Andy Warhol's Favorite Sweet Treat Was Almost Too Fitting

Andy Warhol was one of America's most famous artists and is often dubbed the "king of pop art."  With art so prized and iconic, it's no wonder that a thief once stole seven Warhol "Campbell's Soup Cans" prints. Now, while the famous artist did eat a whole lot of Campbell's soup, Warhol also loved sweets so much that he titled a set of 25 drawings "Love is a Pink Cake." Hence, the legendary artist's favorite sweet treat, cake, is almost too fitting. Though, ironically, Warhol's "Love is a Pink Cake" series features no cakes or desserts.

Warhol had an insatiable sweet tooth and a simple recipe when making a cake for himself. It wasn't something fancy like our decadent chocolate layer cake recipe, but something food hackers on social media today would love to replicate and go viral with. He described the recipe in his 1975 book, "The Philosophy of Andy Warhol" (via Artsy), writing, "You take some chocolate ... and you take two pieces of bread ... and you put the candy in the middle and you make a sandwich of it. And that would be cake."

The king of pop art also enjoyed a simple yet sweet jammy sandwich for dinner. To help you replicate Warhol's delicious "cake recipe," we've ranked every Hershey's bar flavor from worst to best. And to spruce the cake up, we recommend checking out our soft pull-apart milk bread recipe to make Warhol's "cake." Of course, you don't have to bake white bread from scratch. The store-bought kind would suffice as well. 

When making Andy Warhol's cake recipe, we recommend toasting the bread, so it's nice and warm before you wedge your favorite chocolate candy bar between the toast slices. Now, if it's Warhol's jam sandwich you'd like to recreate, consider making your own homemade jam, like our easy strawberry jam recipe, to spread over white bread or brioche buns. 

Warhol loved sweets so much that even if he had gone through all the motions of cooking steak or other protein for dinner, he would just opt for his jam sandwich instead. All Warhol wanted to eat, in his own words as per art curator Bob Nickas (via Phaidon), was sugar. During the later years of the artist's life, Warhol continued to enjoy desserts and avoid meats. 

While sugary foods were the way to Warhol's heart, he did at one point in his life want to open an automat diner and call it Andy-Mat. There, diners would order food through a telephone, and the food would all be microwaved in the kitchen and delivered to the booths almost robotically. Not only was Warhol a visionary artist, he was oddly clairvoyant of the dining future, where automated, contactless, and lonely dining experiences have become increasingly common.