Interview: Metalcakes

Black Sabbath's Cupcakes Bloody Cupcakes

The love and dedication that goes into this site is of course, UNENDING - which is why I have something a bit special up my sleeve today. (Sadly, it's not some quaaludes).

Metalcakes is where heavy music and delicious ingredients come together. And not just any metal bands, oh no; you won't find any Limp Bizkits here (hur hur!). Mercyful Fate, Evile, Sleep, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden...the list goes on. It's not just any old cake site either! You get a full list of the "Metal Constituents" for each cupcake and "Merciless Instructions" to go with them.

But it led me to thinking - who is this woman who bakes such cakes? Who decides which bands are honoured? Will these become a standard after-gig treat?

So I got in touch with Kathy to ask her a few questions...and as I suspected, it turns out she's wicked sick :D

1. So I take it you're a regular metal fan - how do you pick the bands you immortalize in the kitchen?

I only bake for bands I like. I find it hard to be inspired by bands I don’t dig.

2. All the bands you choose are pretty cool - do you think you'll ever get elitist about it - would you only create cakes for bands you like?

I am a total elitist already! I know people don’t like all the bands I bake for, but that’s what’s good about Metalcakes (in my humble opinion…), even if you don’t like the band, you may still enjoy the tasty cake recipe posted in their honor!

I know that’s true for my Mom, she’s not metal AT ALL but she still likes the Metalcakes I bake. Plus if a metal head stumbles across my blog while searching for information on a band they already like, maybe they’ll try baking up the accompanying recipe.

3. Okay so the obvious - what inspired you to combine metal with cakes? Now, I've seen plenty of cakes that are decorated with a band logo or something, but you use metal to inspire the ingredients AND the aesthetic. Were you influenced by Kuma's Corner at all?

Basically I just made the blog I wished was out there. There are plenty of punk rock bakers, but I wanted a blog that sticks to cupcakes, and talks about bands I like. I’m a sucker for permeating themes.

To be perfectly honest, I started my blog before I ever went to Kuma’s. That’s probably because I’m a vegetarian, ha! Kuma’s employees are known for being rude to vegetarians/vegans and people who like any form of Miller beer. But once I did go to Kuma’s, I kind of felt that their flavor combinations didn’t really capture the essence of the band. They have burgers like:

Iron Maiden: Avocado, Cherry Peppers, Pepper Jack, Chipotle Mayo - $11
Neurosis: Cheddar, Swiss, Sautéed Mushrooms, Caramelized Onions, Horseradish Mayo - $10
Led Zeppelin: Pulled Pork, Bacon, Cheddar, Pickles - $12
Dark Throne: Chipotle Peppers, Goat Cheese, Fresh Pico de Gallo - $11

It’s kind of like, “huh?”I really don’t see the connection between what they’re serving and the band it’s named after. I mean Pico de Gallo for Dark Throne? C’mon. And that’s fine if they’re not trying to make a connection. I guess they’re just naming random burgers after random metal bands. It just seems like a missed opportunity to me.

I try to have a direct connection between the band, the name of their song, or their album and their Metalcake. My intent is to express my appreciation for the band by baking for them.

The very first Metalcake - Slayer's Reign in Blood cake.

4. Do you get a lot of metal fans contacting you who have tried making the cakes themselves? I know Reign in Blonde did a post a while back on some they'd tried out. Do you think your cakes have inspired any non-metal bakers to try out new music?

I’ll admit that there are few who are passionate about Metal AND Baking, but in addition to Elise from Reign in Blonde (I love both those ladies, they’re so brilliant. I can’t believe they like my blog!), the only other metal head I know for sure that has baked any of my cakes is John Humphrey from Denver, Colorado. He’s super awesome, and usually wears a corresponding band shirt to go with his cupcakes.

I hope some people have tried listening to bands they didn’t know before they had their own Metalcake! I try to include a video clip to help illustrate the awesomeness of the band.

5. Do you think you'll be picking up a copy of 'Hellbent for Cooking'?

I don’t own a copy yet, but I’ll probably pick one up soon! I really like that it’s a collection of favorite recipes from different metal artists. I wonder if there are any cupcakes in there…

6. On a more serious note - many diehard metal fans would frown upon something as revered as heavy metal being combined with the frivolity of cupcakes. Have you ever received any criticism?

