Just out of morbid curiosity (I've received no requests for such a thing, nor am I planning on commissioning one) has anybody here ever done a cake inspired by the Jimmy Webb standard, "MacArthur Park," first recorded by Richard Harris, then covered by everybody from Andy Williams to Donna Summer, to at least one punk band?
(Presumably, "sweet green icing flowing down" would be a given, and it would not be necessary to leave it "out in the rain.")
Actually it's:
MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I just looked up the lyrics and it is "sweet green icing". I've always loved that song. It would be awesome if you made it into cake! I have nothing to give you by way of ideas, though. Sorry.
Hmm. If I were to make a 9x9 map of the park, then the "striped pair of pants," the "yellow cotton dress," and the "old men playing checkers" would all scale down to microscopic. Hmm.
And actually, I've spent more time under MacArthur Park than I've spent in it (the Metro Red Line passes under it, following Wilshire Blvd, and the only times I can remember actually being above ground were when I was transferring between bus and subway there).
Maybe you could have a forlorn figure, sitting on a bench, holding an umbrella, and you could have trees with their leaves "melting" down. If you did this in 2D rather than 3d it might not be so hard. Hmm, I'm starting to like the thought of a MacArthur's Park cake. It definitely has to be sad looking.
Hmm. The "sweet green icing flowing down" could be a green drizzle-glaze, with the sides of the cake left naked (seems like in cartoons, all the cakes have naked sides, with either drizzle-glaze running down, or filling squeezing out between the layers, or both; why do I hardly ever see that in real life?); if it's a crusting drizzle-glaze, it could even double as a crumb-coat for the top. Still, if one were to do the cake as a map of the entire park, the "yellow cotton dress," "striped pair of pants," and "old men playing checkers" would be, as I said, microscopic.
Found this yesterday: a sight-gag "FOUND" ad:
(I don't have the rights to reproduce it here)
Here's the dilemma:
I've now got a rough design for a MacArthur Park cake, but to get something recognizable with trees, grass, paths, and the edge of the lake, on an 8" square cake, I'd have to do it at a scale of about one inch to ten feet. That would make the protagonists of the song (not to mention the "old men playing checkers by the trees) TINY, about half an inch tall.
Am I thinking too much like a model railroader?
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