If you’re in the habit of employing rather outdated American slang, you might declare that chocolate is ‘da bomb’, but that phrase is more likely to be used to express enthusiasm for the stuff rather than refer to actual weapons made from it.
Unless, that is, you’re visiting CNB Gallery. The arty basement space beneath Mark Hix’s Tramshed in Shoreditch is currently hosting ‘Bittersweet’ – an exhibition comprising not only a collection of 6-inch and 2-foot-tall fibreglass-and-resin grenades designed to look like they’re cast from chocolate, but also a further 200 of the smaller size which you can actually tuck into… that is, if you’re prepared to purchase one at a cost of £125.
‘Bittersweet’ is the brainchild of prop designer and artist K-Tee, whose current work is oft-inspired by weaponry; always hewn from harmless materials and, in this case, downright delicious ones. Fascinated by the concept of juxtaposing the deadly and the delectable, it was Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge who first suggested that the sculptures could be replicated in edible form.
Emulating the shape of ‘pineapples’ – the famous Mark II grenades introduced in 1918 by the US army – and moulded by a team including award-winning chocolatier Matthieu de Gottal, the edible incarnations of K-Tee’s creations are stuffed not with actual explosives, but one of four explosive fillings masterminded by top-drawer pastry chef Claire Clark: white chocolate & orange, salted caramel & pistachio, honeycomb, or Turkish delight.
They may be rather classier that a Creme Egg, but the question remains: how will you eat yours?
More cracking chocolate sculptors
Paul Wayne Gregory
3D Celebrity heads rendered in chocolate – including This Morning‘s Phillip Schofield
Prudence Emma Staite
The go-to girl for all kinds of crazy chocolate creations. Check out her portrait paintings
Conjurer’s Kitchen
Macabre, mesmerising and anatomically accurate. Animal and human skulls a speciality
- ‘Bittersweet’ is showing at CNB Gallery, 32 Rivington Street, London EC2A 3LX until 20 May. For more information, visit cocknbullgallery.com
- See more about K-tee’s work at k-teeartist.co.uk
- Read more about Matthieu de Gottal here
- Check out more arty chocolate creations here
Culinary Adventures of The Cocoa Nut 