Crime. Boorishness. Outrage. Bobby Flay.

This post is a hats-off to Cake Man Raven of Brooklyn.
An eloquent baking entrepeneur who totally won me over one night on TV.

I adore Red Velvet cake. (Here's my earlier post on it.)
It recently made an appearance on TV that gets right to the heart of what I love about baking.

In other news, I'm not much of a fan of Throwdown with Bobby Flay.

Flay

Something is wrong with the basic premise of this show: Mr. Flay, backed by his team, bust in on a chef with a local following and challenge them in a cooking duel where Flay tries to make a better version of the chef's specialty. Potentially humiliating to the underdogs, only to inflate Flay's ego.

Then I saw this Throwdown episode where Flay goes after Cake Man Raven from Brooklyn. He challenges him to a Red Velvet cake bake-off. I know it means watching a whole episode, but watch it if you can. It is a classic display of an insightful artist facing off against a philistine and his henchmen.
Listen to Cake Man Raven talk about the detailed subtleties of Red Velvet. How it has cocoa but isn't meant to be just a chocolate cake. Mr. Raven understands that Red Velvet is its own flavor.
He also knows what RED means. This kind of awareness of details tells me he loves what he does. He really pays attention and lets the cake talk to him about what it is. I'm not stoned right now.

Cake Man Raven

Watch Flay create a fugly, red-brown-grey cake, not understanding at all that red velvet has always derived its color from red food coloring. Same goes for his fool judges, who react with such shock at Raven's cake that I think they've never seen a Red Velvet cake before. What the fuck (I'm sorry. I just get so worked up) qualified them to judge this?



What Flay makes is a very modified version of classic Red Velvet, and he doesn't seem to understand that.
Raven clearly has a feel for the history and nuance of the cake he's making. He talks like a man who has mastered his subject and knows the whys and hows of what he does. He's inspiring. He knows that some flavors can't be categorized, that some cakes are goofy, and that both can also be rich in complexity and interest. I'm really not stoned. This is what makes baking worthy of passion. I hated to see him lose.

Cake Man Raven's cake

I know. I didn't taste them. But just hearing Mr. Raven talk tells me I'd like his better.