The Cupcake Bloke

When Graham Herterich created his Easter Treat Box, he created art out of adversity.
Unwell at the time, Graham recalled in his memory much-loved journeys in North Africa, and it led him to create an assemblage which paid tribute to the great foods of the Middle East – basbousa, a semolina and coconut cake; shortbread with cardamom; carrot jam; almond butter with orange and honey; spiced simnel brack; sweet dukkah; apple tea with mango and mint.
It was a magnificent collation, and typical of Graham Herterich’s extraordinary creativity. Here is a man who sees ingredients in an almost hallucinogenic way, ingredients as colours and concepts, as energy and style, as design and craft. But what separates Graham the Cupcake Bloke from the rest of us is the fact that he can render those flights of fancy into the most superlative baking in Ireland. When life throws lemons, Graham makes limoncello, he makes lemon meringue pie, he makes lemon posset. Everything is grist to the mill of his imagination.
The Cupcake Bloke combines Graham's extraordinarily creative baking with another skill: he is one of the best communicators: warm; funny; self-deprecating; a man who can make a masterclass seem like a fireside chat. He is one of the supreme artists of contemporary Ireland.