In order to gain inspiration for what would be our (Mine, Sophie's and Abigail's) Typogateux submission, I made a board on Pinterest of general typography cakes. Cakes made of type, that had type carved out of them and Cake decorated by type.
We found as a group that we were most inspired by cake that was constructed by letters, for example the cake was in shape of letters.
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfmKLp91eI9xo2NV_pJQxAs4ozm9LsCjqXscBcayh2GFXCLR_O-UetyrSKTSvTMcfTCka4unSiodhD9ag1INt3qSKgJvPqMAhOGr00SuGXAr9j_K3jEn2I3d51sySlam3M6LKNlkuSr96s/s1600/DSC01831.JPG)
We began to brainstorm what we could write using the cake. Here we thought about using the opportunity about creating the cake with a kind of play on words in mind. It was hard to think of any other word or product that used the word cake, Until I came up with the idea of a space cake. However the cake would not be produced how it is most commonly thought of from its name. But it would consist of the word space, spelt out in cake, thus fabricating the idea of a space cake.
I went back onto Pinterest and started pinning whatever images inspired me, where people had created space themed cake.
Our favourite visuals that we had seen as a group when pinning these ideas were the marble effect icing, as it presented a very effective vision in which to embody the visual of galaxies and the swirling patterns of stars etc, mixed with purples, blues and yellows etc.
(http://pinterest.com/pin/333547916121880373/)
(http://pinterest.com/pin/333547916121880371/)
Our initial idea was to create a cake that spelt out the word cake, using this type of marble effect on the icing.
However we wanted to produce something a bit more aesthetically interesting and so me and Abi thought of the idea of creating one of the letters out of cupcakes. These cupcakes would be designed as things that witheld connotations of space, for example, planets, stars, aliens and spaceships. They would have a similar appearance to the cupcakes below.
(http://pinterest.com/pin/333547916121880398/)
(http://pinterest.com/pin/215750638368257768/)
We found the sample deign to be very eye catching and clever with its contextual references, however,
after assessing the design, we realised that to make 4 cake letters and a set of cupcakes with multiple designs and colours would end up being too expensive and out of our price range. Instead we chose to move on from this design and try to think of a new one. The one thing that we wanted to take from this design is the idea of using a play on words as we found this to be a very enjoyable feature of the cake.
I went back to the first step I took and began to think what items/ words included the word cake. The next idea I came up with was the word teacake. The first Idea I had was to type this into google to try and get some visual ideas. However typing in teacake to both Pinterest and Google images came up with no results that I found particularly inspirational. For my second attempt I typed Tea cup cakes into google, to which I found the following results:
(http://static.neatoshop.com/images/product/20/420/Tea-Cupcakes_1744-l.jpg?v=1744)
(http://static.neatoshop.com/images/product/20/420/Tea-Cupcakes_1742-l.jpg?v=1742)
Knowing that currently these images had no relationship with typography I had to think of a way in which these cupcakes tied in with the idea of type. I also wanted to try think of another play on words. Instead of trying to think of what could be written on the cupcakes, I began to wonder how they could be arranged in terms of shape and letter. I then thought of the idea that they could be arranged in a T shape. Therefore not only representing cups of tea, but a T shape aswell. Thus producing a project with the title 'Tea and cake'
following on from this idea we wanted to ensure that the appearance of the cupcakes ran semantically with the tea theme. I began to look at images of tea and other hot drinks to create a visual that would fit with the theme.
(http://facecliniclondon.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/tea3.jpg)
(http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01922/AXEXGW_1922167c.jpg)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Coffee_C0531.jpg)
(http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2012/6/22/1340375485492/A-cup-of-coffee-008.jpg)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Cup_of_Coffee_with_Whipped_Cream.jpg
http://takeyourtips.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/hot_chocolate_diner.jpg
We then decided to come back to the visuals, after we had come up with a flavour we would use. With it being the last day of term before Christmas break and not long until the holiday itself, we decided that we would take upon a christmas theme. Trying to brainstorm flavours we instantly thought of those scents that would remind us and others of christmas. The scents we thought or were mulled wine, warm spice, brandy. We continued to think about what components would make up the scent of old spice when Sophie suggested apple and cinnamon. I liked the sound of this flavour as it seemed different from what anyone else was doing and it was christmas fulled.
With the flavour of the cupcakes down, we turned back to the visual aesthetics. With a christmas theme, the design of the cupcakes also had to meet these standards. Typing christmas cupcakes into Pinterest we came across the following designs:
(http://pinterest.com/pin/21040323230708220/)
(http://pinterest.com/pin/40321359135426209/)
(http://pinterest.com/pin/287526757430370367/)
We found that the shape of the christmas tree design made with frosting was very similar to the shape of squirted cream ontop of a hot drink. Although the green was too bright to create a balance between both the appearance of cream and the colour of the christmas tree, the use of white frosting in the middle image seemed to work well. From this point I researched what frosting is usually used when making apple and cinnamon flavoured cakes, to which I found a simple recipe.
http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/530820/apple-and-cinnamon-cupcakes
For this recipe we are following, we wil be making lemon buttercream frosting.
