No, this is not me. And it’s not my car either. What it is, though, is the inspiration for my latest creation - a Piet Mondrian cake. It was a real work of art! Pun intended.

My sister, Vikki, celebrated her 21st birthday recently (actually, in June). She called me in FEBRUARY and left me a voicemail that went something like this: “Hey Stef, I was trying to think of what kind of cake I wanted for my birthday and I was trying to think of something challenging for you but I still wanted to kind of let you come up with something creative and all, so I thought that maybe you could do like a work of art, like the Eiffel Tower or Mona Lisa or something. Or maybe something 3D. But, whatever you want to do, I don’t care, just maybe a work of art.” Work of art. Ok. Gotcha. Um, help anyone?

So I’ve been mulling over works of art for the past 4 months. Eiffel Tower? Yeah, right. Mona Lisa? Maybe if I could do a stick-figure version. It needed to be something simple, but easily recognizable. I briefly considered Van Gogh’s Starry Night, but then remembered a red, blue, and yellow gridded painting that looked so simple, a kindergartener could have made it. Or, at least someone who could color in the lines!

After a little bit of research, I found out that the artist, Piet Mondrian, actually had painted quite a few of these red, yellow, and blue grid paintings. I ended up choosing this one, called “Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow” painted in 1930, not to be confused with his “Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue” from 1927.

I printed out a scaled down version of the painting, then sketched out the painting, labeling each component of the painting. I measured each component and then re-scaled each individual component up to what would be needed to cover an 8-inch square, 4 inch high cake. Yeah, too much, I know.

On another note, how do you like my recipe holders? Got that tip from a cooking magazine. No more stooping down to read a sheet of paper that’s taking up valuable counter-top real estate. Plus they don’t get nearly as dirty this way.

This was my first time working with rolled fondant. Sure, I’d played with it before a couple of times, sculpting penguins and cows like it was Play-Doh. But it was nothing like actually trying to roll the stuff out and cover it. First step was to cover the cake with a buttercream that would act like a glue to keep the fondant sticking to it. Now, this does not need to be pretty (and mine sure isn’t!). I was more concerned with trying to get the square edges as sharp as I could, since the whole premise behind the artwork is sharp, bold lines and squares and rectangles.

Coloring the fondant was the most time-consuming part of the whole fiasco. I eventually recruited Hubby and Stacey (who was staying with us for the weekend), assigned each of them a color and had them have at it.

When presented with the cake, Vikki exclaimed, “Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow!!!” Mission accomplished.

PIET MONDRIAN CAKE

WHITE CAKE

Adapted from Janet on Allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup shortening
3 egg whites, beaten until soft peaks form
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:
Grease and flour an 8-inch square pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.

In clean bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form.

In large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in shortening until fine crumbs are formed.

Add milk and vanilla. Beat at low speed for 1 minute, then high for 2 minutes, scraping the bowl frequently. Fold in egg whites.

Pour batter into greased and floured pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes.

** I actually poured the entire recipe’s worth of batter into one 8-inch square pan. I made a second recipe’s worth for the second layer and did the same thing.

BUTTERCREAM ICING

Adapted from Wilton’s Buttercream Icing

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup Crisco
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
4 cups sifted powdered sugar (1 lb)
2 tablespoons milk

DIRECTIONS:
In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk one tablespoonful at a time (entire amount may not be needed) and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

ROLLED FONDANT

Ok, so I didn’t make the fondant. I drove to JoAnn’s and bought Wilton’s Ready-To-Use White Rolled Fondant. I’ve read that there’s another readily-available rolled fondant called Satin Ice that tastes better and is easier to use, but that’s another adventure for another time.

I tinted the fondant using Wilton’s Icing Colors, rolled it out to about 1/8″ thick, and cut into my shapes. After I had all of my shapes laid out (and labeled corresponding to my master sheet), I laid them on top of the cake, trimmed, and pressed the 4 corners together. I tinted some of the buttercream black and piped it in between the fondant squares for the lines.