Cupcakes and  pharmaceuticals are not a likely combination but I stayed true to the spot painting production and created a slightly different shade for each little cake and arranged them in a random order. The cake is the red velvet variety sans the red colouring. It is moist and rich and wonderfully sour paired with the lemon cream cheese icing.

Damien Hirst, Cineole (2004), etching in colours, 114 x 112 cm, edition of 145

Damien Hirst is one of the leading members of the ‘Young British Artists’, an art group active in the 1990s. He rose to fame with his works featuring dead animals suspended in tanks of formaldehyde. His spot paintings were composed of randomly coloured circles each a slightly different variation and were named after pharmaceuticals. The spot series along with the spin paintings were produced in a factory by his assistants. According to Hirst, he only created a handful of spot paintings himself, explaining:

“I couldn’t be f**king arsed doing it; They’re shit compared to … the best person who ever painted spots for me was Rachel. She’s brilliant. Absolutely f**king brilliant. The best spot painting you can have by me is one painted by Rachel.”

– Damien Hirst, quoted in On the Way to Work (2001)
Cineole Cupcakes

Velvet Cupcakes

adapted from Jamie’s America
makes around 30 mini-cupcakes

3 tablespoon butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 cup flour
125 ml buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
food colouring
cream cheese frosting (recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and prepare a mini muffin tin by coating it liberally with butter. In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar together until it is light and fluffy. Fold in the egg with a slow, gentle mixing action with a spatula. Add pinch of salt and vanilla extract and mix. Alternate adding the cocoa, flour, and buttermilk to the egg mixture, stirring gently until you have a smooth batter.

In a small cup, add baking soda to vinegar until it begins to fizz. Add this to the cake mix.

Spoon the cake batter into the mini-muffin tins and slide into the oven. The little cakes will bake quickly so keep an eye on them (about 8-10 minutes). Remove them from the tray and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting (otherwise the frosting will melt).

Make one batch of the cream cheese frosting and divide into small bowls. Experiment tinting the frosting with food colouring and mixing the colours. Create a different shade for each cupcake.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from Jamie’s America

125 grams cream cheese, softened
75 grams butter, softened (room temperature)
1 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
juice & zest from 1/2 lemon

Cream together cream cheese and butter by first mashing together with a fork and then mixing until fluffy with a spatula. Slowly add the icing sugar, vanilla, and lemon and continue stirring until well combined and smooth.