’s magic! I figured that the Mondrian Cake recipe would be my version of the pig’s head terrine recipe in the Momofuku cookbook; something to aspire to, whether or not it makes much sense to try to pull it off in your home kitchen. But it’s the most popular thing we have ever made, so it had to be in the book, and I was going to work my tail off to make sure that it was really, truly do-able.

For the Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee, I had the very last minute idea to use the Blue Bottle Facebook page to try to find people to help test my recipes before I turned in my part of the manuscript to the publisher. I really wanted just a few folks to use the recipes exactly how they would if they bought the book, and send me their feedback. I wanted to know how different flours, sugars, butters and baking powders worked in the recipes, and I hoped for any feedback on instructions that may have been unclear. The response was overwhelming, I had 80 volunteers in just a few hours, and more helpful information than I could ever imagine. Not to mention the peace of mind of knowing that all of the recipes in our book worked successfully.

When the time came to test the recipes for Modern Art Desserts, I went right back to the original group of testers to ask for help. And, again, the response was overwhelming. I thought it was going to be impossible to get people to ever make the Mondrian cake, but I was wrong wrong wrong. In my two rounds of recipe testing (one before copyedits, one after, just to be safe), 10 people tested the cake that I thought nobody would want to bother with. And they were incredible! So much better than my junky first attempt (which still remains my most thrilling moment in my career. I remember the exact spot where I was standing, who was in the room, and what the weather was that day)!

And so, when deciding on a sentiment for the embosser I use for book signings, it seemed natural to make a statement of encouragement about the Mondrian Cake. I know it, you can totally make the Mondrian Cake! Jennifer Ivanovich, Kathleen Emma, Kathy Ems, Lois Mead, Tami Strang, Beatrice Hsu, Lisa Pereira, Mary Catherine Cooney, Maggie Spicer and Jessica Chien proved it as recipe testers, Michael Wong made a more perfect Mondrian cake than I may have ever made, and Ronna Mogelon figured that beast out on her own – without any help from me at all!

Michael Wong, a Bay Area engineer, picked up his own copy of Modern Art Desserts and sent us this photo of the Mondrian cake he made for his girlfriend’s birthday!  Lucky lady!

Go ahead, you can do it!  Rose Garrett, writer for SFist just did!

And if you need a little something to guide you (or a theme song) just watch this!

We like to try to make a cake about it. Or in the case of Jasper Johns, who turned 83 yesterday, a classic American grilled cheese sandwich.

L: Jasper Johns,”Bread”, 1969 from lead relief series. R: our grilled cheese sandwich, 2013

If he still lived in New York, we surely would have found his doorstep and left a birthday cake on it.  Johns is best known for his painting Flag (1954–55), which he painted after having a dream about it.  When the Jasper Johns retrospective went up last Fall at SFMOMA, we had some dreams of making all sorts of things based on these flags.  But when curator Kate Mendillo escorted us down to get a sneak peak at the lead relief series that was being stored downstairs before being installed, our minds went from cake to bread.  Neither of us were familiar with his lead works, so it was nice to refer to something we could learn more about. Using what we did know though, of Johns’ affinity to American icons, we settled on a classic American grilled cheese sandwich.  Caitlin had the idea of serving the sandwich on an over-size board so I went back down to the storage space with the ruler, measured the board and the slice of bread and scaled it down to a reasonable size (the board was still 16″ x 11″).

Not only were our visitors delighted by a savory option amidst a selection of sweets, there was this element of surprise when they were delivered this over-sized board to eat it off of.    The reference was clear.  And it was delicious.

Grilled cheese sandwich displayed at SFMOMA rooftop cafe.

When we can, we love to throw birthday parties for our art heroes.  Even if they can’t be there.  When Thiebaud turned 90 a couple of years ago, we brought down our Thiebaud exhibition catalog and pulled out all the stops.  Lollipops, pinwheels, hotdogs, a giant slice of cake raffle box, buttons…

Cake + ephemera from the party we hosted in honor of Thiebaud’s 90th birthday in 2010.

