What kind of special cake can one make at home in a time when traditional birthday celebrations have given way to confinement, isolation, and loneliness? During the lockdown, cakes have evolved beyond mere culinary creations; for some, they have become vehicles of expression, a new medium for conveying ideas, emotions, and even resistance. Cakes are transforming into modern protest signs in a world where public demonstrations are increasingly difficult to hold and freedom of speech is under pressure.

One particularly intriguing development is the rise of cakes that deliberately disrupt traditional aesthetics to evoke discomfort and challenge conventional norms. Goblincore-inspired cakes, for instance, celebrate aspects of nature often deemed "ugly" or undesirable. Embracing this “beloved ugliness,” the Goblin aesthetic becomes a playful yet provocative symbol of our infatuation with nature's raw, untamed, and unpredictable qualities.

These homemade confections revel in clashing patterns and unconventional palettes, rejecting the polished perfection celebrated on social media. Instead, they offer a critique of societal ideals about gender, power, and respectability. Feminist baking has a long and storied history, exemplified by works like Martha Rosler’s Semiotics of the Kitchen. Goblincore cakes extend the tradition of anarchist femme baking, which resists the "violent form of perfection" in favor of something unapologetically "aesthetically promiscuous."

With their offbeat charm, Goblincore cakes transform the loaf into a fantastical landscape of maximalist ornamentation. Candles resemble strange, enchanted trees, romanticizing a return to nature and its untamed beauty. These cakes are chaotic yet sensual, unsettling yet heartening — a visual and edible balm in a time of profound destruction and loss.

Martha, I know how downgrading you think this type of cooking shows are for us, but I promise I won’t be emphasizing the patriarchal role of women in the kitchen nor assume the naturalness of women’s role as competent domestic laborers.

Puppet and puppeteer : Aline Bouvy
Director of photgraphy: Thomas Depas
Recording, sound editing, sound design and mixing: Pierre Dozin
Motion graphics: Anna Sougy
Music by Stantogh, Isengard, ssaliva, DJ David Gobelin & The Horde and Late Bush