Making edible art for Swatch

Last month Gino Gonzales asked if I could help him with a project for Swatch. It was for the annual Art Fair Philippines, which showcases the best in contemporary art.

He told me that I had to do an edible art installation for Swatch with a theme that would match their “Pastry Chefs” watch collection.

I had done cake projects for the great lady of Swatch before: Virgie Ramos. Knowing her, she demands high standards and won’t settle for anything less than the best. And I knew that it meant I would have to give my best.

Having worked with Gino on several projects in the past such as weddings and birthday events, I knew I was in good hands. Working with Gino is always smooth sailing — delightful, concise, and full of life. I have always appreciated his passion for creative design as well as his attention to detail and with that in mind, I said yes and there our journey to iconic edible art began.

Gino sent me a design with the perspective and pantone colors, or the different ways and spaces the colors could go in order to complete the look of the Swatch booth.  During our first meeting, we brainstormed on how we would go about it. He showed me some inspirations like colorful Rorschach art used in psychological evaluation, where a person is shown 10 different inkblots one at a time, and then asked what objects or figures they see. He said he wanted to make the colors in the shades of colorful candy using sugar petals. The structural design was magnificent both in scale and concept, wherein the entire design collectively resembled an octopus with tentacles spread out.

My fondness for Gino began with how his approach to every project was thorough and efficiently planned. I never had to hesitate whenever he would ask me to execute a design. He always gives me a sketch drawn to scale. Measurements are always crucial to me; they determine not only the visual outcome but also the taste and feel of the final product. The guide that Gino provides allows me to figure out the correct proportion based on the structure. We went through a process of printing the actual design and size of the petals I had to use for the structure based on the guide he gave me, and I worked on how to translate that into edible art. He is always on time in giving me what I need and he drops by to check on the progress of my work.

I was given about two weeks to finish the structure. After going through the print-and-scale process we finally came around to a comprehensive estimate of what the cake needed in order to be complete. I counted the number of edible petals I had to make. The structure would need about 6,000 petals with a few extras for allowance and about 250 cupcakes for the tentacles. I made three sizes of cupcakes: small, medium and large. I baked 1,500 French macarons in three colors: lime (pistachio-flavored), orange, and yellow (lemon-flavored), to be given away during the exhibit.

It took four sleepless nights for my staff and I to attach the edible petals to the main structure. The detailed structure, as well as the coherence of the colors with the master design, had to be carefully implemented in order to make sure that everything fit perfectly.

In fact, in order to make the quality consistent so that the end result would be flawless, the sugar petals had to be individually airbrushed based on the pantone colors specified by Gino. It was a long and tedious process but in my mind, seeing the end result, I was certain that all this effort would achieve the effect it was intended to create. On top of all the airbrushing, molding, and assembly that we did, we had to bake French macarons every day during assembly in order to ensure freshness and quality.

As we progressed, I felt the high of making such a beautiful concept come to life, so I decided to make a cake covered with marshmallow fondant to complement the packaging of the Limited Pastry Chefs Swatch collection. I was blessed that the woman behind the ever-evolving Swatch brand, Tita Virgie, gave me a complimentary watch. In fact, when my students saw me wearing it during my class, they all wanted to get one for themselves. It was indeed a sweet conclusion to a wonderful adventure.