Cake & Culture: Halloween Edition

In honour of Halloween, I thought we could take a look at a spooky new exhibition by Damien Hirst. The Wallace Collection in London is currently showcasing a collection of 25 works in a series called, "No Love Lost, The Blue Paintings."

For the most part, the Wallace Collection houses a huge selection of 18th and 19th century oil paintings of pampered ladies and fat cherubs in rooms covered in colorful silk wallpapers and gilded gold accents. It's rococo to the max! An example of these paintings is a very famous one by an artist called Fragonard called The Swing.

When good girls go bad.

You may not realise it, but this is quite a naughty work! This is a picture a of French girly on a swing, who, like Britney, does not like to wear underwear. And look... the young man watching her is positively rapt! Oh no need to squawk and fein righteousness daaaaahling, I've heard that you do this too!

Ahem! Well... the dark and edgy paintings by Hirst provide a stark contrast to the permanent collection at the Wallace. But you know what? I think it looks kind of cool. All that rococo business can get a bit stuffy. Against the old masters, the Hirst series, to me, is a breath of fresh and unfrilly air. All 25 of his paintings are connected. They share similar colours and subject matter. The star of the collection, and my personal favorite as well, is called "The Floating Skull." The rest of the paintings seem to take elements of this first picture and expound on them further with the addition of other symbolic objects. The symbolism behind the paintings is supposed to highlight that life is short and death is forever. Nice no? Well, let me show you some of the pictures and then we shall go on to some cake, 'cause life is short daaaaahlings.

The Floating Skull

Okay, ready for some some cake????

Well following the theme of all things spooky, I thought we could sample some "magic cakes" from Konditor and Cook. This is a fabulous little place to get some tea and a selection of awesome baked goods if you are in the London area. It also happens to be a "haunt" of the famous TV cook, Nigella Lawson (hey, did you see that pun I just made? Am I not soooooooo clever?). Here we have a lovely Halloween selection. These are basically teeny lemon sponge cakes with fondant icing and marizpan. Hey, and if you look really close, you will see that amongst this selection, there is one with a little picture of you on it. What an incredible likeness, no? I guess this one must be yours daaaaaaahling!

Please, this time don't swallow it in one gulp like a farm animal.

You look so unbecoming when you do that ;).

Happy Halloween to all my favourite Halloweenies!

*kisses* HH