Martha Foose came to class Monday! I arrived a little after 7:30 to help gather up some of her ingredients for her demo.

She began preparing two Pineapple Upside Down Cakes as our fellow students began arriving (one with fresh pineapple and one with canned pineapple).

For the pineapple upside down cake, she melted some butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a cast iron skillet and allowed it to cook.

She then began preparing the cake batter.

After the batter was completed, she removed the caramelized mixture from the heat and arranged pineapples on the bottom before pouring the batter on top.

Once the cake was finished baking, she removed it from the oven and showed us what it should look like!

And then she flipped it over onto plate to demonstrate the final product!

And here is the second one!

Here is Chef Martha Foose’s recipe that she gave us permission to share!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 large egg yolks
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 1 1/4 cups cake flour, sifted
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup chopped fresh pineapple

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350 F.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer for 2 minutes or until thick and lemon colored.
3. Gradually add the granulated sugar and salt while beating on low speed, then add the vanilla and almond extracts.
4. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute.
5. Slowly add the boiling water while continuing to beat.
6. Turn mixer off, add flour and baking powder, and stir until smooth.
7. In an 8-inch ovenproof skillet set over medium heat, melt the butter with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Cook, stirring for 1 minute or until the sugar is melted.
8. Remove the pan from the heat and arrange the pineapple in a single layer over the sugar mixture.
9. Pour the cake batter over the pineapple. Transfer skillet to the oven and bake for 35 minutes or until the cake springs back lightly when touched.
10. Remove the skillet from the oven and let the cake cool for 6 minutes. Invert cake onto a serving platter and let cool completely.

*This cake topping can be made with most fruits and is very good with blueberries or plums.

**For the best cinnamon floor, grate some fresh from a stick on a microplane grater or zester.

Chef Martha then began explaining ways that the same pineapple upside down cake might be used in advertisements.

She called me down to the front to take some sample advertisement photos. She arranged her pineapple upside down cake with some background objects to represent a photograph that could be used for a pineapple advertisement or in a recipe book.

Here is my first shot for this task! She directed me on the angle and the depth of field that she wanted and approved of this shot!

For this image I had to crouch down and get an eye level approach to the cake while making sure that the background elements were there but not drawing too much attention.

Chef Martha explained that the sifter in the background added a “homey” feel to the photograph like it was grandma’s pineapple upside down cake, and the napkin to the side added a softness to the image.

The next image she staged was for a fast food, plastic menu type establishment where the photographs are typically bad and not artistic whatsoever.

She had me stand on a chair above the cake and shoot down on it in a close and cropped angle. The flourescent lights reflecting off of the cake from the ceiling above added to the cheap, plastic feel of the image that she wanted.

Next, Chef Martha whipped up some “Dream Whip” to add to the cake. For the next photo, she wanted a shot of just one slice of cake.

My final image..

 

The next image Chef Martha had me take was of a bite out of the pie!

I like the idea of this image but the light in the area was too dark and the shadow is a little off-putting; however, it was still good practice!

I felt very honored at the opportunity to take the demo photos because it felt like working with a real food stylist on set (just without all the pressure). Chef Martha would tell me what she wanted and then I would take photos until I got the right angle, background, depth of field, etc that she wanted!

Chef Martha then demonstrated how spray adhesive can be used to glue on garnishes for photo shoots when the food won’t be eaten!

Of course the above garnish looks silly, but it was a great concept to learn!

Chef Martha had also made a blueberry upside down cake. The cake turned out a little bare on top, which she patched up with some cooked down blueberries.

She cut a piece and demonstrated how the subject may look better when photographed from different angles, such as taking the photo of the slice of cake from the BACK!

I had never thought about using this angle before, but it honestly looks much better from this side because you cannot see that some of the blueberry topping is missing and the angle is original!

While Chef Martha wrapped up her demonstration for the day, she allowed us all to get a slice of her cakes! YUMM!

They were VERY delicious, and something that I will have to make again soon!

While we were eating she popped her last cake into the oven and wrapped up her demo by showing us a few of the cookbooks that she had written and helped write!

She also shared a few of her food styling stories with us, for instance, when she prepared a turkey for a photoshoot. She sprayed the whole turkey with tanning spray, allowed it to sit over night, and then cooked it for a total of thirty minutes before the photo shoot! She said that it was the most beautiful, and evenly colored turkey that there ever way (although it would probably taste the worst)!

She also told us about the time she worked on the film The Help and had to make a realistic look chicken leg for the vegan actress to take a bite out of! This was apparently one of the bigger food styling that she has encountered during her career!

Chef Martha also told us a lot about her history, such as her adventures studying abroad and being on cooking shows.

All in all, it was an excellent day with Chef Martha Foose! I was kind of sad to see her leave, but I do feel like I have learned so much just by spending a few hours with her.

Once she left, I pulled the last pineapple upside down cake out of the oven and flipped it over onto a plate!

Chef Mary Helen took this home with her for her husband! (Goodness knows that I didn’t need any more sweets! I would have taken it home and eaten it all in one sitting!)

Well, next week Chris Jenkins is coming to do a photography lecture, and I am VERY excited!

Until then,
ABC.