Our wildest art/dessert dreams have come true thanks to the brilliant minds at Arkansas Arts Center. Kelli Marks of Sweet Love Bakes fame has partnered with Arkansas Arts Center’s Canvas restaurant to create art-inspired treats that are works of art in their own right. Marks created three desserts for the menu after a trip through the permanent gallery ignited a creative spark.
“I went through and certain ones really spoke to me,” she says. “Especially the Irene Rice one. I thought, ‘I could make that out of buttercream.'”
And so she did. Quite beautifully, we might add. Marks chose to create the Monet Macaron (pictured above), an oversized pistachio macaron filled with raspberries and vanilla buttercream, adorned with royal icing décor inspired by “Pommiers près de Vétheuil” by Claude Monet. Marks says since it’s a Monet piece, she went with a macaron to keep the French vibe.
Next up is the maple bourbon bread pudding. This is a croissant bread pudding flavored with cinnamon, maple and bourbon, finished with white chocolate ganache and floating in a pool of salted caramel inspired by “Lubbock Landscape” by Donna Read. The dome shape of the art inspired Marks to try a different take on the traditional bread pudding dish.
This beauty is the chocolate Nutella cake with layers of soft chocolate cake filled with Nutella and chopped hazelnuts, finished with vanilla butter cream inspired by “The Circumnavigation of the Rose” by Irene Rice Pereira.
Marks previously owned the well-loved Sweet Love Bakes shop. Four years after opening, she decided to close the shop and began freelance baking for various restaurants and stores around Little Rock. You can find her macarons regularly at Cafe Brunelle at The Promenade and desserts at Skye’s Bistro downtown.
For Valentine’s Day, Marks is pairing up with Chef Shuttle, Skye’s Bistro, Eggshells and Cafe Brunelle to offer cake truffles, chocolate strawberries and macarons on Feb. 13-14.
Along with the three permanent art-inspired desserts on the menu, Marks created this chocolate soup with two kinds of chocolate, one of which is 60 percent Ghiradelli-smoked, with cinammon and ancho chile peppers and a mountainous marshmallow, which will be served on Canvas’ Thursday night dinners when Art After Hours events are held. She found inspiration in Ansel Adams’ “Monolith” and other works in his collection now on display at the AAC.
You can treat yourself to these edible artworks at Canvas, open Tuesday-Friday from 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday from 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. For more information, call (501) 907-5946 or visit their website here.