Thursday, 11 February 2010

• Alexander McQueen, Gothic Anorexia and Chocolate Cake

  
  The dream: a skin-tight ensemble *still* spritely pops off your all-bone body. McQueen advert from Fall '09
  
  

  Food and fashion do not go well together. In fact, the two are probably mortal enemies.
  
  This dichotomy was always most blatant when the network Bravo's two biggest shows: Project Runway and Top Chef, would be aired back to back.
  
  Top Chef would always have an episode where the chefs would have to make a dish for a Hollywood actress whose diet was very limiting, and they'd react as though they were being water-boarded. It was as if not being allowed to make buffalo wings was making a mockery of their entire profession.
  
  Meanwhile, over on Heidi Klum's turf, there would always be an episode where the designers had to design for "normal" people-size 4's and size 6's or, you know, people who ate buffalo wings-and the contestants would react as though they'd just been murdered and had arrived at the gates of hell. It was as if making clothing for the human equivalent of *not* a hanger was an insult to who they were as artists.
  
  I always thought that if the two shows could come together-a group of wing lovers and a group whose diet was coffee and cigarettes-the entire world would probably implode.
  
  So why then, am I writing a post about late fashion icon Alexander McQueen on a blog called IReallyLikeFood?
  
  

   
  Ribcage corset by Shaun Leane for Alexander McQueen, Spring/Summer 1998
  
  

  Because in attempted homage to him, I went searching for what his favorite food was, or cocktail, or anything-but according to the internet, the man simply did not eat. I shouldn't be surprised, as he was a key purveyor of Goth Fashion, and as a former goth, I know exactly what that entails.
  
  To be a goth is almost religiously tied up with not eating and a desire for uninhibited skinnyness. Though I formally entered goth-hood somewhere between ages 11 and 12, I never formally quit-to this day my wardrobe is only black, dark grey, dark blue, or dark red, and my expression is almost always scorned. I joined the 'hood instantly upon gaining pubescent weight, and my desire to be so skinny you practically couldn't even see me has never since been fully quelled. I've so internalized the ritual of Gothic Anorexia that to this day, I must remind myself to eat, as well as reminding myself not to feel proud satisfaction when I realize I've skipped a meal.
  
  I never formally entered the world of Ana, or Gothic Ana, but the ideals of both are inherently intertwined into what it is to be a goth, or to be an angsty, misguided pre-teen in our Fast Food Nation. To be angry was to be skinny, to rebel was to revel in starvation.
  
  

  
  McQueen's "Plato's Atlantis" was accompanied by Lady GaGa's (who just doesn't eat) "Bad Romance".
  
  

  Alexander McQueen's art, in many ways, embodied exactly what young, righteous suburban teenagers have been rebelling against for two decades: lusciousness, corporate overabundance, just generally having a lot-having too much-and letting our possessions own us, and our bodies. Not eating and draping oneself in black can be viewed as the self-involved teenager's (or any well-off American's) attempt at spiritual soul-cleansing-at least that's what it was for me, in my youth.
  
  But I'm 23 now, and looking back on McQueen's work throughout the years, I'm finding that the best way to pay homage to the legend whose art keenly represented such an influential time of my life (my time as a Gothic food-hater) is by concluding my own edible connections with his fashions.
  
  So, in honor of my favorite purveyor of Gothism, Alexander McQueen, I present the the radical notion of being Goth and Still Eating with this recipe for Gothic Strawberry Shortcake:
  
  

  
  Another piece from McQueen's Fall '09 Collection, and the chocolate cake it looks like

  
  Chocolate Sponge:
  3 eggs
  75gms powdered sugar
  1 tbsp cornflour
  2 tbsp cocoa
  75 gms minus 3 tbsps flour
  1 tsp baking powder
  Pinch of salt1 tsp vanilla extract
  
  

  Method :

  1. Line & grease a 8" spring form tin.
  2. Sift the cornflour + flour + cocoa + baking powder + salt 3 times. Keep aside.
  3. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
  4. Beat the eggs & sugar well till it holds thick ribbons; about 10 minutes.
  5. Beat in the vanilla essence.
  6. Gently fold in the flour mix, a tbsp at a time, in figure 8 hand movements so that the beaten air doesn't escape.
  7. Turn into the prepared tin & bake for 25-30 minutes/ until done.
  8. Remove from tin after 5 minutes, take off the lining & cool completely on rack.

  
  Strawberry Sponge:
  3 eggs
  75gms powdered sugar
  1 tbsp cornflour
  2 tbsp cocoa
  75 gms minus 1 tbsps flour
  1 tsp baking powder
  Pinch of salt

  1 tsp Strawberry essence
  
  

  Method : See to above.
  
  

  Filling :

  400ml cream

  1 tsp strawberry essence (optional)
  2-3 tbsp powdered sugar

  200gms/ chopped strawberries; reserve 3-4 for decoration

  
  

  Method:

  1. Whip cream, essence & sugar till it holds peaks.
  2. Reserve 1-2 tbsp cream in a baggie for the spiral/ web on top.
  3. Fold in the strawberries.
  4. Don't make this too much in advance, since strawberries macerate with sugar, & might make the cream runny.

  
  Ganache:

  200gms dark chocolate
  

  200ml cream

  
  

  Method :

  1. Put the chocolate & cream in a pan. Keep on low heat, stirring constantly, till the chocolate melts. Remove & stir vigorously with a spoon.
  2. If you want to pipe decorations on top, pass about 1/4 cup through a sieve & reserve separately. I've found that unless you sieve the ganache, its not easy to pipe it through an icing set. Its fine for spreading though.
  3. Set aside to cool. It will thicken as it cools & get a spreadable consistency.

  Finishing it off:

  • Cut each sponge into 2, so there are a total of 4 layers.
  • Sandwich them with the strawberry cream, using 1/3 each time.

  

  • Spread the ganache over the top & sides of cake. Use sprinkles on the sides if desired.
  • For the marbling, see pictures. Draw a spiral, with the cream in the baggie reserved from the filling, beginning from the centre outwards.

  

  • Then drag a wooden pick from the centre outwards, at a 60 degree angle, to equal points on the edge.
  • Do the same in the opposite direction (ie outwards to the centre) between the earlier lines. This will create a webbed pattern.

  

  • Pipe a ganache edging if you like. Then finish off with sliced strawberries & flaked chocolate etc. Chill till required.
  • Note: Serves about 15-18

  Recipe Source

  R.I.P
  

  Have you ever been a goth/known a goth who struggled with an eating disorder? Would you bake this cake?

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