We also wanted to create a replica of the chocolate powder sprinkled on top of hot drinks, Sophie had suggested that we do the same or sprinkle cinnamon on top as this was currently a flavour already in the cupcakes however we wanted to do something with more of a christmas aesthetic. I therefore went to Asda to see what kind of sprinkles we could purchase to reflect this. Whilst looking I found some edible red glitter pieces which I thought would be a perfect alternative. I also bought some white chocolate stars that would replicate the form of the star on top of the tree above.
With some ingredients still to buy Sophie went to visit a baking shop where she came back with all the necessary ingredients such as baking apples, sugar, flour etc however she also came back with some extra decorations.
These decorations consisted of products such as small cutters in which we suggested cutting out pieces of apple and extra cupcake mix and placing these on the cupcakes or on the sides of the saucers. Edible holly designs, we found that we could now create another theme to the christmas tree design in which we will decorate every alternate cupcake with holly with a design similar to this:
(http://pinterest.com/pin/402790760392482247/)
however substituting the red balls for the red glitter I had previously purchased.
Sophie also bought the piping bags in which we need to decorate the cupcakes with frosting, with 10 different nozzles available we will decide through trial and error which we think is appropriate for our designs.
Beside the visuals of the cupcake we began to think about the visuals of the whole piece. It was here I suggested that we set the cupcakes up on some kind of red and white gingham fabric in which would almost visually duplicate that of a table cloth, thus mimicking an idea of a tea party. Following on from this to create the illusion further that the cupcakes were more so cups of tea, we will place a small pot of sugar at the side, and a milk jug.
With the visuals of the whole project in place, there was nothing more we could work from in terms of actual cupcake design etc until the day we baked and so I began to think of a small visual sign that would introduce people to our typogateux submission. We wanted to design something quite simple that would fit contextually with our cakes. I began sketching up some designs onto layout paper.
The first design I sketched up was a stand in the shape of a mug, with the writing 'T' and cake on the front in a style that looked like it had been written in frosting via a piping bag.
Wanting to go further with this idea I then sketched out a design along the same lines but using the writing to construct the shape of the cup.
I then drew up a third design which was inspired by the tags that you find hanging from a tea bag laying over the edge of a mug.
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_fDRPg8GdDOu16ORuNk6ybaelfxnMNI7T08WFuiSl9j825yYj1lx_BDKX5EqmtTEDVA1MY2N4g42YF1DWdqb-bjZ0l7BinrxOyrBOJbc5H_TKZF20COKntWC9O_CxWCm0VTgG8Zsz2JA/s1600/teabag.jpg)
However the design would have to be a larger version in order to communicate every thing we felt that our audience, or people that would be viewing/ eating the cakes would need to know. This information included, the name of our typogateux, the flavour and the ingredients, incase there were any allergies.
I went with a very simple design, using an easily readable sans serif font to title the tag. I then considered the shape of our cakes and drew out the sillouhette, which I thought about cutting out. I then designed the hole in which the string of the tag would go through to be a holly shape.
I then however found that this deign would be unsuccessful as with too much cut out there wouldn't be much room in which we could write the flavour and ingredients of the cakes.
With these ideas in hand I went into illustrator and started designing along the ideas I already had.
Abi and Sophie had found a script font they thought reflected our project, as going with the theme of tea and cake, it seemed quite formal. Below is the script font they had found:
(http://losttype.com/images/inuse/lavanderia_one.png)
I made a tag in illustrator in which the front of the design consisted of only the title 'Tea and cakes' in the above font with the cut out holly shape for string, and the back listing the ingredients and flavour in the simple sans serif typeface I had talked about earlier, Myriad pro. I also chose a red and white colour scheme as this was the duo of colour most commonly used in our cupcake designs and its also used to symbolise christmas.
However I felt that the tag needed to have a visual link with the design of the cakes and so taking the silouhette idea from earlier, I drew out the outline into illustrator, combining both the visual of a cup of tea and the cupcake design we had created. I placed this image underneath the title.
Baking the cupcakes.
We found that when coming to the design/decorating stages after the cupcakes had been baked that, after creating a test piece that we had not made enough buttercream frosting, and did not have enough ingredients to more, to fulfil the christmas tree design we had originally planned.
We therefore had to come up with a different design. Using the piped buttercream we created a shape that more so resembled the cream on top of a coffee or hot chocolate. We then sprinkled the red glitter and white chocolate stars over the frosting, using the edible holly shapes Sophie had bought to create the focal point. The design of the cupcakes still ran along the same christmas theme and looked both like a cup of tea combined with a cake, which was our aim and hopeful outcome.
We also found the the shapes we had considered placing on the sides of the saucers using the cutters that Sophie had bought were unsuccessful, as when removing them from the cutters they crumbled and lost their shape. We only had one successul outcome. Therefore we also had to get rid of this idea.
I then brought from home, a christmas tea towel (red and white) which we could lay the cupcakes on in a 'T' shape. followed by a small jar of sugar and a milk jug which would further amplify the context of our cupcakes. We used the milk jug as a prop to hang the tag/label.
The final product.
