In our continuing exploration of creative design minds, we look at some of baker Caitlin Freeman’s iconic art inspired desserts. Learn more about the path that brought her here, in Part I of this blog.

Wayne Thiebaud Cakes:

After checking the details of Wayne Thiebaud’s painting, Display Cakes, 1963, up close when the museum brought it out of storage for her, Freeman chose an Italian meringue buttercream frosting to capture the consistency and texture of the thick oil painting. Freeman’s Thiebaud cakes include a yellow layer cake with raspberry buttercream; a chocolate cake with Lillet vanilla poached strawberry filling and strawberry buttercream; a chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and vanilla buttercream; a butter cake with lemon curd and strawberry buttercream; and a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and chocolate ganache, topped with a fresh raspberry or a dot of red buttercream, depending on the season.

Piet Mondrian Cake:

This cake was probably Freeman’s most popular, iconic, and viral dessert, and one of the few that was a constant on her otherwise rotating menu. Some museum guests told her that they paid the museum admission fee just to eat it. Initially, Freeman wasn’t sure how to make something appealing from Piet Mondrian’s minimalist primary-colored canvases, but knowing how seminal his work was, wanted to include it. The idea for the dessert, inspired by Mondrian’s, Composition No. III, came from the image of a traditional Battenberg Cake, spotted in a Victorian-era recipe book. The checkerboard-like interior of a Battenberg could easily be adapted for Mondrian’s grid-like compositions. This cake is one of the few times when Freeman didn’t rely solely on natural food dyes from seeds, fruits, and flowers. Regular food coloring was used to achieve Mondrian’s richly pigmented hues.

The Mondrian Cake takes over one day to complete, as separate individually baked white velvet cakes (including one dyed red, one blue, and one yellow) have to be cooled, shaped, and assembled together. The separate pieces are joined with a chocolate ganache cream frosting that recreates the black lines intersecting Mondrian’s canvases.

Andy Warhol Gelée:

A red, pink, and mint green gelée inspired by Andy Warhol’s pop art print of Elizabeth Taylor, Liz #6 (Red Liz), from 1963.

Frida Kahlo Wedding Cookies:

These walnut flavored Mexican wedding cookies came wrapped and ribboned in a custom box with text inscription and hand printed bird, inspired by Firida Kahlo’s wedding portrait from 1931. Holly Bobisuthi assisted Freeman with the design of the packaging.

Mark Rothko Toast:

Freeman’s Mark Rothko inspired color field toast was an interpretation of the artist’s, Composition No. 14, from 1960, which was included in SFMOMA’s exhibit, Selected Histories: 20th Century Art from the SFMOMA Collection. The toast was made from Acme pain de mie bread, apricot butter, and wild blueberry jam.

Damien Hirst Cake:

This layered lemon velvet cake with white chocolate ganache cream cheese frosting was inspired by Damien Hirst’s, Amylamine, which was part of the museum’s exhibit, Don’t Be Shy, Don’t Hold Back. The cake came served with a side dish of edible rice paper confetti dots to be arranged on top of the frosting à la Hirst’s design.

Buckminster Fuller Hot Chocolate:

Inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s, Proposed Tetrahedral City, 1965, Freeman’s hot chocolate featured a tetrahedral shaped marshmallow pyramid on top, and a sprinkling of sea salt that was hand harvested in the San Francisco Bay, the place where Fuller envisioned his city. Freeman and her team simmered the collected seawater in the Blue Bottle kitchen, and evaporated it down into flakes of homemade sea salt.

Barnett Newman Cookies:

Inspired by Barnett Newman’s sculpture, Zim Zum I, from 1969, these cookies are one in series of build your own sculpture desserts that Freeman served at the cafe.

Jeff Koons Hot Chocolate:

A spicy citrus hot chocolate with white chocolate, cardamom, lemon zest, and gold leaf Lillet marshmallows was served in a gilded gold and white Turkish tea cup, inspired by Jeff Koons’, Michael Jackson and Bubbles sculpture, which was part of the museum’s Anniversary Show around the time of Michael Jackson’s passing.

Roy Lichtenstein Cake:

A red velvet cake with white frosting and red Ben-Day style dots was inspired by the red toned right hand panel of Roy Lichtenstein’s, Rouen Cathedral Set V.

Francesca Woodman Cheese and Crackers:

When SFMOMA hosted the first U.S. retrospective of Francesca Woodman’s work in over two decades, Freeman was inspired to create something based on the artist’s use of texture, as she often contrasted her subjects with the environments they were captured in. Freeman chose Woodman’s self-portrait against a rough wall as the inspiration for her Scandinavian style rustic whole wheat, rye, butter, and yogurt crackers topped with a creamy ricotta cheese, delicate flower petals, and flakes of black Hawaiian sea salt.

