Interview: Annabel de Vetten of Conjurer's Kitchen on occupying the dark side of edible art
Her amazing creations look like the things your mother told you not to touch, let alone put in your mouth. They really need to be seen to be believed
Annabel de Vetten is an artistic genius, who claims to have been born with a twisted spoon in her mouth, and it's not difficult to see why. Each of her career moves has brought her one step closer to the demonically deliciously cakes and chocolates she makes today.
Her made-to-order creations can be anything from a cute, cuddly critter for a kid's birthday party, to the most gruesome, realistic looking, macerated corpse, to a 7-tiered stack of bacon and other meat. No matter where on the spectrum your selection lies, it will be beautifully crafted from cake or chocolate – although you won't believe it until you actually cut into it.
As an anatomist and sweet treat enthusiast, I've loved her work for a long time and I'm so excited to bring you her thoughts.
Your work is really unique and individual, how would you describe what you do?
Thank you! I would describe myself as a food artist, rather than a baker or cake decorator. So I would refer to most of my work as edible art, or edible sculptures.
The style of my cakes, which are my main work, is, what I'd simply describe as 'dark'. Anatomy, death, medicine and alternative art often inspire me and I create my own interpretations from food. Sometimes I use the traditional tiered cake style and turn the idea of it being cake on its head. I'll cover them in marzipan or chocolate, but in the shapes of organs, skin, meat, fur or decayed matter.
As gross as it sounds/is, I always make sure there is an element of style, or even beauty. Even if it's not immediately obvious, you might notice at second glance that stomach lining is draped like beautiful, opulent theatre curtains around the cake, like fondant normally would. I do a lot of realistic looking animals too, I think they're cute, but they also horrify some people because they're too realistic. I guess you can't please everyone, which is fine by me!
Sometimes I make things from cake and chocolate that look as far removed from anything edible as it gets. So it's a lot of creating edible illusions, which is great, because I'm married to a professional magician and dabble in the arts myself. So we really enjoy fooling people, whether with food or cards.
I absolutely love that my work is often unusual and curious to some, even challenging or disturbing to others, yet enjoyed by many. The effect my work has on some is quite incredible to me. I have happy customers, people who follow me online, but some, oh boy – they hate my work. Like serious hate, and are very vocal about it. It makes me wonder what happened in their life to make them hate weird cakes so much? I get the usual, 'satanist', cannibal', 'sick & twisted', 'evil' etc etc. Someone accused me of treason. Because of a cake. But it's ok, I collect the comments and posts because we find them really entertaining, I should really write a book.
You haven’t always worked with food, can you tell us a bit about your early career and how you made the transition to what you're doing now?
That's right. Before I worked with food I was a full time painter for about 10 years, selling pop art pieces to galleries and private customers, painting in my studio at my house. I've always been an artist in some shape or form, even as a kid. And into weird things. I studied fine art sculpture at the University of Wolverhampton, UK, where I created a collection of curious sculptures, using taxidermy. I spent two of the years making 'regular' pheasants into conjoined freaks of nature. I did this on a farm near my house, working with a taxidermist who found my idea/project so entertaining he just let me work with him and taught me! This was back in 1998 before ready access to the internet, so research was tricky. At the time, there was a museum in the UK that housed the most glorious collection of victorian taxidermy and oddities. I went on a research trip and spent a few days being overloaded with information and inspiration. Little did I know that the same museum would come up so many times in my current career, I've made cakes based on some of the pieces there. I feel extremely lucky having had the time there, as it's since been closed down, the collection sold and scattered. In 'my dark world', that's a huge deal.
Surprisingly enough, some of the sculpting techniques I learned doing taxidermy are not too different from how I make supports and internal armatures for cake and chocolate sculptures. Well, except now the structure has to be prepared to make it food safe.
