Dessert Table: Watercolor Wonderful

Vibrant paints inspired the design of this Sweet and Saucy dessert table. Check out the soft petals painted on the cake's bottom tier.

images by Scott Clark Photography via GWS

Macarons in Midair

I came across these Carl Kleiner macaron photos this weekend, and couldn't stop looking at them. I love the way the macs suspended in air. The third photo looks like a giant whisk.

If you've seen this table I designed, then it's probably no surprise that I like the purple and white macarons in the whisk image.

Carl also photographed last year's IKEA cookbook Hembakat är Bäst (Homemade Is Best), which depicts the ingredients rather than just listing them. The blog Apples and Onions featured some of the book's recipes.

These ingredients make...

...these gingerbread people.

I think more cookbooks could benefit from visual ingredient lists, especially if they're styled as nicely as the IKEA images.

images by Carl Kleiner, dessert table image by Sweet Shibui

Cake Imitates Art

The Fall issue of Martha Stewart Weddings features cakes inspired by famous paintings. Here are a few of my favorite interpretations.

A variety of colored fondant dots decorate this cake to resemble Damien Hirst's dot paintings. Eliminating the letters keeps the cake from looking too cluttered.

This sculpted cake has a painted quality. It looks like the canvas brought to life. Just look at the golden tips on those orange-red flowers and the metallic shimmer on the flower urn. Stunning.

It would have been so easy to make little yellow and light blue fondant squares to cover this cake, but re-creating the artwork from an aerial view on mini cakes is a great mod idea.

Be sure to check out all of the art becomes cake features here and tell me, Which of these three is your favorite?

Magpie's Cake

When a world-class ballerina decides to pursue a career in baking, you just know the results are going to be beautifully elegant with a sophisticated flair for symmetry and details. While perusing Eat Drink Chic yesterday, I came across Amy's post about Magpie's Cake and just had to check out cake artist Maggie LaBaugh's portfolio.

I'm head-over-heels for the delicate, translucent layers on this cake. I've never seen anything like it.

I usually find off-center cakes a little too gimmicky, but this one still manages to be refined and dignified. That flower looks like it's balancing on its tiptoe.

Just look at this detail work. Each petal looks so weightless and fluid.

Each of these cakes stands as a testament to artist Maggie's skilled, delicate handiwork. Although they look effortlessly graceful, they are very labor-intensive designs.

Art Imitates Life(savers)

 

 

Rockmade artists, Rebecca Odes and Craig Kanarick, work in the sweetest medium. Forget oils and pastels, these artists use candy to make limited edition prints.

Looking at each monochromatic print can help you come up with untraditional candies to fit your event's color scheme.