Snake Cake
I have never favored, much less approved of, anything fake. I don’t like artificial flavors, food colorings, and I have no use for fake meats. I also have not really liked food made to look like something it isn’t. To me, food is glorious the way it is; why would I want to alter it? On the contrary, I prefer to bring out the inherent qualities of a food without hiding it, or disguising it as something else. I promise I will go on to flog the imitation meat issue in a future post, but right now I just want to lay out a few exceptions to my own rule–because they’re fun.
Hazelnut meringue roll, filled with chocolate mousse.
Attaching the scales to the mousse using a propane torch
The star exception, which I passionately accept, is the chocolate truffle–because it’s one of my absolute favorite creations, and probably also because I knew the food long before I knew what it was copying. Today, the word “truffle” is used to describe tortes, cakes and even ice creams, but these are misappropriations. A truffle is a type of fungus (as in mushroom), and the specific type we’re talking about is the Périgord black truffle, which grows under the ground, adjacent to oak trees. When you make a rough ball of chocolate ganache and roll it in cocoa powder, it bears a striking resemblance to a dirt-covered, freshly dug black truffle. Hence the name. It doesn’t describe the heavenly filling, but rather the dirty-looking exterior. So much for truffle tortes, and all that 
inaccurate silliness.


I also have indulged children on occasion, making their birthday cake look like a planet, with space ships hovering above (for my son), or  a snake in the grass (for a client’s child), among many examples. Children are to be indulged, in my opinion–they will get programmed to be dull, cooperative, largely unimaginative and uncreative soon enough–no need to rush it.

Part of the reason I don’t mind being whimsical with desserts, I think, is that I never considered them a bona fide food in the first place; they are a drug, consumed purely for entertainment. Desserts are supposed to be fun–that’s pretty much all they’re good for, especially if they’re made with a ton of sugar, butter, cream, white flour, and other health atrocities.


Dice cake, with gold leaf and raspberries

These days, I try to make even the sweets at the end of a meal healthful, keeping sugar to a minimum, using the least toxic sweeteners, avoiding refined flour, and concentrating on fruits. But I have to admit, as intolerant as I am of fake stuff, I do like to surprise people with an unusual presentation. Messing with people’s heads is a childhood pastime I never quite grew out of.


By the way, the “dice cake” wasn’t my idea–a guy I worked for in the ’80s was trying to impress some Vegas high-roller, and thought the “snake eyes” on top was sooo clever. Oy.