Sculptural Desserts of a Designer-Turned-Pastry Chef
Wildly symmetrical and geometric desserts and pastries have been sculpted by the world’s most well-known gourmand, Cookie Monster. He sung through his journey to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 1983 Sesame Street movie, Do Not Eat the Pictures. Cookie Monster might be a relentless beast for baked treats, not subject to cookies alone, but it’s not uncommon to wish to sink your teeth into something completely inedible, even if it’s art. In some cases, it just looks too good. In other cases, something that is edible might just look too good to eat or even touch.
Influenced by her background in architecture, pastry chef Dinara Kasko from Ukraine makes geometric desserts that look like small, well-designed sculptures and that’s precisely what they are. They may not look like the typical bakery’s soft, creamy cakes but its unique look most certainly matches with its incredible taste. After graduating from the Kharkov University Architecture School, she worked as a designer, architect, and 3D visualizer, often using 3D printing innovation in her work.
“I have always poured by heart and soul into art,” she in an interview for So Good Publication. “I had years of experience in photography and only a couple of years ago I found a personal passion for baking. … I’m attempting to link architecture and style with patisseries and real food. A gorgeous cake made into a stunning structure requires a design. It’s critical to deal with the form, volume, structure, percentage, color, and texture properly.” One can imagine Kasko’s innovative mind, so attuned and eager to capture the uniqueness of a design, use those methods to delightfully sugary pastries and desserts.
She now creates silicone molds of her own unique design for her desserts, made with Autodesk’s 3DS Max software as Jessica Jones at Dezeen claims. This added element from her skills in architecture, understanding the concept of 3D, and talent in design helps her create authentic works of edible art. This edible art are impressive delicacies that Cookie Monster, and any other, would gladly feast on: matte bubbles of white chocolate spread across sponge cake layers and guava; a square of Mondrian-esque chocolate cut into pieces, its gaps lined with something red and scrumptious; a geometric “concrete” diamond, dark and Brutalist that encloses a soft, chocolate-cake interior. It took an algorithm to make them and a software tester to be sure her geometrically-shaped chocolates and delicate pieces would work, despite tasting undoubtedly incredible, where delicate parts would melt in your mouth.
Foods and artwork that looks visually complex or, alternatively, absolutely basic appear unattainable. But Kasko’s personality is entirely welcoming and friendly. She had written, “Hi! I’m [a] Pastry Chef from Ukraine. Like any other, it started with just me in my home baking traditional pies and cakes. And before I knew it, I fell in love with it! … I’m studying, modeling, and baking. I prefer to use generic geometric shapes in my work, like cubes, spheres and triangles … I hope you will like what I make.” She has made a select few of her 3D pastry molds available in specialty grocery stores– now you can also try to re-create her pieces of work in your own home.