I haven’t received any criticism that I know about. Granted, I’m a pretty tiny operation flying under most people’s radar. I don’t make any money off my blog, it’s just a fun and tasty hobby. I think because I bake for a band out of respect and to honor them, it’s not very offensive. I have nothing but respect for Metal. I have nothing but respect for baking, especially cupcakes. It seems natural for me to combine the two.

Have you seen Until the Light Takes Us? I’ve seen it twice already! There’s a scene in which Gylve (Fenriz) from Dark Throne talks about how people have made fun of Black Metal and turned it into something marketable. Black Metal has totally been exploited, but what can he do? That made me so sad! I completely understand.

That’s why I’m hesitant to make a Dark Throne cupcake. I love them dearly, but I don’t want it to seem disrespectful. I don’t want to be disrespectful to any band I bake for. If they suck and I hate them, there’s no way I’m ever going to bake something in their honor. Psshh! Not bloody likely! They can bake their own cakes.

I will tell you this, if I do end up baking a Dark Throne cupcake, it won’t have Pico De Gallo in it!

7. And finally...what's the greatest heavy metal to bake to?

Personally, if I’m baking for my blog, I rock out to whatever band I’m featuring in my post.
If it’s not a Metalcake I’m baking, I usually like Slayer for the easier stuff to keep me in a good mood, and Nile for the more challenging tasks. The heavier the metal, the better I can concentrate on a recipe.

So what are you waiting for? Go try out some of those recipies for yourself! I'm not so hot in the kitchen but am quite at home with metal so I'm going to go check out Lair of the Minotaur...metal with greek mythology? I'm in!

A wild side project appears!

J: EXODUS Frontman's GENERATION KILL: Another Demo Track Posted Online - obvious signs that exodus ain't doing well... a wild side project appears!

M: and their frontman is currently the worst thing in exodus :/

J: gary holt is kinda fucking exodus up, and doesn't realise it :/

M: don't blame gary D:<

J: it's his band, just saying.... :/

M: D:<

J: they should have gotten zetro back. period!

M: but he's busy with dublin death patrol ;)

J: yeah, that fucking abortion!

M: but it has chuck billy and eddie billy in it :D

J: so, machine head has two ex members of vio-lence in it :P

M: that seems to give them more credence than they deserve

J: i'm not sure if it's good to say that their original guitarist (MH) left to start soulfly with max :/

Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash

M: back to the "problems with monthly mags" that we have - everything is old news! you have a choice of thousands of interviews of everyone online - bands have their own websites etc etc etc there's no point in magazines anymore - even weekly is too late for me. i suppose there are still people out there that aren't into the internet so much and are happy to pay stupid money to get the bullshit news people have copied from online anyways...but as times goes by, magazines ain't gonna exist anymore, at least not as we know them. if they want to survive, they're gonna have to come up with something else for us to pay for, just like bands are having to do.

J: > in magazines anymore - even weekly is too late for me
This, and everything you said
> if they want to survive, they're gonna have to come up with something else for us to pay for, just like bands are having to do.
I think they make money from tour sponsorship as well, since yeah,they're effectivly obsolete.

M: I think they make money from tour sponsorship as well, since yeah, they're effectively obsolete. yeah and online stores and shit...but i just can't see how long they're gonna hold out actually selling the magazine. even with them offering free cds and shit - as soon as the copy hits stores, it goes online straight away. any super amazing content they can come up with goes online straight away....there ain't anything magazines can do. except maybe go online, do it for free and make their money from advertising, same as nearly all online free press. i give em 10 years at best. i could check some of the figures here [at work], market research into the magazine industry would be pretty interesting - to see the figures and shit. in fact i might just do that :D

J: :D
> there ain't anything magazines can do. except maybe go online, do it for free and make their money from advertising
I was gonna suggest that, it's all they can really do..

M: well metal hammer are owned by future publishing and just from wiki the sales for MH are 49,143 from jan-jun 07 - before the recession stuff, so i imagine current figures are down from that - compared to vogue uk which has a circulation of 220,000 it's not doing so badly.

terrorizer does 13,786 - classic rock, 70,301 (figures for this from 2009)...

hmm... i dunno, when you think 49,143 x £4 (i'm assuming its about 4 quid) = £196,572 per month, so about £2,358,864 per year, not including special issues, the fact that it may cost over £4 and all the other merch and sponsorship.,...

okay they're making pretty sweet money from it. and MH is a pretty big name of the future publishing books - classic rock is bigger, but their magazines generally focus on specialist press so the MH figures are actually pretty good.

this was a more complicated email than i intially planned.

