Petal Met Sugar

Petal Met Sugar isn’t the kind of place you can just order one thing from. I mean, look at their delicate, elegant sweets! So we ordered two cakes to share – the Vanilla and Rhubarb Eclair ($7) and the Salted Caramel ($6). The Eclair had a strip of dried rhubarb laid on top of a thin layer of sweet icing, but when you bit into the the soft, springy choux pastry, there was the lovely discovery of vanilla creme patissere. This paired delightfully with the sweet rhubarb jam also hidden inside – the flavours were subtle and sophisticated together. Next was the Salted Caramel, which was visually stunning – encased in a tart shell and topped with edible flowers, caramelised popcorn and gold sea salt (seriously, wow!). True caramel fans rejoice! This dessert takes your caramel just to the point of toasted bitterness that requires real skill – surely a moment longer and it would have been burnt. The result is a really rich flavour that has far more complexity than something less-cooked, and I found the balance of the salt just right for my taste. The popcorn added a fun textural contrast too. My conclusion? Everything here is pretty much perfect.

Petal Met Sugar, 68 Sir John Young Crescent, Woolloomooloo, NSW, http://www.petalmetsugar.com.au/

 

Adriano Zumbo Patisserie

All good things must come to an end – here’s the last post in what has been a fun #sweetweek. Sadly, Zumbo has closed his Rozelle store, but luckily the tiny outlet at Balmain remains open. We stopped by and tried one of the newer additions to the dessert selection – the Hazelnut Forest, with a hazelnut dacquoise, hazelnut crunch, cherry jam, milk curd, hazelnut mousse and hazelnut spray. Phew. That’s a lot of hazelnut. Firstly, I loved the presentation of this one – something about the sprigs on top reminded me of coral. The fresh hazelnuts and dollops of cherry on top were delightful, as the entree into the perfectly soft hazelnut mousse that surrounds the cake within. For me, this dessert was just like a lighter version of a black forest cake, without the chocolate but with the delicious cherry flavour inside. There’s a lot of mousse surrounding the smaller dacquoise, crunch and jam inside, which was definitely the best bit. I enjoyed the textural contrast here, from the soft mousse to the thick jam to the crunchy base. Mmm. I was surprised at how the lovely tartness of the cherry matched the nutty hazelnut, but also how light the whole dessert was. Highly recommended.

Adriano Zumbo Patisserie, 296 Darling Street, Balmain, NSW, https://adrianozumbo.com/

The Flute

#sweetweek continues with this grand adventure! When my best friend decided she was going to surprise her husband with goldfish for his birthday, she and I set out at lunchtime to pick up the fish, so they could be waiting for him when he got home from work. Yes, she’s a mastermind (that’s why she’s my best friend). Anyway, this plot took us very close to the elusive Flute (only open on weekdays), so we couldn’t resist the chance to pop in. I picked a cake I haven’t seen there before – Apple Strudel cake. Um, yes. The ‘apple’ was a dome of vanilla mousse/cream, glazed in apple-flavoured sweetness, sitting atop a cake that had all of the beautiful apple strudel flavours I feel in love with in Austria. The top was decorated with a spiced crumble, which was lovely and rich, with pieces of (poached?) apple layered inside. I was actually surprised by the subtlety of the whole cake, which probably could have had slightly bolder flavours for my taste, but everything was perfectly executed, as usual (and, incidently, like my friend’s birthday gift plan. I told you, mastermind).

The Flute, 8 Barrier Street, Fyshwick ACT, http://www.theflutebakery.com.au/

Cafe Comme Ca

I’ve been eating a lot of sweets lately, so I declare this to be #sweetweek, starting with a flashback to my favourite cake shop ever. Ah, Cafe Comme Ca. The lovely Shinjuku store with its fun lighting, creative wall art and immaculate display cabinet was our first dessert stop in Tokyo (of course!). We were seated in the back corner which has a great view of the cake decoration space (so much fruit being styled into perfect shapes!) and the wait staff bench where the delicate cocoa shapes are dusted onto the plates – the secret is a stencil, if you hadn’t guessed already. I adore their fruity cakes, so picked one with raspberry, strawberry and mango on a flaky pastry base. All of the cakes here are beautifully creamy and this was no exception. The vibrant flavour of the strawberries and raspberries matched the bold tropical mango perfectly. I also tried their seasonal iced tea – black tea with apple. It came out in a large glass with plenty of ice and was really refreshing. I like black iced teas that aren’t too bitter and this was just lovely. I can’t recommend Cafe Comme Ca highly enough – guaranteed to satisfy your inner foodie, design junkie and fruit artist (because here, that’s a thing).