Cherry Bombe Dries Van Noten Cake:

Designed for the premiere issue of Cherry Bombe magazine in 2013, with a theme of the convergence of art and fashion, Freeman reinterpreted Dries Van Noten’s ethereal pastel plaid shirt and textured floral skirt from his Spring 2013 collection, in a plaid interior cake with gum paste flower frosting.

Richard Avedon Parfait:

A white chocolate cube with custom bee transfers and frozen honey pistachio parfait filling was inspired by Richard Avedon’s black and white portrait of beekeeper Ronald Fischer, which was featured in the artist’s photography exhibit at the museum.

Ellsworth Kelly Fudgsicle:

A creamy chocolate fudge popsicle with matte cocoa powder finish was inspired by Ellsworth Kelly’s, Stele I, sculpture, which stood in SFMOMA’s rooftop garden near the Blue Bottle Cafe. The 1” thick, 18’ tall, 7 ton rusted Corten steel sculpture screamed fudgsicle to the team.

Mark Bradford Collaged Cheese Plate:

An abstract arrangement of cheese, homemade buttermilk crackers, and apricot butter was inspired by Mark Bradford’s layered college style paintings like, The Devil is Beating His Wife, from 2003. 

Luc Tuyman Gelée:

Freeman and her team had just one weekend to come up with a dessert based on Luc Tuyman’s, St Valentine, 1994, a melancholy piece in whites and grays. They knew that in this case, the artist himself would definitely see the dessert, as well as the artwork’s current owners, and the press, and after difficulty coming up with an idea, Freeman had a burst of 2am inspiration: a heart shaped crème fraîche parfait on top of an earl grey shortbread cookie and violet colored Creme de Violette agar agar gelée.

Ruth Laskey soda:

Being able to visit Ruth Laskey in the studio while she created her work for SFMOMA’s SECA exhibition was an unusual event for Freeman and her team. Usually, the desserts they created were based off of already existing, fully completed artworks. Inspired by Laskey’s sketches for her, Twill Series, 6 individual hand woven linen pieces, each with two colors overlapping in various shapes, Freeman and her team came up with 6 corresponding sodas. Every color in Laskey’s artwork inspired a different flavor, and in reference to the overlapping shapes and colors in the original design, Freeman’s sodas commingled 2 flavors each. One was infused into the soda itself, and the other into the ice cubes. As the ice slowly melted, the two flavors pooled into one. Flavor combinations included: lemon soda with bay leaf ice cubes, Dubble Bubble bubble gum concentrate with violet ice cubes, peppermint soda with licorice ice cubes, green pepper soda with orange blossom ice cubes, chokecherry soda with rose ice cubes, and hibiscus soda with eucalyptus ice cubes. Inspired to make these sodas a multi-sensory experience, Freeman also served each one with little glass vials containing soda scented linen threads from the original artwork. All of it came served on custom wooden trays stained to match the frames in Laskey’s exhibition by the museum’s install crew.

Robert Mapplethorpe Frozen Banana:

Inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe’s photograph, Man in Polyester Suit, 1980 from SFMOMA’s Exposed show, co-curated by the Tate Museum, Freeman created a frozen chocolate covered banana served behind a protective barrier, with a peephole and the message: “Warning This dessert may not be appropriate for all viewers.”

Agnes Martin Ice Cream Sandwich:

Inspired by Agnes Martin’s painting, Untitled #7, from SFMOMA’s 75th anniversary exhibition, this vanilla chamomile buckwheat biscuit ice cream sandwich was made to evoke the flavors of the prairie.

John Zurier Popsicle:

This spearmint and strawberry popsicle inspired by John Zurier’s painting, Arabella, was frequently eaten by the artist himself, who stopped by the cafe often during the time that his exhibition was up.

Alejandro Cartagena Ice Cream Sorbet:

Cubes of vanilla ice cream topped with lemon yellow, avocado green, and rose pink sorbets match the colors of the houses pictured in Alejandro Cartagena’s photograph, Fragmented Cities, Juarez #2, from his series, Suburbia Mexicana, 2007, featured in SFMOMA’s Photography in Mexico Exhibition.

Rineke Dijkstra Ice Box Cake:

A chocolate striped ice box cake served on a coaster-like plate printed with an image of the sea and sky was inspired by the bathing suit and background in Rineke Dijkstra’s photo, De Panne, Belgium, August 7, 1992, from Dijkstra’s Beach Portraits series.

Richard Diebenkorn Trifle:

A striped lemon mousse, Genoise cake, lemon curd, and pomegranate gelée trifle was inspired by Richard Diebenkorn’s painting, Ocean Park #122, 1966, from SFMOMA’s 75th Anniversary Exhibition.

Cindy Sherman Ice Cream Float:

Based on Cindy Sherman’s photo, Untitled #415, and inspired by the clown’s glass bottle in the photo, red pants, and floral coat, Freeman and her team created a vanilla ice cream raspberry sorbet float with a matching glass bottle of pink soda, edible glitter, and a custom floral coaster. In a Cindy Sherman-esque meta moment, Freeman snapped a photo of Sherman snapping a photo of the dessert that is based on the photo Sherman snapped of herself - when Sherman visited the cafe and tasted the dessert in person.

