Rosalee & Chariot LA

c: Hello Rosalee! How is life treating you these days?

ROSALEE: Hi! I’ve been feeling incredibly tender and reflective of late, in a sweet way. I’m approaching 6 months back home in Whittier, where I grew up, after a long spell in New York. Life felt so disruptive up until this point so right now I’m just soaking up the moments of stillness available to me, feeling happy and full.

If you can, how would you describe the essence of Rosalee?

My chart is very much a tug o’ war (Cap stellium, Leo moon, Cancer rising); it sort of looks like a see-saw. The Cap-cancer axis is really loud. I’d say I’m very Saturnian, very lunar, very dream-oriented, always oscillating, and also a bit of a solar flare. But I love feeling the ground underneath my feet.

Chariot LA: Your newborn baby. How was Chariot conceived and what was the birthing process like?

Chariot was truly born of circumstance, but I’m also realizing it’s my oldest project. I was talking to my mom about this the other day and she said that I’ve been making stuff like this in the kitchen for as long as she can remember, which is probably true. Food was my first love, alongside an interest in magic / mediumship / spellwork. I used to spend hours in our front yard as a kid, gathering flowers, twigs, and pebbles, putting them in my ‘cauldron.’

I’d also build little nests for the birds in the trees that were short enough for me to climb – they never actually used them of course, but we’d end up with a garden full of tiny installation-offerings.

I grew up in a very Catholic family, and I’m not sure how I arrived at this myself, but I was a very imaginative only child with several imaginary friends who were probably spirits, in retrospect. The only time I got in trouble at school was for trying to have a seance on the playground with my little 4th grade friends. We drew a Ouija board on notebook paper and used a pencil as a pendulum.

As an adult, food service is something I’ve done on and off for over a decade, alongside art. I started waiting tables when I was 16. Years later, in college, my friends and I baked all the time, we hosted potlucks- there were pies all over the dinner table.

Then I went back to school to study photo a few years later and one of my part time jobs in art school was at an ice cream shop where I decorated ice cream cakes on the weekends.

We had a big central kitchen where the cake layers were baked and delivered to us at the satellite shops. Our team of cake decorators would then shape and adorn them. There were days when I’d have 30 special orders to work through. Now I make 2 or 3 cakes a day from scratch and that feels like more than enough (lol).

I definitely feel, in some ways, that I’m too close to see the arc fully, and I never actually thought things would take shape this way. But after years of feeling burnt out, spread thin, and under-resourced, I just really knew I needed something of my own that felt purposeful, consistent, and materially supportive. I needed something that gave me the space to prioritize my physical needs and that reconfigured the ways I’d thought about my art practice prior.

Not to get into the profound cognitive dissonances of the art world, but the early days of the pandemic really shook something inside of me and pushed me to make profound changes. I contracted a ‘mild’ case of covid in 2020 that left me with a host of lingering effects, some of which haven’t subsided but I’ve since learned to manage. I felt totally depleted for over a year, couldn’t muster up the energy to work full time, was terrified of the changes creeping up in my body.

When I had capacity, I’d bake for myself and my partner to cope, we’d cook a lot of comforting meals. I didn’t have much energy to share what I was up to, but a lot of home bakers were coming up around this time and that was inspiring to witness. I love what Dream Cake Test Kitchen and Růst Cakes are doing, and a former co-worker of mine (shout out to Sue / @little___rat!) is making spectacular cakes in NY.

Eventually, my lease ended in Brooklyn and life got pretty chaotic. My mother was going through a lot of personal difficulties as well and it just made sense to come home and find ways to be mutually supportive. I left my job as a studio assistant, and my partner and I moved to LA in September 2021.

A couple months later, we hosted a small reunion dinner with friends and I made olive oil cake and pumpkin pie. Our friend Xavier Odemns asked if I was taking orders, he loves a good pumpkin pie. Chariot was born shortly after.

It’s been a journey. Thank you for sharing, especially regarding your health and being effected by covid.

Why did you choose the name, “Chariot”?

I’d been spending time with the Chariot card during my daily pulls and thinking of its symbolic relationship to Cancer, its cardinal association with beginnings / building momentum / moving forward, and lunar rulership. For me, it conjures images of tightening and releasing one’s grip, striking a delicate balance between control and surrender, grace and power, changing tides, a kind of psychic flow state.

