Tess Wilson (Baker and Writer)
There are very few things I love more than dessert and art. Taken separately, they are two of my favorite things, but put them together, and shazam! I'm instantly giddy, like a kid in a candy store! I love dessert art so much that I used to have a website dedicated to that very subject. It was on that site that I first wrote about the amazing desserts being created by the pastry chefs at The Blue Bottle Cafe, which was located at San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art. Today’s contributor, Tess Wilson, worked at the Blue Bottle and is now using her incredible skills to shine a light on the current political situation with a new project called Protest Cakes.
Earlier this year, as the current administration took office, and protests were cropping up across the country, Tess decided to express her dissent in a positive way, using her own particular talents to create cakes with a political message. She enlisted her former Blue Bottle colleague Leah Rosenberg as her collaborator and Protest Cakes was born! Bringing their unique sweets to rallies and gatherings in their respective cities, Tess and Leah are not only expressing their opinions, but they’re also feeding hungry protesters in the process . . . and making them smile. It’s political. It’s art. It’s delicious. I love the way their cakes target very specific events in the news, while still being so subtle and clever! From Planned Parenthood to "the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake," the sweets are always timely. Here are some of my favorites:
"Contraception Cake: made in protest of the GOP’s plan to defund @plannedparenthood. Made with ingredients used around the world to prevent pregnancy before reliable contraceptives became available: honey (Egypt) and neem (India) buttercream on @davidlebovitz’s buckwheat (present-day U.S., apparently) cake with wild carrot seeds (Greece/China) and lemon (Italy/Jewish communities), topped with blue cohosh (Native Americans), papaya seed (South/Southeast Asia), rue (Greece/Latin America), and tansy (U.S.) buttercream 'pills,' served on a bed of cotton (Egypt/U.S. South)."
"School Lunches Cake, made in protest of the GOP plan to defund the free school lunch program, which has provided 224 billion free lunches to hungry kids."
"Pie Chart Cake: in honor of Pi Day, here's a handy cake pie chart of some of the things we're currently protesting."
"Excluded From This Narrative Cake, made in protest of the president going on Fox to repeatedly praise 'the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake' he ate at his resort (it's our understanding that it's illegal for a president to promote their own business) while forgetting which country he sent 59 missiles to (Syria, not Iraq as stated). Both halves of @protestcakes made slices of cake that would prefer to be left out of this mess.
Thanks to Tess for sharing such inspiring designs with all of us online! You can see more Protest Cakes on their Instagram page. To read more about The Blue Bottle Café and the edible art Tess and Leah helped to create, click here and here. After The Blue Bottle closed, Tess moved to rural Illinois, where she lives on a farm and works as a freelance writer. You can read her work on Apartment Therapy and Bustle. Scroll down to check out her inspirations. Thanks, Tess! ~Erin
Listen
Jason Mantzoukas on any podcast. I don't listen to a lot of music, but I consume a TON of podcasts, and Jason currently makes me laugh harder than anyone else, so I listen to anything he's on. He's one of the hosts of How Did This Get Made, he shows up on the penultimate episode of most seasons of Gilmore Guys to turn something G-rated and sweet into a delightful raunchfest, and he's on Crybabies discussing what makes him cry. His story about weeping on the treadmill while watching Gilmore Girls at the gym is what endeared him to me in the first place, and I love that he freely & frequently admits to crying. He's also a fierce feminist who can be wildly inappropriate, something a lot of guys think they can get away with, but they definitely can't because they're lacking that whole fierce feminist aspect. (We can tell, dudes.)
Read
Samantha Powell's Twitter. Ms. Powell's feed consistently provides a great combination of politics, history, literature, art heist documentaries, and fashion—lots of fashion: deep dives into designers' newest collections, roundups of all of the coats worn on Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, and sartorial speculation regarding the impending royal engagement. Her feed will also introduce you to other great people like Ira Madison III, Jasmine Guillory, and Nicole Chung, if you don't follow them already.
Watch
Crazyhead (on Netflix). Here's how I recommended it via text to my friend jeweler Holly Bobisuthi: "It's kinda like X-Files x Buffy x Being Human with two early-20s British women. Funny, great soundtrack, diverse cast (including one VERY handsome man)—we've only watched 2 eps but it's fun. NOT TO BE WATCHED ALONE IN THE STUDIO AT NIGHT." I've since watched the entire run—only six episodes, unfortunately, but there are rumors of a second season—and the finale is the BEST.
~Tess
