At SFMOMA, You Can Have Your Art And Eat It Too
Since 2008, Caitlin Freeman has been the resident pastry maestro at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's Blue Bottle rooftop cafe, where visitors can treat themselves to their very own piece of, say, Warhol or Kahlo—and devour it. There, the self-trained pastry chef turns out exquisitely made desserts replicating some of the museum's iconic artworks, which have arguable become iconic works of art on their own, most especially her oft-photographed Mondrian cake, a layered construction of vanilla and red velvet cake with chocolate ganache.
What one-time visitors may not know about the cafe's offerings is that they're constantly being updated and rotated to feature different pieces from the galleries below. The newest additions to the lineup include a Donald Judd–inspired tomato soup with a saffron cracker-ring, as well as a layered lemon cake that pays homage to Damien Hirst's "Amylamine."
For a behind-the-scenes the scenes tour of how Freeman actually constructs her confections, her book, Modern Art Desserts: Recipes for Cakes, Cookies, Confections, and Frozen Treats Based on Iconic Works of Art, goes on sale next month. Til then, check out some of the cafe's latest "installations" and their originals below.
A layered cracker and cheese plate, inspired by Josef Albers' "Homage to the Square" series: buttermilk crackers, cheddar cheese, a parmesan-cream wafer and goat gouda.[/caption]
Toast and jam, inspired by Mark Rothko's "No. 14, 1960:" Acme bread, apricot butter and wild blueberry jam.[/caption]
Layered cake inspired by Damien Hirst's "Amylamine:" lemon velvet cake with white chocolate ganache, cream cheese frosting and edible confetti.[/caption]
Freeman's book, Modern Art Desserts: Recipes for Cakes, Cookies, Confections, and Frozen Treats Based on Iconic Works of Art, goes on sale April 16.