Last week the SF MoMA had a four-day celebration to mark it’s temporary closing for a 3-year long remodel. The museum will open again in 2016 and in the mean time exhibitions will be scattered around different parts of the city. What we won’t see? The art-inspired pastry creations by Pastry Chef Caitlin Freeman of Blue Bottle Coffee. I went to the MoMA and did a proper send off by having one last dessert.
I selected the Hirst Cake inspired by Damien Hirst’s “Amylamine”. The edible confetti is what got me.
The entire pastry assortment the final week. Front and center is the most-recognized piece, the Mondrian cake that I enjoyed last fall. To the right, the Marclay Cookie Plate inspired by “The Clock” exhibit. Oh boy “The Clock”. There was such a commotion about it that a Twitter account (@TheClockSFMOMA) was created with updates on wait times which started at 1 hour and 45 minutes and went upwards to 3 hours. I didn’t have the time to wait and I was really there for pastry anyway. The creativity in the cookies is with the time stamp. When you place your order, they will powder sugar the time of the order onto your set of sable cookies. What a clever idea.
Upon receiving my Hirst Cake I was surprised to find a DIY project. I didn’t realize the cake would be blank. I suppose the edible confetti would disintegrate from the moisture on the frosting.
Tweezers anyone? Of course I had to make mine look as pretty as the original so I lined up each confetti one by one, making sure not to have any repeating colors. It was actually fun to do.
The inside had three layers of lemon velvet cake all dyed secondary colors. In contrast, the Mondrian cake colors are primary. The other difference is in the frosting. The Hirst has a cream cheese frosting and white chocolate ganache whereas the Mondrian has a dark chocolate coating. As far as the cake, I didn’t really taste the lemon but the cake was moist. The frosting was tasty but I prefer the dark chocolate pairing on the Mondrian more because of the contrast of sweet and bitter.
Until next time…If I really needed to I could go to the MoMA in NYC if I really wanted another pastry. I really admire Caitlin Freeman’s interpretations of the artwork and am glad I can at least leaf through her book, Modern Art Desserts whenever I’m in need of some inspiration.
Some fun Blue Bottle Pastry links:
The pastry team is not ready to leave the MoMA. Photo
Pastry Chef Caitlin Freeman’s Mondrian Manicure!! Photo
Making the Mondrian Cake Video
Mavea ‘My Water. My Life.’ with Leah Rosenberg Video
A really interesting video showing how they extract the salt from the water to use on the pastries
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