POP 021/ Sunday, 21 June 2009

Today’s Pop is Paul. He once spent a whole year on a boat. When asked upon his return what he had missed the most, he simply said “a good curry”. We sent him out to tuck into another culinary giant: cakes…

BOUDICCA ‘CAKE OFF 2′ – 20th June ’09

Sugar Rush Deluxe.

In a week that started with Sir Paul McCartney fronting a ‘Meat Free Monday’ campaign – do consider this, btw. It’s a small ask but has big impact: www.supportmfm.org – Pop decided to balance the scales and recklessly indulge over the weekend. We’re all about proportional representation here. No, we didn’t pig out on a summer barbeque. We went one step further and attended the 2nd annual Cake Off, as organised by Boudicca.

A cake off organised by a cutting edge fashion label? Surely some mistake here. Actually, far from it. Imagine a giant table, groaning under the weight of several homemade cakes. Clothing anxieties over what to wear to an event like this soon go out the window. Instead, unrestrained feasting – all in the name of sampling each entry – was wholeheartedly encouraged. There is something satisfyingly democratic about cake competitions. Especially at the end when it becomes a free-for-all.

Being a modern, technology-friendly kind of affair, this year’s Cake Off saw more global entries (hello, Sydney) and video representations. Jason Shulman’s “Slow Motion Cake” summed up the concept of ‘guilty pleasures’ best in his half-speed video of a custard pie splatting onto some lucky recipient’s face. How many takes before they perfected that one, eh! Neha Amin dropped a ‘Suicide Cake’ from the balcony of her apartment and filmed its final moments as it hit the ground. Distressing, in a decadent kind of way. Entry 002 was a photograph of “Clarice Starling’s Graduation Cake”. Pop’s choice, and certainly the most challenging proposal, was Steven Mangrey’s “Tracey Emin’s ‘Entry’.” Essentially a dehydrated mango pip that had been fashioned into… let’s just not go there. You had to wonder about the depth of research involved.

And now to the winners. Judging in two categories: Taste and Aesthetics – Rochelle Canteen’s Martin Cohen, and Irish artist Kevin Francis Gray: http://www.artnet.com took responsibility for Taste. In what must have been a painstaking process, they took their time weighing up the quality of ingredients in each entry. Overall winner, as well as People’s Choice was “1979″ by Maureen. A classic coffee and walnut cake that never fails to please. Victoria’s “Champagne Sparkle” confection cam e a close second, as well as 3rd for People’s Choice. And with good reason. Described as, “a ‘posh’ cake with childish experiment on top,” this sponge creation boasted champagne and lavender butter, topped with crushed violet popping candy that burst in your mouth.

Aesthetics was judged by 2008 Turner Prize nominee,

Goshka Macuga and cult DJ, Todd Hart. Decisions were executed swiftly. Lucy Jelfs’ “Winter” was a heavily iced winter landscape of frozen animals. Runner up for abstract interpretation was SHOWstudio’s Alex Fury who came up trumps with an elegiac “Coffin Cake”. A large wooden box, surrounded by lilies and prose by Marcel Proust. And inside, nothing but a glass cake stand and the memories of what used to be. So enchanting.

What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. All the time I kept thinking that credit crunch or not, this kind of pleasure is good for the soul. Best seen in Carrie & Chin’s overflowing golden cupcakes made of expanding foam. We came, we saw, we consumed. Mmmmmmmm…..

So let’s end with a show of hands. Who here would like to nominate their favourite song about desserts. Mine is The Beatles’ – “Savoy Truffle”. Any song that starts with the line, “Cream tangerine and montelimar” as a paean to confectionary was bound to win my vote.

For last year’s

Cake Off

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