...tick tick tick

This Zumbo creation is so aptly named! Covered with shards of chocolate and filled with hazelnut and chocolate mousse. From the centre, when the timer goes off, an explostion of sweet gooey caramel oozes out...(that's enough of the blowing up metaphors for now)

PS: You need a super-sweet tooth for da bomb, or at least a cup of green tea or something to go with it!

...more chocolate than you can poke a stick at

As a change from all that cake, a friend and I decided to do a chocolate course (what else?) It was held at Kimberley chocolates in Lilyfield.

Whenever I mentioned I was spending a couple of hours at a chocolate shop, everyone went ‘Ooh, imagine all the chocolate you’ll be eating’. But in fact, that’s the last thing you want to do because you’re surrounded by it.

It was heaps of fun. We rolled our own truffles (mine were coffee flavoured – yum) and used the chocolate coating machine to put 2 layers of chocolate over little balls of ganache.

In the picture below, I made all the chocolates except the colourful ones in the top row. They were so cute coming off the conveyer belt! Remember that Lucy episode where she is packing the candy and ends up stuffing them all in her mouth…

I only managed to eat 3 chocs during the course and I’m slowly getting through the 30 or so that we brought home. Between mouthfuls of cake, that is.

…And there’s more (yet again)

Just when you thought there were no more…

Apparently this and others were made by a clever lady at Zumbo. My lovey told me this when he brought home this cake with the Sunday paper and a chorizo bread for breakfast. I went back to the shop later to photograph the labels. And there were 5 other new ones (‘charlotte o’hara’ had fig, basil and pistachio jelly!!!!). This is getting too heavy. I need a Bex and a good lie down.

Gem has a base of ginger cake (‘indonesian tree cake’?), with ‘mint chocolate chip mousse, coconut marshmallow and strawberry compote jelly’. That doesn’t do it justice because it is a lot more complex than that, with the soft mousse encased in a coconut-dipped shell. Even though the sheet of shiny white chocolate perched on top is a bit like a Kraft Single (cheese!).

Manky cat found it a little more interesting…

...a Sweet surprise

‘I saw a new one and couldn’t resist’. My loved one has been saying this quite often, and of course he is referring to new Zumbo cakes! I rush to the refrigerator and give a little squeal when I see the glossy pink and black box.

Opening the box is always fun, because the contents are always so amazing.
How about this one? It’s a crepe cake! A fat French crepe is filled with maple sugar mascarpone, fresh strawberries and orange segments. Sitting on top is a lacy toffee disk that looks like the hat Eliza Doolittle wore to the races in My Fair Lady.

The filling is creamy, rich and yet refreshing because of the fruit. And the toffee (which is reminiscent of school fete toffee) is not that sweet at all, just brittle and so brilliant atop this creation. Maybe someone should actually make a hat out of toffee so that you could nibble on it if you got peckish at the Autumn Carnival? Sorry, just a train of thought going there...

Edit: This cake is called 'Miss Marple' (strange to name a French crepe after an English stickybeak!)

...There's more!

Just a teaser, but there are in fact more than 3 new cakes at Zumbo. There's another 3 on top of those as well! Photos coming soon...drool, drool.

And I know there are more worrisome things in the world, but if you can't find joy in the everyday - a sunny day, an old song on the radio, a pretty cake - then you aren't looking hard enough!

...New cake #3

Here is the 3rd new offering from Adriano Zumbo. I was peering at the crates of just-arrived cakes in the shop this morning, like some auntie looking at chickens at a street stall. But this one (and there was only one) was already in the glass case (‘sleeping beauty’ connotation somewhere).

The scent of cherries is pervasive, as is the sweet clear residue that is oozing from the bottom of the cake. When I finally got round to eating it (after Thai takeaway, what a lazy Saturday it’s been), wow! That cherry perfume is even stronger, and quite alcoholic, kirsch, maybe? The meringue is super sweet, and the cherries inside are wrapped around custard and almond.
This one’s a winner.
PS: No name as yet. Though 'cherry bomb' sounds good, I think.


Manky cat was not so impressed:

...so there's a right way to eat a macaron?

Apparently there is! Petite bouchees has hit the nail on the head – savour it, don’t scoff it.

...New cake #2

Here is another new cake at Adriano Zumbo. It's made of hazelnut praline mousse, and like Pinky below, it also has sponge cake in it. Topped with a tangled toupee of dark and white chocolate.

Sorry the description is so vague - it didn't last long after I took it out of the box.
PS: Don't know the name either. Very mysterious.

...It's open

Check out the Turquoise blue bag as you walk in...

…it’s Pinky Tuscadero!

Rumour has it that three (3!) new cakes are debuting at Adriano Zumbo. Only managed to get my hands on 2 so far. None of them have names yet, though their descriptions are written on a bit of paper that Charlie can read out to you.

So, in the absence of a moniker, I dub this one ‘Pinky Tuscadero’, in honour of the supercool Happy Days girl.

Pinky reminds me of those creamy Chinese cakes from places like Helen’s and St Honore in Chinatown. It has a sponge cake base filled with strawberry mousse that is more tangy than sweet, so it isn’t too rich. I love the curl of choc on top as well. Rock on!!