Professor Butter Beard’s “Simon George of Cornwall”
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?.......
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee” – William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18, 1609.
How often have we heard Shakespeare’s words whispered in our souls as we contemplate first love? In this stirring breeze of a poem, the speaker asks whether he should compare the young man to an English summer's day but notes that the young man obviously has qualities that surpass a summer's day. The speaker goes on to observe that summer days are subject to change and will eventually diminish. But the young man will live forever in the lines of the poem, as long as it can be read by those like us.
In my mind, the same holds true for art. Hans Holbein the Younger is remembered famously for his paintings of a certain chubby Tudor king and his unfortunate choice of wives. But his sumptuous talents go beyond the marketing of queens. Timothy Potts, the director of the J. Paul Getty Museum writes: “German master Holbein the Younger portrayed his dignified contemporaries with finesse and supreme technical skill, during a time when representation of the individual through image, text, or a clever combination of both reached new heights.”
Holbein, who by 1535 was employed as the court painter to Henry VIII, would have encountered the country nobleman Simon George of Cornwall in London. When painting the young handsome courtier, Holbein chose a bold manner, the “tondo” – a circular format derived from antique coins and portrait medals but painted in vivid color. Simon George is a portrayed as a poet conversant in the symbolic language of love. In lieu of the usual inclusion of a transcription, he wears a stylish pink jerkin, a glowing embossed leather jacket and feathered velvet cap with a golden badge decorated with the mythological lovers Leda and the Swan. Hat badges, or enseignes, transmitted concise messages about status, values, and pursuits from a conspicuous position on the male wearer’s cap. Our young, bearded suitor also reaches out to us offering a red carnation recognized as a symbol of affection and betrothal.
Anne Woollett, curator of the recent J. Paul Getty Museum exhibition “Holbein: Capturing Character in the Renaissance,” writes: “Holbein was able to combine his ability to create a very believable likeness with these strong design sensibilities, and also an ingenuity, a cleverness, a creativity to create individual portraits of specificity and complexity.” Her praise echoes my thoughts as I admire this young paramour and relish with comfort that he will live forever as long as his captured offering of passion can be seen by our eyes and remembered in our soul.
While I was contemplating this painting, I was struck by the rich chocolate of the leather and the brilliant red of the carnation. These thoughts morphed into a bake of a deep dark chocolate cake offering up a ruby red hat of caramelized cranberries. Be sure to place your prepared muffin tins on a baking sheet covered with parchment, as the caramelizing berries may boil up the sides of the tins. And do let the cakes cool five minutes before tipping them out of the tins. I promise the smell of these baking will be as intoxicating as the offering of love from Holbein’s eternal courtier.
“Simon George of Cornwall,” clothing detail.
“Simon George of Cornwall,” hat emblem detail.
Mini Cranberry Chocolate Upside Down Cakes
Makes 24 Mini Cakes
Cranberry Layer:
1 (roughly three cups) bag fresh cranberries (or frozen)
11 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
Devil’s Food Cake Layer (adapted from Dori Greenspan):
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup dark cocoa (now available in your local grocery)
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup vegetable (or canola) oil
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla paste
¾ cup buttermilk
½ cup steaming hot coffee
1) Spray two muffin tins with baking spray (two dozen muffins)
2) Melt the 11 Tbsp butter and 1 1/3 cup dark brown sugar in a saucepan, stirring constantly, until the sugar melts and the mixture is smooth.
3) Divide the butter/sugar into the muffin tin – roughly 2 tsp per muffin.
4) Layer the cranberries over the butter/sugar (about 6-7 per muffin).
5) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
6) Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, sea salt and cinnamon.
7) In a standing mixer, cream together the 6 Tbsp butter and the two sugars until smooth. Slowly pour in the oil and mix on low speed until fully combined. Add the eggs, one at a time. Then the vanilla.
8) With the mixer on low, alternate adding the dry mix and the buttermilk: 1/3 dry, ½ buttermilk, 1/3 dry, remaining buttermilk, remaining dry.
9) Finally, again with the mixer on low, slowly add the steaming hot coffee until the mixture is smooth and silky and shiny.
10) Add the batter to the muffin tins, filling them 2/3 of the way full.
11) Place a sheet of parchment paper on two baking sheets. Place each muffin tin on a baking sheet and put them in the preheated over to bake. (The parchment lined sheets will protect your oven floor if the butter mixture begins to boil over)
12) Bake 20-25 minutes until the tops are mounded and firm to the touch.
13) Remove the cakes from the oven and cool the tins on a wire rack for five minutes. Run a small knife around the edges of each cake and then invert the tin onto a baking sheet.
14) Dust the cool cakes with confectionary’s sugar (if desired) before serving.
Hint: This recipe will also work with one box chocolate cake – substitute coffee for the required water to complete the box cake recipe