Speaking of magic, our mutual friend is film magician and divinatrix @arianne_alizio; I recall following you on Instagram a couple years back through Arianne. I finally got to meet you IRL last month, and you and your partner delivered my birthday cake!

Yes! Actually, Arianne gifted me a very pivotal book, The Tarot of Leonora Carrington, whose paintings I love along with Remedios Varo’s. Carrington’s Chariot card directly influenced the selection of the name– her rendering is sumptuous as fuck, painted in deep reds and blues. The twin sphinxes gaze at one another knowingly.

Arianne is immensely talented and psychic, I love and cherish their ability to witness deeply, our collaborations bring me great joy.

That cake was such a pleasure to make for you, by the way. And the drive to Topanga* was stunning. So glad we could finally meet.

Likewise! My cake was gorgeous. I love how uniquely you treat each of your cake creations; you keep the energy of the recipient in mind. For example, you made me a sky-themed cake; you were keen to pick up on my relationship with nature and the desert sky! It really made receiving and eating my cake a special experience.

That makes me so happy to hear. I’ve been looking for ways to incorporate skyscapes, seascapes, and mountainscapes into my work, and something about the desert sun and the energy of your IG posts just resonated.

It’s important to me that my solar return cakes feel special and particular to the people receiving them– I’ve started asking for sun/moon/rising signs on my order form, only if the client feels comfortable sharing. If I can channel the energy of a landscape someone longs for, I try to do that as best I can.

Your cakes are one-of-a-kind– and I say that because eating your cake had me (personally!) vibrating at a higher frequency. Do you have any secrets you’d like to share with us?

This makes me blush! Thank you for your kind words. I make mistakes in the kitchen all the time, but a lot of experimentation with flavor pairings, texture, color, and scent is born through that, before you even see the final cake.

I love herbal infusions, spices, steeping tea in cream before I whip it. I have an aversion to anything excessively sweet, so even my frostings tend to be pared down and often punctuated by something spicy or savory. Every now and then I’m asked to make an airy sponge, but the cakes I love are dense and moist. I love a cake soak and a pillowy, buttery bite.

I try to let myself move slowly and frenetically at different intervals, my kitchen can get really chaotic. If there’s music that speaks to the energy of the cake I’m baking, I’ll play it; I like to think that you can hear the notes in the cake.

I love that you named how sensual eating and baking cake can be for you. How does your baking practice compare to your other creative practices?

I find that I approach baking in much the same way I do anything else in the studio. I approach it with similar sensibilities and a sense of curiosity, I think. If anything, baking frees me up, I carry less aesthetic and conceptual baggage when I’m in the kitchen. I love to be left to my own devices and my partner says my schedule is erratic as hell, but I have to be feeling a certain way to make something special– I’m not one of those artists who puts their head down at the same time every day and grinds away despite the circumstances.

I’ve always been somewhat undisciplined (lol). I like to leave a lot of room for life to seep in. And I’m not a pastry chef by any means, I don’t have that kind of training. I’m an artist who works with bread and sugar, among other materials. I love making cakes but I’m already craving opportunities to break that form as much as possible.

Have you found a flow with baking? Or do you feel like your baking process changes frequently?

I’m still getting there! Time management is a big challenge for me. I’m doing it all myself right now, from emails to admin to baking to deliveries and experimenting with different schedules. I love it and I am also frequently overwhelmed. Eventually I’ll learn to protect my time better and tend to other projects with greater regularity, but I can be a bit all-or-nothing at times.

Current inspirations: you got any?

This book of Alejandra Pizarnik poems, Extracting the Stones of Madness, also gifted to me on my birthday (thank you Ellie Parker!). I am often crushed by it.

“When the roof tiles blow away from the house of language, and words no longer keep– that is when I speak.”

I ask this question near the Leo Full moon: I have a perpetual, internal conflict of wanting to be seen and not wanting to be seen at all, and I’m really trying to be comfortable and celebrate having others see me. Does that experience resonate with you, or what comes up for you when I share that?

Oh, completely. I find myself oscillating often, I think my natal Leo moon is really quite repressed. My Capricorn stellium is in the 7th house as well and relationality is incredibly important to me.

