Let’s Eat Cake

Let’s Eat Cake: A Delaware Valley Chapter Collaborative Project and Exhibition

This collaborative project is a “cookbook” of cakes. Each participant was asked to make an edition of pages responding to the theme of ‘cake.’ It could be a favorite cake recipe, imagery relating to ‘cake,’ or an imagined cake.

The idea for this project was inspired by a visit to view the wonderful assortment of recipe books at the German Society of Pennsylvania.  We hope to exhibit our books there sometime in the near future.  In the meantime, please enjoy this online exhibition!

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Page Titles

Alice Austin    Chocolate Cake
Kristin Balmer    Cake Equation
Paige Billin-Frye    Layer Lift
Ruth Blackson    Chameleon Cake
Christopher Brown    Beef Cake
Norman Brown    German Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
Dee Collins    Cake Kuchen Gateau Pastel Torta
Elizabeth Curren    Torta a Strati: Eric’s Venetian Cake
Sophia Dahab    24 Thread Count Layer Cake
Sophy DiPinto    Wheat Paste Marble Cake
James Engelbart    Ceci Nest Pas Une Sponge Cake
Dorothy Haldeman    Short Cakes
Susannah Horrom    Chocolate Tofu Pie
Andrew Huot    Christmas Cake
Valeria Kremser    Cake 2020
Dana Kull    Let Us Bake (and eat) Cake
Karen Lightner    Wacky Cake
Melanie Mowinski    Hummingbird Cake
Tara O’Brien    If Your Omi Gives You A Family Recipe
Todd Pattison    Caramel Cake                                     
Mary Phelan    Blueberry Crumb Cake
Maria G. Pisano    Mamma Birthday Cake
Rosae Reeder    Crab Apple Mud Pie  
Jennifer Rosner    Carrot Cake
Lisa Scarpello    Covid Cake: A Dark and Dreaded Recipe for a Global Pandemic
Eriko Takahashi    Matcha White Chocolate Brownie Cake
Kristin Ziegler    Petit Four Horseman

Statements

Alice Austin
Magnet closure box with paste paper made by Alice Austin.

Kristin Balmer
Piece of Cake
Cardstock, PVA, cardboard, paper. Recipe box in the shape of a piece of cake, recipes inside. Chocolate icing made with paper filigree.

Paige Billin-Frye
A box binding covered with merlot-colored Lokta paper and a luscious paper resembling frosting that was brought to me from Japan by a friend. The title lettering was cut from paper that was hand-painted with acrylic paint, as were the violets. The violets also include wire and beads.

Ruth Blackson
Blobs made from my daughters’ paintings piled on top of each other to make a collaged chameleon cake.  Watercolor on Johannot and Strathmore paper, with rose gold foil.
All recipes housed in a hinged box. 

Dee Collins 
I chose to place my GBW entries in a box so I had the option of taking one out if I wanted to try one of the recipes. The cake box is handmade and covered with Skivertex alternative leather and paper doilies. There is a doily covered insert that lifts out of the box that holds the items.

Elizabeth Curren
My entry was based on Italian papers that I inherited from my wonderful pal, Erik Delfino, (librarian, book artist, teacher and friend) who died suddenly and unexpectedly in early January, 2020. He had this eclectic collection of Italian decorative papers and I know he’d have loved this project. So I made a pop up Italian layered cake in his honor. I bound all of the entries in a drum leaf binding.

Sophia Dahab
Inspired in part by the simplicity of a standard cake box, this piece has 27 unique cakes inside, and 20 additional cakes on top.  The layer cakes on the top are sliced and ready to serve, and some of the slices create shapes resembling letterforms which spell out the words: “Let’s Eat Cake.” 

Sophy DiPinto
Let them Eat Cake, a two volume set.
Book # 1 White Icing Layer Cake
This book has and adapted raised cord binding, where the linen cords morph in to layers of icing. It is
bound in Dover bookcloth and lined with marbled paper.
Book #2 Li’l Cupcake
This book is a drum-leaf binding, it is covered in Dover bookcloth and features and inlaid image of a cupcake.

James Engelbart
Good Enough for Government Work

Jane Griffith
The binding is a drum leaf structure that allows all of the pages to be viewed fully. The design is inspired by Wayne Thiebaud’s iconic paintings of cakes. The cover includes a pop-up of one of Thiebaud’s cakes, as well as pictures of several cakes from his work.

Andrew Huot
My recipe for the project is a Christmas Cake that my mother makes every year for the holiday, that I wasn’t able to go enjoy this year. Pochoir printing was used to make the cake image on the recipe card. My enclosure for the project changed from a box of cakes to a cake box, with a faux drizzle on the top and a tray to hold the recipes for future use. The enclosure was custom made of board and book cloth.

Valeria Kremser
My book for the cake project has been bound to resemble a slice of cake. It is a link stitch with a flapped cover and pink endbands. The stitching and endbands give the feel of icing and the slipcase has stitching on it to resemble jam between the layers of cake.

Karen Lightner
This album binding is based on Hedi Kyle’s Spider Book. The instructions for this structure can be found in Hedi Kyle and Ulla Warchol’s book The Art of the Fold, on pp. 136-140. The paper used is Shizen Pastel Paper (Cocoa), handmade in India. The marbled paper is from Cockerell in Cambridge, England.
Some pages were sewn in to allow for easy viewing and turning, others were attached with photo corners for access to the verso, and others taped in if the verso was blank. My hope is that the album (closed) looks like a slice of chocolate cake with marbled icing spread across the top and dripping down the edge.

Mary Phelan
I was obsessed with blueberries this summer and was fortunate to live half a block from the Italian Market where fresh fruit and vegetables are plentiful. I hope you will enjoy this pleasant recipe that brings a taste of summer to mind no matter when you eat it.

Maria G. Pisano
As a result of Covid 19, some people lost their sense of smell and taste, but we have all collectively lost our sense of touch – the unspoken connection we make with one another, from a simple handshake to a hug or a kiss. In my recipe card, I pricked the perimeter of the dish, creating a textural circle that could be touched and felt by the participants, searching for a tactile means to connect. Additionally I likened the structure of the book to a cake, reinforcing the circle, with all the participants present and celebrating who we are as artists, with a candle in the center burning bright with hope.

Rosae Reeder  
My Cake box was inspired by a decorative dessert box. The top is a clear with some lovely sequins that move. Just a sprinkle on the top.

Jennifer Rosner 
Folded double-slot slipcase made with handmade paper.  Rubber-stamped old vellum labels.

Lisa Scarpello
Covid Cake: A dark and dreaded recipe for a global pandemic.
Includes appalling leadership, horrific health consequences and a disastrous economic downturn beyond your wildest imaginings.
Coronavirus Image: Lino Cut using Speedball Block Printing Ink
Recipe printed on HP Deskjet 6940 in Avenir Roman on 70lb Mohawk Text

Kristin Ziegler
Let’s Eat Cake; Petit Four Horsemen
The images for Petit Four Horsemen are hand drawn, cleaned up in Adobe Photoshop, printed on tea stained cardstock, and painted with watercolor. The case was designed using Autodesk Fusion 360 and printed with a Monoprice Maker Select Plus.