We looked into things he liked. We learned that he greets everyone with a “Howdy!” And so we made a series of postcards and guests were invited to write him a birthday greeting that were sent to him in a package by SFMOMA.   It was truly endearing to know how many people showed up and who’s lives he has inspired though his paintings and his teaching.

edition of a set of four howdy postcards on occasion of thiebaud’s 90th birthday.

Two years later, for his 92nd birthday, we made a selection of  cakes from one of our favorite paintings of his, ‘Display Cakes’, 1963.

Thiebaud cakes celebrating his 92nd birthday this year. Photo by Tess Wilson.

Oh, and ice cream cones.

Photo by Willa Koerner SFMOMA

Piet Mondrian’s birthday is March 7.   I guess we sort of celebrate it everyday (sometimes twice a day) making the Mondrian cake like we do.  He would be 140 years old by now.  One year on his birthday we decided to throw a tiny celebration in his honor.

Mini Mondrian cakes for Piet Mondrian’s 139th birthday that we would give away as a gift if the guest could answer a few questions pertaining to Mondrian’s paintings and inspiration.

Another one of our all-time favorites, Ellsworth Kelly, will be celebrating his 90th  birthday  at the end of this month.  The Chatman series will be up at MOMA and a special selection of his paintings will be on view at SFMOMA.  So while we are in New York, we are working on something with chefs, Sandra Mennino and Lynn Bound, to celebrate his birthday at MOMA, while we are home celebrating in our own sweet way at SFMOMA.  A bi-coastal birthday party for a painter who greatly inspires us anywhere we go.

by leah

When I was little I used to walk around the yard collecting rocks and pine cones, wrap them up in colored paper tied with ribbon and leave them on my neighbors doorstep as “pretty little surprises”.   At one point, I thought I had the power to convince my neighbor, Mr. Matthieus to quit smoking with one of these “surprise deliveries” in which I painted one stick to look like a cigarette and another to look like red licorice with a note that read Licorice tastes better than cigarettes.   You might ask why I didn’t just leave licorice for him.  Or how I knew, at the age of six, what a cigarette should really look like.  Or why I’m even sharing this silly anecdote with you.

The SFMOMA Blue Bottle pastry trio is in New York right now, where the most out-there surprises abound daily, along with the most ideal doorsteps.   Everytime I pass one, I want to leave a present, or sit myself down with a picnic of Red Vines and watch people pass by.  This city can swallow you up, but it’s endlessly inspiring.  As if there is not enough to see and do in NYC around this time of year, the city is crawling with art fairs. Which is one of the reasons we are here.  Blue Bottle had a booth at the Frieze Art Fair and we made a selection of art-inspired treats to serve to accompany the coffee drinks and art-viewing.

Frieze face and art-inspired treats at Blue Bottle Coffee Booth at Frieze New York

We weren’t really sure what to expect, but we wanted to be prepared for the crowds, the exhibitors, the art enthusiasts and delight them with what we hoped would our own rendition of “pretty little  (art-inspired) surprises”.  In preparation, we made a lot of cake, covered bunches of bananas in chocolate, boxed many cookies, trekked our treats over bridges and floated on boats, were faced with some tough questions, made some good decisions, shared memorable meals and ingested a lot of art.

tom friedman’s food-inspired sculptures made of styrofoam and paint shown in the luhring augustine booth.  untitled (pea) could have been easily been missed if it were not for the $35,000 price tag!

Perhaps it was a stretch bringing up that childhood story of my grand aspirations of a home-made gift having the ability to convince someone to break a habit, or to see something differently.  But I couldn’t help but think that it’s not far from what we aspire to do now with art and desserts.  I was making my way back to the kitchen from Frieze, considering what we could do in reference to a single green pea on a wall, when I stumbled upon this little surprise, and thought to myself how good it is to be somewhere else seeing new things in fresh ways and the circularity of it all.   And that perhaps I have come to a place in my life when cigarettes and licorice might actually make for an outstanding flavor combination for a sweet treat.

a moment in new york from one place to another

Would love for you to join us whenever, wherever.