I’ve craved and felt nourished by one-on-one connection for as long as I can remember, but I’m also quite shy when it comes to being seen. I was one of those kids who hid behind their mom at the grocery store. Years ago, I had a rather bare-it-all approach to social media which brought some of my closest friends into my life, and I cherish that, but I think I only got there because I felt comforted by my small audience.

“Privacy” (to the extent that it’s possible) and stillness still seem incredibly luxurious to me. I’m longing for other ways to share with one another.

I know you are just getting started, but what’s your future vision for Chariot?

I’d love to have a commercial kitchen someday and share it with friends. The day-to-day process of baking can be rather isolating, so I want to create more opportunities to collaborate freely and playfully with safety in mind.

My visions are very much rooted in the near-future these days. I’d love to expand my offerings beyond cake. I want to play with form, create custom molds, start an edible flower garden.

Favorite sponge, frosting, and garnish combination?

My answer varies from one day to the next, but I always love notes of coffee, tea, and chocolate – deep, earthy, molten flavors paired with something acidic or floral. Today, I’d love an Earl Grey sponge because I love the smell of bergamot. I’d love a lavender saffron buttercream with a touch of black pepper. I tend to like a frosting that makes me want to sneeze a little, and it can’t be too sweet. I use an old school ermine buttercream recipe that’s thickened with a roux so you can get away with using less sugar. And then of course I’d love a thick layer of ganache, 85% cacao or more. As a garnish: rambutan and spiked speedwell flowers.

Excellent. Which cake is your fav?

Of the ones I’ve made to date? Really hard to say, but I did make a tiered baby shower cake for my cousin recently that made me tear up a little. Matcha olive oil sponge, strawberry lavender compote, a layer of ganache, and mascarpone frosting. Tender and fragrant. I also love the tide pool cake I made a while back for @paletademamey.

Got any tips for beginner cake bakers or bb bruhx/a/os?

Study your plants. Don’t be afraid to grow your own herbs and flowers, it’s much more accessible than I imagined and buying flowers is expensive. I feel more connected to my ingredients this way and I wish I’d started sooner. Today, I’m planting some pansies in a pot and I’ve been nursing some lavender and thyme back to health.

Also, please make sure the amount you’re charging is materially supportive for you from the get-go. This has historically been a hard lesson for me! I can easily spend 4 to 5 hours on a single custom cake, more if it’s a large layer cake. Make sure you’re compensated accordingly and prep as much as you can in advance, and recognize when you need help.

I hope to introduce a small menu in the coming weeks with a selection of pastry offerings that are accessible and less physically demanding of me.

Sometimes my best ideas come to me in the shower or while I’m driving. When I’m doing deliveries, I make frequent stops to take in textures and colors. I might take a lunch break on the beach. Prioritize and protect your rest and leisure, don’t exploit your own labor!

Are you hiring?

A couple of people have asked me this recently and it warms me so much because I’m barely getting my shit together! It’s a big trial and error period for me and I’ve felt safe in my cocoon thus far, but I think I’ll be needing help soon. I just won’t bring anyone on until I can ensure it’ll be a materially supportive experience for them.

Is there anything else you’d like to share? Plug-ins for other projects or pieces of wisdom for our dear readers?

I have another project called @cuen__ca which I love and miss, it’s been momentarily dormant while I’ve navigated the cake frenzy of the last couple months. CUENCA is a found object shop I started with my partner just before leaving NY and it’ll be coming back soon with a new collection of vessels.

I also want to pour some love into Arianne Alizio’s cup again because we’ve been working on a tarot deck for what feels like ages now, and we’ll be devoting some more energy to that in the coming months.

That all feels inspiring. I think that’s all I wanted to ask- thank you so much for your enthusiasm and time do this with me, Rosalee.

Thank you again for this generative space you’ve created! It’s been exciting to speak about so many things that have been quietly brewing in my mind, I sometimes forget what it’s like to say things out loud.

I appreciate your work so much.

My heart! Likewise.

*c had a staycation in Topanga, CA for her birthday at the time of Rosalee’s cake drop-off.

Rosalee Bernabe is a visual artist born and raised in Whittier, CA. She works across mediums, primarily engaging sculpture, textile, photography, and food. Her work draws from personal archives and family narratives, weaving together ideas of myth, place, materiality, and ritual. Bernabe runs and operates Chariot, a psychic pastry project based in LA. Alongside Tavish Timothy, she is also a co-founder of the found object shop CUENCA.