MisterKrisp, Elevating the Rice Krispies Treat One Post at a Time

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Jessica Siskin, the force behind the Instagram account MisterKrisp. Photo: John Taggart for The Wall Street Journal

Over the last several years, in the face of more competitive desserts like specialty cupcakes, cake pops, Momofuku Milk Bar cookies, serve-your-own frozen yogurt and artisanal gelato, the Rice Krispie treat has become something of a second-class citizen. Jessica Siskin, a graduate student in creative nonfiction at the New School, has been working hard to change that.

She is the artistic force behind MisterKrisp, an extremely popular Instagram account that chronicles her adventures in customized Rice Krispies treats. She has sculpted the cereal-and-marshmallow delicacy into such objects as: a bagel with cream cheese and lox; Olaf from the Disney movie “Frozen”; and Rihanna in the tiered pink Giambattista Valli dress she wore to the Grammys on Sunday.

A few years ago, when Ms. Siskin was managing sales at the fashion brand Elizabeth and James, she started making heart-shaped Rice Krispies treats at home. One night, she made a Rice Krispies treat in the shape of a surfboard to bring to a party, using Jamaican Rasta colors.

When she got home, “I had the overwhelming impulse to make a Rice Krispies treat cheeseburger,” Ms. Siskin recalled. “I made it, and I screamed out loud. I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen.” So did many of her Instagram followers: “Everybody I knew freaked out. People were texting me out of the woodwork.”

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Ms. Siskin’s cheeseburger made out of Rice Krispies. Photo: John Taggart for The Wall Street Journal

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Ms. Siskin uses a photo to help sculpt the faces of her Mount Rushmore Rice Krispies treat sculpture. Photo: John Taggart for The Wall Street Journal

It led to lots of experimentation and, actually, to a business. Holidays have become a particularly busy time for her. Valentine’s Day, for instance, has sparked several orders for personalized conversation hearts.

There is another holiday this weekend, however, and to commemorate Presidents Day, Ms. Siskin thought it would be amusing to make a Rice Krispies Mount Rushmore.

Though many of her designs appear elaborate, they have to be sculpted relatively quickly.

“You actually only have a few minutes to mold them,” she explained, turning on the stovetop burner and adding nearly a stick of butter into a large caldron. “I have about 10 minutes max. The trick is not letting the marshmallows burn too much. The more you keep the burner on, the more you compromise the actual texture.”

Then came 15 cups of Rice Krispies; mini-marshmallows which, Ms. Siskin said, melt better than larger ones; and white, then black food coloring to achieve the slate color of chiseled rock in South Dakota.

Before long, she began transferring the sticky, gray Rice Krispies to a cake sheet. “This is the base of the mountain, and then I build it bit by bit,” Ms. Siskin said. “I’ll make the heads, basically, from left to right. Now we’re going to do Lincoln. I think they’re the most distinguishable by their hairstyles.”

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Ms. Siskin with the finished Mount Rushmore sculpture. Photo: John Taggart for The Wall Street Journal

As she worked, Ms. Siskin noted that she felt President Roosevelt was the most complicated to make “because of his glasses. It looks like he was the hardest to carve into the mountain, too.”

Next she used black icing to create shading, and, with the Rice Krispies treat excess left over, she fleshed out the presidential eyebrows.

“See, it’s coming together,” she said. “It’s happening.”

Ms. Siskin said that she tries to make anything out of Rice Krispies that comes to her mind.

“I think in Rice Krispies now,” she said. Three-dimensional projects are especially tough. Skyscrapers tend to collapse, especially if they’re meant to be edible. To keep a Jack Daniel’s whiskey bottle standing, she used pretzel rods as a framework.

She charges based on how much time a project takes her, usually around $100 for a cake-size treat, but as the business grows, it means spending more time in her kitchen. Ms. Siskin said she listens to a lot of podcasts, most recently the Moth, Serial, Analyze Phish, which is about one of her favorite bands, and lots of interviews with authors she’s currently reading.

After finishing the mountain, she felt some embellishment was necessary. She went back to her Rice Krispies supply—she usually purchases the cereal in bulk from Sam’s Club in Hackensack—and made a blue-colored batch for the sky. She added trees at the base with green icing.

When it comes to the treats, “I say, ‘Don’t get high on your own supply,’” Ms. Siskin said. “You can’t stop eating them once you start. I haven’t figured out why, but it’s good for business, so I’m not complaining.”

Write to Marshall Heyman at marshall.heyman@wsj.com