Culinary Design | Over wild hills and far elsewhere.

It’s late morning, just before lunch. The kitchen is airy and light-filled. The honeyed breath of peach, cherry and chamomile swirl through the air. Through the open courtyard door, the breeze rifles through glistening parchment. Nestled within, golden and brightly colored, a new confection that I titled ‘Clouds Over Syliria’. No doubt inspired by my surroundings.

That’s how I choose to spend my long weekend. Part baking dalliance, part thought experiment in culinary design, this fruit and almond cake is research that is deliciously fulfilling, both for the mind and stomach.

It’s topped with slices of peach and plum that bleed gently into the sponge as it bakes, blackberries & slivered pear nestle in, and a snowfall of flaked almonds and refined sugar bring texture and sweetness. Finally, true chamomile flowers spring up, as if growing out the cake itself.

The idea was to imagine a cake from an elsewhere - a place called Syliria - a fictional Grecian forest where stone fruits & flowers grow in wild, glorious abandon.

Clouds Over Syliria is a cake, but also an exploration in narrative gastronomy. Inspired by the storytelling and art direction of some of the world's most prolific culinary design studios, this is my attempt to blur the lines between dessert and dreamscape. Between sense of taste and storytelling.

There’s nothing performative or overwrought in the recipe. A beautifully balanced sponge (almond and flour, softened with butter and lemon zest), carrying fruit like a stone path carries moss. It's the story of Syliria, and the fanciful visual cues, that elevate it to a meditation on mood, place and edible imagination.