Cafe Comme Ca, 5F Comme Ca Store, 3-26-6 Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku Tokyo http://www.cafe-commeca.co.jp/ (Japanese only)

Space Kitchen

My quest to try all of the Ricardo’s/Space cakes continued at a friend’s baby shower held at Space. Everyone else ordered lunch – I ordered cake. I’ve had my eye on the Cookie Monster ($9.90) for a while now, and this was clearly the moment. Now, I must advise you of two exciting facts about this cake (apart from the fact that it is both blue and named after the Sesame Street character, which you will have gathered already). One, it is large. Like, you may doubt your ability to eat it yourself, large. But wait… Two, it is light! Hooray, you can enjoy it all to yourself. The giant macaron top cracks open to reveal a half-mousse half-sponge filling, dotted with Oreos. Mmm. Oreos. The texture is quite unusual, but definitely in a good way – everything is surprisingly smooth and even though it looks blue, chocolate biscuit is the dominant flavour. I did largely eat this myself, and didn’t feel bloated or overly smashed by sugar afterwards, so there’s a good balance in terms of density and sweetness. Given the size I also rate this highly on value (especially when you don’t have to share!).

Space Kitchen, Skypark, corner of Furzer and Worgan Streets, Phillip ACT, http://space-kitchen.com.au/

Jamface

So, I was pretty excited to head back to Jamface after my last visit, again for cakes, but this time takeaway. We picked three to share – the peach crumble ($6.50), lemon curd & raspberry coulis tart ($5.50) and the apricot custard tart ($6.50). Each had its own distinctive highlights, but if hard-pressed, I would say the apricot tart was my favourite, just for sheer strength of flavour. The texture of this tart was spectacular, with a spongy soft custard layer that heightened the intense apricot flavour – these were high perfoming apricots, let me tell you. Next was probably the peach crumble. I’m a huge crumble fan, and I love it when the crumble mix is just right. Jamface gets it 100% right, with no dryness and plenty of luscious peach packed under the dusted crumble topping. The pastry shell is also quite lovely and adds to the whole dessert. It’s probably unfair putting the lemon and raspberry tart last, as I really enjoyed it – again, the textures were spot on, with a really rich, smooth creaminess from the curd and tonnes of flavour from the raspberry – it’s a tart tart, but definitely has enough sweetness for balance. All winners, for sure.

Jamface, Stall 28-29, Adelaide Central Markets, Adelaide SA, http://www.jamface.com.au

Ricardo’s Cafe

One of my 2016 goals is to work my way through the cake menu at Ricardo’s – I feel like I started this quest with a bang! I am a huge fan of Snickers bars, and the Ricardo’s interpretation on this classic chocolate bar is utterly divine. Firstly, the size of this cake is just right (I’d say it’s even slightly bigger than your average icecream) for an afternoon tea snack, but be prepared for rich decandence! The peanuts scattered over the outer shell are dusted in edible gold sparkly dust (yep, that’s the technical term), making it not only tasty (peanuts) but also very pretty (sparkly!). Inside is a magical mix of chocolate mousse and liquid salted caramel, which oozes out from the centre of the cake. I love chocolate mousse and this one, coated in a layer of chocolate, was divine. The entire flavour effect realy does taste like a Snickers, but much fresher. Texturally, the crunch of the peanuts and the soft mousse plus the thick caramel is delightful. Yep, this is a very sweet (but not heavy) interpretation of a classic chocolate bar. Yum.

Ricardo’s Cafe, Jamison Plaza, Bowman Street, Macquarie ACT, ricardoscafe.com/