J: > this was a more complicated email that i intially planned.
I know :D
Classic Rock used to be really good - yeah, it's monthly and the news is old, but it had good interviews in it and other bits, as you say, it's specialist. MH and Terrorizor are more or less the same, with T being the less mainstream per say.
But yeah, they still seem to be doing okay, and i'm sure a lot ofpeople will still buy them, it's just the cheap fuckers like you and me that wont :D

M: > it's just the cheap fuckers like you and me that wont :D

LOL i guess thats true :) i guess i just get caught up in what i do - i just don't understand why there's so many people out there spending money on stuff they don't need to. i also don't understand why there's so many companies spending so much money on protecting material they won't be able to protect forever - i don't get why they don't spend the money finding ways that they can move with the times.

like with illegal downloading - how many milions of fucking pounds have been spent trying to stop it when its essentially impossible to stop? why don't they just realise that and save the fucking money they're throwing at an unsolveable problem - and think of the ways in which they make money outside selling the music itself.

itunes was genius in the sense that at first, you had to download stuff from itunes to be able to listen to it on a ipod - everyone has an ipod, so everyone uses itunes, it's brilliant for making money - although even that couldn't last.

J: > don't understand why there's so many people out there spending money on stuff they don't need to
This.
> like with illegal downloading - how many milions of fucking pounds have been spent trying to stop it when its essentially impossible to stop?
Yeah, they never will, but they can't seem to grasp that and just admit defeat and yeah, do shit to increase revenue.
But a lot of people still buy music. we might joke about it, but people still buy lots.

M: i think we're kinda out of touch with that - because me and you never do it, i forget that people do actually spend money on stuff. i think there are a lot of people that see you downloading stuff and figure that you're taking money away from that band and so damaging the thing you like, in that sense,

J: say, for example, you were buying metallica records from when they started - every album they released was wicked - that goes for pretty much any other band at the time - you just get album after album of good shit. now it's like, they never release anything that's even worth buying. downloading might be killing it, but they're effectively killing it themselves with content.
also, downloading music is free - yeah, it's not legal, but it's free... it's a no brainer really, huh.

M: totally. like...whichever blog it was the other day that was saying how in 1985 - you have about 300 metal albums recorded. and 90% of those are fucking cool. ffwd to 2009 - over 10,000 different releases - and a good 70% EASILY are fucking bullshit. you think i'm gonna want to pay with those odds?

J: also most bands still going are doing the music for the money, yeah, i know, that's obvious and people who want to make money from music can, it's fair game, but to release horseshit for the money is not fair.

M: if i download your album for free and i like it, then in turn, i'll pay to see you play. and if you're really fucking good, i'll buy a t-shirt or some other kind of merch and that way, you could get up to about £40 off me. times that by 200 people and you got 8000, right there. and most people who charge 20 for tickets and 20 for tshirts are playing bigger venues than 200 people. you think of the o2 (don't know why i'm all figures obsessed this evening) - if it seats about 23,000 people - if you charge £40 a ticket, that's £920,000 - then if even half of them buy a t-shirt at £25 a pop, that's an extra £287,200 - so you've already made over a million fucking quid.

J: Yeah, you'll still go see bands play. I think also it's why a lot of bands release ltd vinyls still, because there's still a market for it. Although i think vinyl is dollar to press though :
> you think of the o2 (don't know why i've got all figures obsessed this evening)
Yeah, I thought that when i opend this email ;)
O2 is making bear cash tho :/

M: well with vinyl, you're selling something there that people can't just do themselves and its something that's actually cool - you can have pictures and fold outs and stuff. if you made a cd that came with some insanely awesome case* or whatever, yeah i'd still buy that, like people always buy box sets that come with some cool kind of crappy merch.

>O2 is making bear cash tho :/

fuck yeah, considering that most of their events are easily £40 upwards to go to - the foods costs DOLLAR, the shops/restaurants have to pay rent etc etc etc the o2 are fucking made, that place makes people haemorrhage money :O

*I hate AC/DC...but props to whoever came up with this. It's an undeniably cool cool idea to make some cash.