Antique

The Oculus cake now being sold by the new caterer running the SFMOMA's upstairs cafe. The cake was inspired by the distinctive tower at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It is similar in design and spirit to a cake prepared by Caitlin Freeman and her baking team for a museum event several years ago. (See below.)

Connor Radnovich/ Courtesy of The San Francisco Chronicle

Where do you draw the line between inspiration and straight-up imitation when it comes to food?
A few years ago, we brought you the story of Caitlin Freeman, a pastry chef baking innovative, art-inspired cakes at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Using modern art as her muse, Freeman translated what she saw in the museum into edible form at the SFMOMA's upstairs café.



Caitlin Freeman's Oculus cake, which she and her team first created for a museum event several years ago.

Her creations eventually filled a cookbook, Modern Art Desserts, and her most well-known dish, a cake composed of small, primary-colored blocks delicately cemented together with chocolate icing, graced its cover. Inspired by the geometric art of Piet Mondrian, it brought both Freeman and the café fame – and inspired many a home cook to tackle this masterpiece at home.

The museum closed for renovations in 2013. When it re-opened last month, the upstairs café was under new management, with a new baking team – but the art-themed desserts for sale looked suspiciously familiar to Freeman. Call it a case of copycake.

Blue Bottle, the coffeehouse chain own by Freeman's husband, James Freeman, used to run the SFMOMA's upstairs café, but it failed to win its bid to return after the renovations. Freeman was disappointed, but, as a lifelong art lover, she nonetheless felt compelled to take her infant daughter to check out the refurbished museum. She even stopped for a few moments to take in the scene at the new café, now run by a catering company that had previously operated the museum's downstairs café.

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