An artistic Fairytale Birdcage Cake

Contemporary art manifests itself in many different forms, from traditional media such as paintings and drawings to more recently developed approaches that use digital, time-based media to create unique works. It would be questionable by some art critics whether sugar, flour and egg can be classed as a resources of art but when looking at art forms from the audience’s point of view, art form are experiences rather than merely kept and admired pieces of work. Baking, sugarcraft and cake making can certainly be classed as branches art, as sugarcraft involves various methods of traditional art, for example including painting, sculpture and design. In its organic meaning, art is simply the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form, producing works to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power. Cake is art…

  

“…I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,–
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings–
I know why the caged bird sings!…”

From “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar

  

Cake  as art means appearance, form , metaphor, message and content. Cake as art has particular elements, principles of design with physical materials used by the artist. Cake usually has a context that is concrete and determined. Its form has special features, like colour, value, space, structure, space and line, used in the artist’s individual principles with an also individual choice of materials, resulting in a unique balance, contrast, emphasis and proportion. The content of a cake is context-driven and idea-based and represents what and how the artist means to express, and what effect it can have on individuals in its intended and actual messages. The final artistic content of a cake is always influenced by the artist’s knowledge, experience and personal style at the time it was created.  The combination of these factors together elevate cake making into the world of art. Cake is art!!!

  

“…The free bird thinks of another breeze

and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees

and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn

and he names the sky his own

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams   

his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream   

his wings are clipped and his feet are tied   

so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill   

of things unknown but longed for still   

and his tune is heard on the distant hill   

for the caged bird sings of freedom…”

Maya Angelou, “Caged Bird”

Dedicated to Sarah Thomas