Robert Ryman Cake:

An all-white cake inspired by Robert Ryman’s infamous all-white paintings like, An all white painting measuring 9 1/2 " x 10" and signed twice on the left side in white umber, 1961 and, Surface Veil, 1970-1971.

Jasper Johns Grilled Cheese Sandwich:

This grilled cheese sandwich was served on an oversized lead colored board, inspired by Jasper Johns’ lead relief piece, Bread, from the Jasper Johns: Seeing with the Mind’s Eye exhibition. In another example of the collaborative relationship between Freeman and SFMOMA’s curators, Freeman was able to visit the original artwork before the show opened, in order to measure its proportions and make her own bread creation to size.

Katharina Fritsch Ice Cream Sandwich:

These poodle shaped chocolate ice cream sandwiches with vanilla ice cream center were inspired by Katharina Fritsch’s, Kind mit Pudeln, installation from 1995.

Rosana Castrillo Diaz Panna Cotta:

This creamy beige and white panna cotta was inspired by the swirling shapes and colors of Rosana Castrillo Diaz’s, Untitled, 2009 wall mural at the museum.

Mary Heilmann Cake:

This red velvet cake with crème fraîche cream cheese frosting and buttermilk ice milk, was inspired by Mary Heilmann’s painting, Fire and Ice Remix, and was only ever made once.

Tauba Auerbach Crackers:

When the spatially experimental Field Conditions Exhibit opened at SFMOMA, it featured only black, white, and gray artworks. Taking Tauba Auerbach’s QR code style floor installation, 50/50 Floor, as inspiration, Freeman and her team created black charcoal and white buttermilk crackers topped or “grouted” with squid ink blackened house made ricotta cheese, white bean hummus, black sesame dip, and a white whipped ricotta, served on clean black and white floor tiles left over from Auerbach’s installation.

Tony Cragg Ice Cream Cone:

A strawberry sorbet / salted caramel malted milk chocolate ice cream (depending on the season) served in a brown butter cone with custom striped wrapping was inspired by Tony Cragg’s colorfully patterned cone-like sculpture, Guglie, from 1987. Guglie was installed in one of SFMOMA’s pavilions right next to the Blue Bottle cafe, so in a rare treat, museum guests could view the original artwork while eating the dessert.

Donald Judd Tomato Soup:

This warm tomato soup with saffron cracker ring was inspired by Donald Judd’s painting, Untitled, 1962, from the museum’s permanent collection.

Joel Shapiro Ice Cream Sandwich:

Freeman and her team created black and yellow striped vanilla ice box cookie ice cream sandwiches with strawberry and lavender layered ice cream fillings, inspired by Joel Shapiro’s 2008 pastel, Untitled, for SFMOMA’s 2011 Art Auction.

Jay DeFeo Meringue:

An ile flottante style meringue with black sesame crème anglaise and charcoal sea salt was inspired by Jay DeFeo’s, Illustrated History of the Universe, from 1955.

Garry Winogrand Cake:

The last dessert that Freeman and her team created before the museum’s closure for renovations in 2013 was one of her most conceptual, multi-sensory, and multi-media. Based on Garry Winogrand’s photograph, Kerrville, Texas, 1977, Freeman served an ice cream cake topped with laser cut acrylic silhouettes of dancers, based on those in the photograph, and served it atop a speaker box, custom built by the SFMOMA install team, which played Stevie Wonder’s song, Sir Duke, from an mp3 player hidden inside.

Photos courtesy of Modern Art Desserts, modernartdesserts.com, Clay McLachlan, Ten Speed Press, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, sfmoma.org, openspace.sfmoma.org, store.moma.org, designfetish.org, theselby.com, Wayne Thiebaud, VAGA New York, npr.org, tate.org, berkeleyside.org, bbc.co.uk, Mondrian / Holtzman Trust, anothermag.com, herringbonebindery.com, George and Betty Woodman, sothebys.com, epicurious.com, sfmoma.tumblr.com, sfmoma Facebook, Willa Koerner, archilovers.com, ruthlaskey.com, Ian Reeves, Barnett Newman Foundation, Artists Right Society (ARS) New York, Charles Villyard, trendland.com, dsarttakes, saatchigallery.com,, dwell.com, Todd Selby, mathewmarks.com, npr.org, trmw.org, Marin Independent Journal, marinij.com, Wally Gobetz flickr, the-veghog.blogspot.com, news.artnet.com, The Heather and Tony Podesta Collection, artsy.net, art-nerd.com, lsnglobal.com, Rocor, Lanlian Szeto, The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection at SFMOMA, Tony Cragg, maltm.com, Willa Koerner, kqed.org.