SAN FRANCISCO

 

Caitlin has been on the go here and there and everywhere on occasion of this book with a Mondrian cake on its cover.  Perhaps i’ve mentioned it.

A wide range of people are familiar with Mondrian’s paintings and been inspired by his Compositions in Yellow, Blue and Red.  Homes have been decorated, Yves Saint Laurent did a whole line of color block dresses.

When Caitlin snuck in a trip to the nail salon between the book launch and an interview, she showed the ladies at the salon a photo of a Mondrian painting on her phone and they all recognized the reference.  She left with what I like to call the “Mondrian-icure”.  And soon after, at the East Coast book launch party met a woman with a blog called Nails + Nosh, featuring fancy manicures holding food (that typically matches).

Now you can have your Mondrian cake and nails done too.

Caitlin’s nails match her slice of Mondrian cake at East Coast book launch. photo by nails + nosh

The other day we ran out of Mondrian cake.  It was 4:35pm and it was tragic.   A guest in line ordered one just as we were pulling the display slice off the counter.  In desperation, he offered to eat the display.  We are very committed to making things look beautiful, but equally committed to making them taste delicious.  The slice of Mondrian cake on display by 4:35pm might be both, but it has been out all day and I have seen beautiful children with delicious cheeks poke the Mondrian cake  display with the very finger they just picked their nose with.  Many times.  And imagine how many times that has happened when I didn’t see it.

Trust us, you do not want to eat the display.

But that day, there were plenty of other items to choose from. Eleven to be exact!  A full cast of characters.  In celebration of the book, we have been bringing back old favorites.  Aside from the Thiebaud cake (which we always have), we only offer desserts based on artworks that are currently on view at the museum.  When an artwork comes down or a show closes, we stop making the dessert in reference to it.    It was crazy to think that years had gone by since last making the Jeff Koons white hot chocolate or theKatarina Fritsch ice cream sandwich.  Thank goodness Caitlin wrote about them, because we found ourselves having to reference it to recall some of the details.

The book (available now), showcases recipes and stories of 27 of the desserts we have made in the past.  But so much has happened in the process of making the book and over the last four years that didn’t make it in.  Special events, artist birthday parties,  one-offs for visiting artists, some things that just didn’t quite stand up.  We are up to 73 items in total.  We could spend the next two and a half years just telling stories about them.

The truth is there were Mondrian cakes at 4:35pm that day.  Four of them.  We had them all packed up along with 100 Mondrian cookie bags for a talk and workshop that the Los Angeles County Museum of Art invited us to participate in the following day.

activity at LACMA based on Rothko’s White Center painting involving red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting. mondrian cake was also served.

Running out of Mondrian cake is practically unacceptable now that there is a book on display with it on its cover. Honestly it  happens so infrequently if we can help it at all.  But on days when we have 700 cookies to bake off for 100 cookie bags on top of eleven other pastries on offer, it can happen.

Packaging up the Mondrian cakes has been something we have been working on for awhile with you in our best interest.  Each cake is packed almost like an artwork.  We might as well get a a crate custom built for each one.  So far they have made it to New York for the book launch, to Los Angeles packed in a roller bag and stored in the overhead bin.  And so far, all have arrived in tact.  This is good news, because this means we are close to figuring out how to make it available to everyone most places by sending it to you in the mail.   We have mixed feelings about this.  On the one hand, we believe the art-based desserts should be served in the museum as a way of  enhancing an aspect of delight to a museum experience.  On the other hand, we are faced with the museum closure and want to find ways of  extending this aspect of delight created through the experience of edible art-inspired treats.

Caitlin has always said that one of the reasons she was inspired to make Thiebaud cakes was because she loved the paintings SO much that she wanted to steal one, take one home to have as her own or eat it.   By making these desserts for you to consume in the museum, we hope that you get the sense that you have taken a beloved painting home or at least experienced it another way.   Now you have the chance to make it yourself.  To have your art and eat it to as it has been said.    You can totally do it especially with this as your guide and hopefully commiserate with us throughout as you imagine making forty of them in one week.

For book signings, Caitlin has been brings her embosser that she uses to embed the first page with this note of encouragement before writing you a sweet note.

