Have you ever created your own Mondrian? No? That’s your chance!

A while ago I saw a picture of a Mondrian-cake on Instagram. And it didn’t let me go, so I decided to give it a try. While searching for recipes in the deep of the World Wide Web, I found an amazing book containing numerous recipes for cakes, cookies, confections and frozen treats based on iconic works of art. It is called “Modern Art Desserts” and written by Caitlin Freeman, pastry chef at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts (SFMOMA).

Yesterday I started my Mondrian cake hands-on challenge. After almost 6 hours of baking, cutting and gluing the pieces together I finished it today. The measuring and cutting part turned me almost insane. As advised I measured twice, and cut once. But when I put them together, they did not fit together exactly… So ad-hoc adjustments with a sharp knife were necessary. The 3D-modeling part was not easier either. I felt like a plasterer with chocolate. Somehow I managed to do it, but the kitchen was more than just messy afterwards.
A bit sad is that you only really need an inch-square strip for the three colored cakes, which leaves hefty leftovers. Freeman advices to freeze them for next time, but it was impossible to find enough space in my freezer. With a rule of thumb estimate I cut the remaining parts and glued them together with the remaining chocolate ganache. And that’s how I got a second Mondrian-like cake :D. Hell yeah – I have two cakes now. Thousands of calories ready to be eaten.

The ingredients are definitely not cheap and if you think the cake is healthy, you still believe in Santa Clause right? Will I try it again? Probably yes, but with adjustments in the whole process. For the next time, I’ll try to get more bowls to mix the colors and two more cake pans so I can bake all at once. In addition, the chocolate ganache can be prepared before. So I will bake all cakes the first day and create the chocolate ganache, then play Tetris the next day. Seems legit. The second cake will hopefully become easier. And future will show, maybe another Mondrian composition in red, blue and yellow will find itself modeled in a cake.

Photo by Ernest Ojeh on Unsplash


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