Like a lot of bakers and cakers, I got into the business by accident. When I got married, we had a fun DIY wedding and I decided to make the cake. I taught myself the basics and made us a perfectly fine magic themed cake. When I see it it now it looks awful to me, of course, I could do so much better now. I wanted to make us a 10th wedding anniversary cake last month, but our situation is currently wildly affected by CV-19 so I couldn't. Maybe for the 13th anniversary! However, our wedding cake might not be impressive, but it's the most important. Without that one I wouldn't be here today.
The rest all sort of fell together naturally. I realised sugar and chocolate are really just another sculpting medium. Friends asked me to make cakes for them, and it went from there. The style and theme and direction my cakes went in just came naturally to me. Anyone who knows me is not surprised at all. They would worry if I started making princess cakes though! So it just went from there, much helped by social media. Suddenly people saw cakes they didn't know could exist, and ones they can order for themselves. The business is built on pretty much all word of mouth and the internet, no advertising.
You've gone from very permanent pieces of art to pieces that, by definition, will be there for a very limited time. Is there an element of sadness about how transient it is?
It really depends. Sometimes I'm so fed up with the cake I've just finished that I'm happy to see it chopped up! There's a few which I didn't want to let out of the house, let alone see them chopped up. However, it is a lot of fun destroying them.
I tend to include an edible element in the design that can be kept, after the cake is gone. A topper, a chocolate skull, whatever suits the design. I've had people keep my cakes for years until they just melt; a couple even had glass cases made for them.
I like the transience to be honest. When I painted, my worst fear was for a collector to run out of wall space and not buy any more paintings. Cakes work the opposite. You have to make them disappear to properly enjoy them. And then get another! Occasions return and more cake will be ordered, it's great. I have quite a few regular customers. It's like I'm a part of their life, sharing their big life events when they happen. A lot of customers have become our friends, which is wonderful.
Can you talk us through your creative process? How you get from inspiration to completed creation?
The process is pretty mundane. I agree a design, however developed or vague, with the customer, then I make the cakes and fillings. I put them all together and start whatever it is I'm making. Sculpted cakes are filled and layered sheet cakes which are then carved into a form, free hand. Wedding and tiered cakes are just round cakes. I cover them with luxury fondant that actually tastes good, or with chocolate, and then decorate them. That can take from an hour to 40+ hours!
What are the biggest challenges you face in your work?
The biggest challenge is the delivery, 100%. It's rather traumatic at times, bumpy and steep roads haunt my dreams. And I don't even drive, I'm always the passenger. My partner drives. As you can imagine, he hates it more than me. It's also occasionally hard to explain why you have a rotten corpse or a monster size lobster in the back of your car!
Temperature is also a challenge, the occasional hot UK summers can be tricky. So I moved to Los Angeles… hahaha! Everything is air-conditioned here though and I have many portable fans. I'm sure I'll work out how to best transport and set up cakes here.
Is there anyone you find particularly influential or inspirational?
Yes, there are lots of food artists I find both inspiring and influential. Some I even just admire for their own unique style, and enjoy looking at beautiful cakes that are worlds different from mine. There's some serious talent out there! Two of my favourite cake artists are Natalie Sideserf and Karen Portaleo. I find them inspiring as artists and as business women. I've had the pleasure of meeting them both, and spend some time with them, at classes and socially. There's something extra special about spending an evening with your hero [Natalie] while drinking vodka, wearing Russian hats, talking about weird cakes and hugging a taxidermy bear.
I do get a lot of inspiration from artists who work in different media to me, it's a nice challenge to try to use their art on an edible piece. I've done a few pieces like that and the artists have always been delighted to be asked and seeing the result.
Congratulations on your move to LA! How do you see your work adapting and changing over the pond?
Well, that's a tricky one. Had I been asked this the week we arrived the answer would have been completely different to now. We moved here two weeks before the Virus locked the city down. Every single plan, apart from actually arriving, fell through. It's heartbreaking. But we are healthy and safe, as are our friends here, so that's really the most important thing. One of the big reasons for moving anywhere was that we really needed a cake studio. We'd found a few houses that would have been ideal, US houses often have extra buildings in the garden which would would have been my dream studio. Now we have to rent a home for a year so that's not happening. However, all my jobs have been cancelled anyway, so I'm just doing little things to keep myself sane. The kitchen I have here is fine for that.