Join us today 2-4 pm for the West Coast Modern Art Desserts book launch party at SFMOMA!

Free with the purchase of a book at the Museum Store or with museum admission.

I know I should have told you all about this sooner, but Tess and I have been busy making Mondrian cakes non-stop for the past week for several events in celebration of the book.  Here they are all ready to go for the East Coast book launch at Story in New York last Tuesday.

photo by caitlin freeman, april 16th 2013

That’s ten whole cakes.  That’s a lot of ganache. Tess even made up a song about it.  I heard her singing it while she was trimming the colored assembled sticks as I was on stand-by with ganache to glaze as she loaded the pan with perfectly square logs.   We have a good system.  To which we now had a song that went  something like “Mondri-on-and-on-and-on….Mondrian-on-and-on-and-on…”  to the tune of well, I can’t be sure, because that’s when my phone fell from the tray on the shelf into a fresh bowl of ganache.  Later that day, Tess tallied up our ganach-ing:   40 Mondrian cakes.  12 frozen bananas.  1 iPhone.  The phone still works (!), although everytime I try to take a photo, it looks like the subject is covered in ganache.

photo by tess wilson, 2013

I really believe that when Tess and I are in the kitchen together, it’s like the efficiency of three people. Tess is left-handed (which enables her and I to slice one assembled Mondrian simultaneously from either side without elbowing one other).  In the book, Caitlin refers to Tess as ‘the willow-y stunner’.  Although there is no doubt about it,  it’s still going to take me some growing to get over the fact that Caitlin wasn’t referring to me here.  So what if I have to get a milk crate to stand on to climb onto the counter to reach the blue food coloring  and then ask someone to spot me on my way down?

Besides being a tall beauty, Tess is also an entertaining writer (stay tuned for some of her posts), exquisite florist, and the most comprehensive list-maker.   She has impeccable insight, a knack for considering the big picture, and this unmistakable handwriting that she ferociously uses to label anything that hasn’t already been hit with a label gun.   And when she serves Mondrian cake at events, I ‘m not sure if people are lining up because of the cake or her gracefulness.  I could go on-and-on-and-on…

tess slicing mondrian cake

Like Caitlin, Tess also went to school for photography, so it’s thanks to her that some in-the-moment magic that otherwise would go undocumented are captured.  She gets herself through any recipe that calls for gelatin (she’s also vegan) by singing a made-up song about sparkly meat juice, as she did during our Mondrian-athon. If it’s tough and you know it, sing a song about it.

And thank goodness for Caitlin, who on top of writing this treasure of a book, always comes in with fun stories, new things to think about and usually bearing gifts.  This time it was our new smocks for our upcoming off-site projects, which we will be testing out today!  Designed and made by Matt at Small Trade Company which is located above our cafe at Heath in San Francisco.  He used this dark subtle pinstripe fabric that he says will definitely work in our favor to camouflage chocolate.  I’m sure I have no idea what he’s referring to.

photo by matt dick of small trade co./ “turret smock”

At times when we see an artwork it immediately makes us think of ice cream or cookies or bananas.  Sometimes an aspect of a particular painting reminds us of someone we know (and adore).  In the case of the wedding portrait Frida Kahlo painted in 1931 of her and her husband Diego Rivera, we couldn’t stop thinking about our good friend, Holly Bobisuthi who as mentioned in the book, helped design and craft this perfect little box to house our Frida Kahlo Mexican Wedding cookies.  Holly is trained as a metalsmith, brilliant at many other things like making hats and corsets, and has the most unique style.  She’s a vision for sure.  Here she writes about how she created this box as a gift to Frida, much in the way that Frida painted their wedding portrait as a gift to their friend Albert Bender in 1931.  You can read more about the process and materials required for hand printing this sweet box on page 103-05 of Modern Art Desserts and access templates for the stamps to make them a gift of your own here.

from Holly:

It’s always exciting to be asked to collaborate with other artists but when the other artists are Caitlin Freeman and Frida Kahlo it’s down right thrilling! Now make the medium print and COOKIES! Well, you can see how this becomes an irresistible proposition.

