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I’ve changed the easel for an photo camera and my brushes for flowers and food. But I never traded the colors, because there’s nothing better than a chromatic world. I let my imagination run on the motor of the camera and my eye be the brush to paint the colors. However, I don’t paint that much today. I miss from time to time the smell of the turpentine and varnishes. Painture is one of the most consuming art I have ever experimented, it’s a true dedication that can not be shared. However, I never could leave it and the sight of an tableau painted by no matter what means, makes me dream, makes me happy.

There isn’t greatest pleasure than savor the beauty, technique and perfection of the feelings successfully spread on canvas by great artists. I was hopping than, to be able to free my spirit and create that inside voice that will make people feel something. I was and I’m still far from what I wanted to be, in painting or photography, but there isn’t any scale of how good or bad the feelings should be. There’s nothing that could critique the feelings marked in a photo or painting. Nothing will ever make better a creation than the heart. You could master all types of technique, steel others ideas, you can decline yourself to that level of cheap attitude and betray your meaning and principles, we can have all sources of inspiration, but if you are not capable of letting your true feelings out, your desires, fears, imagination, you’re nothing as artist.

There’s only one thing that can make you an artist, and that one thing is the ability of expressing something that comes from inside you. A true artist should have a frightening clarity about himself, to know whether he has something to offer or to know if he is able to translate his feelings into reality. Trying to be as someone you admire, doesn’t make you an artist at all, supposedly imagining the feelings of others, do not make you a better person or a true artist. If you don’t have taste or you don’t know how to interpret your heart, soul and feelings, you rather walk away or try to look deeply into yourself into the search of that something that makes you a real artist.

I wanted to take the risk of putting today something wonderful in front of you. Something courageous, romantic, powerful. I wanted to dare to bring to light a dream of colors I had, something assertive, full of faith, inspirational – Frida – the muse and the beauty of her deep, clean colors. Frida’s pertinacity to believe in her soul and putting that much feelings and pain on canvas, determined me today to bring an ode in a humble way, to the great Frida. The poetry that Frida paint with so much pain, the love she spread around her, made her creation live its beauty and soul. There’s nothing more artistic than the intimacy of the soul brought to life. Frida succeeded in this so well and almost frighting marvelous. More I think about her work, more it warms my soul and more I feel the true sadness that crosses the soul. Happiness would be nothing without the true sorrow and no great things would have had ever been achieved by impulse, but only by heart and soul.

I used Frida as muse for this cheesecake. Glorious and folkloric style adornments made out of raspberries and roses, assertive grain-y cake bottom and chocolate cheese to highlight the dark corners of our souls and the feelings we are most afraid of and red, passionate and seductive raspberries topping for a radical and audacious soul.

   

Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberry Filling and Grain Flour Bottom
Grain Flour Cake:
(makes 8 servings)
4 eggs
125g sugar
30g almond flour
40g buckwheat flour
60g wheat flour
2 tablespoons Dutch cocoa

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Spray with vegetable oil a removable bottom pan (22cm).
2. Sift together the flour and almond powder. On bain-marie and using an electric mixer, mix the eggs with the sugar until the mixture is pale and has triple its volume.
3. When the mixture is warm, take it off the heat and continue to mix until will become thicker.
4. Add gradually the flour and gently mix to incorporate it in the batter. Add the cocoa  too. Pour it in the pan and bake it for 25 minutes. Let it cool completely.

Raspberry Filling:
400g fresh/frozen raspberries
100g sugar
75ml Ballantines

Directions:
1. Bring all ingredients to a simmer and cook until the raspberries start to break and the juice is thickened, in a jam consistency (however, not too thick), about 20-30 minutes. Set aside.

Ingredients :
1 grain flour cake
3 egg yolks
120g sugar
40ml fruits citrus juice (1 lemon and one handful of raspberries)
4 leaves gelatine, softened in cold water
200ml pouring cream
200ml ricotta
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
100g pastry chocolate melted (70% cocoa)
raspberries

Directions :
1. Whisk egg yolks in an electric mixer for 5 minutes or until pale and fluffy. Combine sugar and fruits juice (puree the raspberries and mix them with the lemon juice) in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and stir to dissolve, then bring to the boil and cook until syrup reaches 120°C on a sugar thermometer. With motor running on high speed, add sugar syrup to egg yolks in a thin stream. Return saucepan to heat, squeeze excess water from gelatine and add to pan, stir until just melted then add to egg yolks, chocolate and whisk until cold.
2. Combine pouring cream, ricotta and vanilla paste in a bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Fold cream mixture and melted chocolate into egg mixture. Spread one half of the raspberry jam on the cake, then pour the cream mixture and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or until set. Once chilled spread the other half of the raspberry jam on top of the cheesecake and decorate with raspberries.

 

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