Day 6 of 30 – Praline Cupcake
Jackson Pollock. That’s who I think about when I look at Crumbs Bake Shop Praline Cupcake.
I imagine someone going wild with the icing bag just like Pollock did with brushes and cans of house paint. The biggest difference is in the anger – there isn’t any this cupcake, whose purpose is to make us happy and come back for more.
Day 6. “Crumbs Praline Cupcake” by Beverly Shipko, Oil on cradled wood panel, 6 x 6 inches
The bottom line is that this cupcake design becomes an abstract composition. Similar to Poloack, Day 6 was about the handling of paint, but without the intensity. This work is all about the texture of the nuts and the building up of oil paint to literally simulate the nut crumbs 3-dimentionally on the surface of the panel. It’s all about the crumbs.
As opposed to the vibrant Day 5 Crumbs M&M Mini Cupcake, this delicacy has a limited palette. On Day 6, I decided to skip the plastic container that it came in (though I must admit I miss it a bit, and may try this again sometime with it) and added a little green to the background (a risky move for me since I’m not a green fan).
What is a praline cupcake, you might ask? According to Wikipedia, the broad definition is that it’s a confection including nuts and sugar, with cream being a common third ingredient. In France, bakers use almonds, while in the US we tend to use a combination of pecans, hazelnuts and almonds with milk or cream to achieve something akin to fudge. Whatever the recipe is, I remember it was delicious!
You won’t see this cupcake on the Crumbs website since it was a special cupcake that they made before filing bankruptcy. In the good old days, there was a wider variety of cupcakes on any given day and more rotating flavors. I wish I had taken more photos back then since Crumbs cupcakes look better than most, at least from an artist’s perspective. While competitors like Sprinkles offer great tasting cupcakes, how many can you paint with their signature circles on top?
This was a good break from yesterday, a relatively relaxing day (not as relaxing as going to the beach though).
Now it’s time to plan tomorrow’s treat. I feel a sugar craving coming on…