Books and bakes: Hillman hosts a cake party

Emily Hikes spent Wednesday night recreating gory images — including the heart, lungs and a superficial dissection of the neck — with frosting on a cake.

“I didn’t sleep last night, and I destroyed my shoulder stirring the icing to get it to the right color, but everything turned out the way it should,” Hikes said.

The University Library System’s Preservation Department, which archives and makes library material available over an extended period of time, hosted its second-annual Edible Book Fest at Hillman Library on Thursday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Edible Book Fest is held at libraries internationally in April. Thirteen students submitted entries to Pitt’s Book Fest this year, and 156 faculty members and students voted for a winner.

Hikes, an archivist at Pitt’s Archive Service Center, created her piece, “Gray’s Anatomy,” with cake and buttercream icing for this year’s annual Edible Book Fest. Hikes’ inspiration for her cake came from her grandfather’s battered copy of Henry Gray’s science textbook, which he has used since 1942. 

Hikes graduated from Pitt with a degree in art history and participates in art shows in her spare time, so she was eager to get involved with the event.

“I wanted to do it last year, but I didn’t have time, so I had to do it this year. I also wanted to do something creative with my job,” Hikes said. 

Ashley Cox, an employee in the Preservation Department, brought the event to Pitt last year. The international event began in 2000 as a celebration of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, a French lawyer and politician who wrote the famous food book “Physiologie du gout,” which was published in 1825. It is held annually in April, the same month as Savarin’s birthday.

Students who participated submitted edible interpretations of their favorite pieces of literature. Approaches included the re-creation of a book cover, scenes from a book or the conception of a clever pun that plays on the book.

The artists competed to win prizes in various categories, including “overall favorite,” “best interpretation of cover or scene” and “most creative piece.”

Leam Bridge won “overall favorite” with his “Giving Tree,” a tribute to Shel Silverstein’s children’s book, featuring a tree stump made out of cake and fondant. The “most creative” award went to Emily Hikes’ “Gray’s Anatomy.” Justin Pihony took “best interpretation of a cover or a scene” for his “Madeline,” which recreated a London scene from Ludwig Bemelmans’ children’s series with ice cream cones forming a clock tower. 

After staff members from the Preservation Department tallied the results and announced the winners, attendees indulged in the homemade delicacies. 

Voters are also entered into a raffle to win University Library System prize baskets full of gifts including umbrellas, hand sanitizers and pencils, in addition to various hand-bound books. 

Cox said most entries were dessert-based, and this year’s competition was no exception. 

The ending scene from “Divergent” by Veronica Roth, an American novelist, was re-created with cake mix, Jell-O, evaporated milk and icing. A pig face made of pancakes represented Laura Numeroff’s children’s book, “If You Give a Pig a Pancake.” 

Miranda Beck, a senior accounting major, browsed through the entries and enjoyed Hikes’ creation the most.

“I think Emily [Hikes’] was the most realistic and most creative. I can’t wait to eat it,” Beck said.

Juliana Warchola, a sophomore finance major, appreciated “Gray’s Anatomy,” but she voted for another piece that was based on Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina,” a Russian novel published in 1877. The dessert featured a banana representing a character from the book and a train made out of chocolate graham crackers and chocolate doughnuts. 

“My favorite is ‘Banana Karenana,’” Warcholar said. “Just because it’s so punny.” 

Warchola said she was dragged to the event by her friend Abby Shriver, a sophomore economics major who attended last year’s event, and is already planning her entry for next year. 

Sarah Pomfret, a sophomore communication science and disorders major, was also skeptical of the idea before she came.

“Now that I’m here, it’s really cool. I like that we get to vote, it makes me feel more involved,” Pomfret said. 

According to Cox, the event was held during finals week last year, and the Preservation Department hosted the event earlier in the semester this year to accommodate more students. The event drew 11 entries and 72 voters last year, and some of the favorites included “A Moveable Fancy Feast,” a cat-food version of Ernest Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast,” and a recreation of Honeydukes, the sweet shop from the Harry Potter series.

Shriver said that she wishes the Book Fest was more well-known on Pitt’s campus.

“We don’t have anything else like it. It’s a good chance for book nerds to hang out together,” she said.