When Caitlin first approached me it was a little daunting.  It’s hardly a stretch to say Ms. Kahlo is an icon in 20th century art (a position helped by her self canonizing portraits). She has inspired do many artists and it can be easy to fall into some fairly standard responses. It came as a relief that the painting I was given was the wedding portrait.  The piece for me then became a gift to Frida rather than a piece about her.

“Look at her little shoes! The chubby bird!” became the refrain when Caitlin and I went to the gallery to look at the painting and take notes.  I was struck by the sweetness and softness of a woman so often seen in anguish or fiercely fighting to be heard.  This is the face of a woman in love. A woman who would bake cookies and wrap them with care to send home with all of the guests who have come to dance at her wedding or view her beautiful paintings.

Printing the Frida boxes + stickers. Photo courtesy of Clay McLachlan

Caitlin and I discussed the technical aspects of the packaging. It needed to be sealed, how will the cookies look in cellophane, how do we print the boxes, etc. but through all of that the sweetness of a wedding day had to shine through.  I played with a box and some ribbon until it was just right. The funny little bird became the announcer of the joyous news and with careful tying he held the printed banner in his wee beak.

Frida Kahlo Mexican Wedding cookies/ photo by Charlie Villyard

The cookie box is a gift from me to Frida and from Frida to all of the museum visitors who have reached the end of their journey and need a little treat to bring back into their lives.

by leah

Ok, that’s not true.  But her photo (as a floral-clad, disco bowler hat-wearing clown holding a bottle of pink something in a more than suggestive way) certainly did.

When Caitlin and I sat down with SFMOMA assistant curator of photography, Erin O’Toole, early last summer to flip through the Cindy Sherman catalog, we were a bit pressed to find anything the least bit, well… appetizing.  Cindy Sherman is known best for her elaborately “disguised” self-portraits that focus on social role-playing and sexual stereotypes. There were a lot of clowns in the show, which are disturbing anyways, but Sherman’s clowns verge on grotesque.  But when Erin turned to the clown in Untitled #415, it was decided.  The white face paint and raspberry red pants beckoned to be vanilla ice cream and raspberry sorbet.  And we were going to somehow incorporate edible holographic glitter.  No one does raspberry sorbet better than Humphrey Slocombe, so we asked if they would be our  go-to for this summertime treat. And as it turns out edible disco glitter exists and looks sensational on raspberry sorbet.

Cindy Sherman, Untitled #415, 2004/ photo by Clay McLachlan

With every new dessert since the “Serra censor“, we take an extra step in our process of research and development to try to meet with the curator working on the exhibition.  First and foremost, we seek out  images and artworks that we are inspired by, but we have found it helpful to meet with exhibition curators to get a breakdown of what images are being highlighted, the artist’s main concerns, and bring to light any obstacles we might encounter.    It’s a big deal for an artist to have a work included  in a major museum exhibition or their own retrospective at that, but we want them to feel an extra sense of delight/satisfaction when they get to see that we made a dessert about it.  Cindy Sherman was at the museum for a couple of days before the official opening and we desperately wanted her to get to try the float while she was here.  Erin made it happen one afternoon and brought her up to the rooftop with her assistants for a preview.   Although she didn’t scream, she did take a photo of it with her iPhone.  Which Caitlin captured with her iPhone.

photo by caitlin freeman

We also make great efforts to release a dessert in conjunction with the exhibition opening.  For the Cindy Sherman member preview party we brought out our drink fountain and filled it with bubblegum soda for guests to sample with their glasses of ice cream + sorbet.  It was a fancy time.

photo by andria lo

When asked what she thought of the float inspired by her photograph, she approved (phew!), but was concerned that people would take off with the custom coasters.  There is a terrific write-up by John Birdsall in which he addresses this and includes this stunning photo by Chris Rochelle of all the components that make it up.  You can also find the recipe for it on page 177 of Modern Art Desserts.  To make your own Cindy Sherman coaster, so you don’t have steal ours visit www.modernartdesserts.com and click on the TEMPLATES button.

Cheers to that!

photo by chris rochelle