What gives me some hope as to what Conjurer's Kitchen might hold, is that those 'normal' two weeks went better than I could have hoped. I got offered a dream job and had a meeting at a huge cinema chain about working together. But, all gone. Hopefully we can make it happen in whatever way cinemas and restaurants will be operated post-virus. We'll see.
I'm preparing a Zoom lecture at the moment, about Food & Cannibalism, partly in relation to the TV show Hannibal. I will focus a lot on female cannibals, so that'll be cool. It will be hosted by my friends at Morbid Anatomy in a couple of months. I'll announce it on social media in plenty of time, should anyone be interested.
What has been your favourite thing to work on and are there any types of work you particularly enjoy?
That's the easiest and quickest answer I have. Sculpting anatomy with modelling chocolate is my favourite thing in the world. I'm going to make a face this weekend, just because I enjoy it so much. Currently our rule number one is self-care, I call it the 'corona rules'. I'm going to film it, so hopefully people will enjoy watching it.
Your Movie Taste Along events seem like a lot of fun, can you tell us a bit about what happens and which has been your favourite?
Oh they are! Crazy hard work, but seeing 100+ audience members having a great time because of something you created for them is worth every stressed insult I've ever thrown at food.
I'll explain how the events works: basically they are interactive events held at cinemas. To begin with, I choose a film to screen (some films work, some don't) and create edible interpretations of select scenes, which I then serve to the audience while the film is paused on that particular scene. This happens a few times throughout the film, every tiny taster is specially designed to fit that scene and is introduced before being served. They are really fun events and pretty much always sell out.
I’ve hosted them in the US and throughout the UK (including one in a cemetery) usually for between 80 and 150 people. The largest one was for 220 people at a film festival in Edinburgh. This involved driving across the country for six hours in a car containing over a thousand sweet treats based on Evil Dead 2, like flying eyeballs, edible necronomicon pages, evil vines and exploded zombie head leftovers. I’m glad we weren’t stopped by the police!
I do these events mainly at independent cinemas and the films are usually pretty cult. Films that you know but may not have ever seen on the big screen. Like the original Willy Wonka or The Wickerman. My choices have been very well received so far, which is nice!
I have also done one to promote the DVD release of a film, Ghost Stories, for a PR agency. That was great as some of the actors, producers and other folks involved in the film were there. So their opinion really mattered. I got some nice reviews after that.
Even with the virus pretty much killing the entertainment industry, I'm glad I am here now. My one giant beacon of hope are Drive-In theatres. They will be suitable for my events and they are actually very common here, unlike in the UK. And film screenings in cemeteries. The iconic Forest Lawn Cemetery is literally 10 minutes from our house. As sad as the whole situation is, I know in my heart that Conjurer's Kitchen is 100% better off going through the pandemic here. I don't think the business would have survived this in the UK. I even think it might be a silver lining, who knows.
What would be your dream commission, something you're dying to do but haven't had the chance, or perhaps a commission from a certain person you’d love to create something for?
Ah, you're not going to like this, but it's a secret! Sorry.
I have two ideas/dreams, and one is even on the drawing board, albeit in a very loose form. The other one I can vaguely describe as the most unusual chocolate fountain/fondue ever… I'd love to pitch the idea for a party at Guillermo del Toro's house. Or for a function at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia.
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Comments (7)
Fantastic work. I think I would ask for something connected with moon 🌖🖤
Great idea, I think she would like that!
Some moon phases, stars and so on 😀, yeah
Awesome interview! I'm hungry now.
Thanks, me too!
LOVE this! Her creations are amazinggggg.
I know, her anatomy pieces are so accurate, it's mind blowing!