Spanish designer Jaime Hayón has created a festive ice cream cake for Häagen-Dazs.
The American ice cream company annually commissions one artist or designer to make an ice cream creation for the upcoming festive season. This year – the project's 9th anniversary – it called upon the imagination of Hayón.
The designer applied his distinctive patterns and shapes to the two ice cream cakes, which take inspiration from the world of show business.
"The ice cream cake project has taken my imagination into a whole new world filled with indulgent Häagen-Dazs ice creams," said Hayón. "When creating my colourful characters, I decided to involve them in the world of show business in order to add a touch of fantasy at Christmas time."
"By doing so, I hope to spark the imagination of young and old over the celebrations of the festive season."
The cake comes in two colour variations, white and purple. Although both cakes have a sloping, bell-like shape and two eyes shaped like a star and a Christmas tree, they have different patterns applied to them.
The purple cake has a stripped cone nose, while the white has a flat, beak-like nose. Upon both of their heads are two curved ears and a top hat, each with their own pattern in white or gold.
Although these creatures look like something from another world, their design is reminiscent of Hayón's previous work, like his animal-shaped play equipment at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.
The cakes combine Häagen-Dazs ice creams with a sponge cake exterior. They are produced in the town of Arras in northern France by Häagen-Dazs' pastry chef and exclusively sold through the company's French stores.
The white cake is formed of a crunchy speculoos biscuit base, topped with two of the brand's bestselling ice creams, salted caramel and vanilla. Inside, the cake has alternating layers of salted caramel sauce, roasted almonds and hazelnut praline.
Hidden behind the pointed chocolate nose on the purple cake is a mix of the almond panna cotta and honey walnut ice creams, lying on an almond and orange blossom biscuit base. Thin layers of salted caramel sauce and roasted almonds fill the cake, along with a core of "exotic" coulis.
In previous years Häagen-Dazs has collaborated with other designers to create its annual festive-themed cakes. Nendo created a small village on its ice-cream cake, while Paola Navone designed an edible advent calendar.
London designers Doshi Levien took a looser approach to the theme when they created a cratered, minimal moon cake.