Smooth Festival of Chocolate, The Rocks

How gorgeous is this view of Sydney on a warm, sunny day? No doubt, the weather was keen to join the festivities a few weekends ago where we celebrated our love of chocolate at the Smooth Festival of Chocolate at The Rocks. Sure it may have melted the chocolate but isn't the messiness what makes this indulgent sweet so damn good? More than 60k attending on its Facebook event with Adriano Zumbo and Anna Polyviou can't go wrong!

In the lead up to the event, I got the chance to sample a variety of sweets that will be available on the day. There was also lots of Tim Tams to devour between myself, the family and my Tim Tam obsessed colleagues. One of the sweets in the pack was the Tim Tam special edition Chocolate Banana flavour that will be available for a limited time only at Coles stores from next month. Minions will be thrilled!

Speaking of Tim Tams, I also got the chance to attend the sneak peek of the Tim Tam Temptation tent before it was open to the masses on Saturday morning. There was even a special appearance by Zumbo the man!

There was also the opportunity to watch your fave dessert chef working their magic in the demonstration kitchen. I only got the chance to check out Anna Polyviou and her superstar team making their infamous "Wag-Anna" - a twist on the classic old school Wagon Wheel.

Caramel Wag-Anna, Berried Wag-Anna, Ferrero-reveal N2 gelato ($20.00)

There was also The Chocolatier's Quarters where you can check out this delicious tree artwork made entirely of chocolate by Josophan's Fine Chocolate as well as a robot made entirely from Tim Tams and the chance to sample some more sweets from various producers.

Again, pictures tells more than words so enjoy drooling at all the chocolate in many shapes and forms! One of the highlights was the Zumbo teams competing with their dessert creation. While the Zumbo "cheeseburger" sold out super fast on both days, personally I think they're all winners.

Zumbo "cheeseburgers"

Zumbo "Kebabs"

Nutella ball cake by Zumbo

Black Star Pastry was also very popular with their dessert offerings including the "angel" and "devil" tacos, the chocolate torte and the famous watermelon cake with added white chocolate.

Cakes and sweet mini-tacos from Black Star Pastry

Making the crepes

Very cute cookies from Cookie Crazy

PACMAN!

Cronuts from Queen's Pastri House

Oregano Scrolls from Scrollies by Oregano

Churros by Dos Churros

Various sweet delicacies from Choco Samta

Selected eclairs from Passion Tree

Tim Tam espresso martini at the VIP area

Because of the ridiculously insane hype of the overstuffed, extreme milkshakes of late, it was no surprise how long the queues were. Plus it was hot so a milkshake would have gone down a treat *cue a certain friend singing Milkshake out loud*. 

Those notorious extreme milkshakes from The Vogue Cafe

Well that's enough drooling for tonight. Even though it was so packed (unsurprisingly), it was still an enjoyable event where we got to see our fave patisseries creating some new desserts that wouldn't be available in store. Looking forward to more sugary action next year!

Disclaimer: The Random Foodie attended Smooth Festival of Chocolate, courtesy of Nova Entertainment. 

Smooth Festival of Chocolate
http://www.smoothfestivalofchocolate.com.au/

Eating Around Melbourne - The Sweet Edition

I know guys. It's already been almost three months since my Melbourne trip and I still haven't finished reviewing everything. Some of the best memories of the recent Melbourne foodventures were the unique sweet offerings that you won't find in Sydney...yet.


DOUGHBOY DOUGHNUTS

While it's currently no longer located upstairs within the Queen Victoria Markets, you can find them stocked at various cafes around Melbourne including The Kettle Black, Top Paddock, Fifty Acres, Axil Coffee Roasters (to name a few) depending on the day. According to their website, they will be opening a new location on Bourke Street in the near future. After spending at least five minutes staring at the doughnuts, my pick of the whole lot was the Bullseye. While there was that sweet, tangy and fruity flavour from the berry compote, you just can't resist the vanilla bean icing and the soft shortbread crumble.

Bullseye Doughnut ($5.50)

Doughboy Doughnuts
535 Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 (opening soon)
http://www.doughboysdoughnuts.com.au/



SHORTSTOP COFFEE AND DONUTS

Till now, I am still craving for the doughnuts at Shortstop. You can find different types of doughnuts here ranging from raised (pillowy, buttery and slightly chewy), filled, cake and cruller. While there's the usual faves like vanilla bean and cinnamon and sugar (with cardamon); you can also find the more unusual flavours such as New Orleans Iced Coffee, Earl Grey and Rose, Boston Cream and Macademia and Orange Blossom. This time, I went out hard and ordered the whole lot...then carried that box with me around Melbourne for the next hour an a half till I stopped back at the hotel before moving onto Fitzroy. Their churro-textured "Cruller" are a must have for its flakey yet soft taste as you bite into them. Will definitely come back here next time! Craving right now!

L-R: Vanilla Bean, Earl Grey and Rose, Hazelnut Chocolate and Banana  

"Cruller" Donuts: New Orleans Iced Coffee, Australian Honey and Sea Salt 

Shortstop Coffee and Donuts
12 Sutherland Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
http://www.short-stop.com.au/
Mon-Fri: 7:30am - 4:30pm
Sat-Sun: 9:30am - 4:30pm
 


LUXBITE

We all remember the 7-layered lolly bag cake on Masterchef? Well I felt like a kid in a candy store when I stepped inside this wonderful place located on Toorak Road, pretty much the busiest street of South Yarra (it took FOREVER to get off the tram with all that traffic). Not only are these cakes, macarons and tarts so pretty, many of them are gluten free! Yesss. You can also find the cake tarts at its sister branch 'T by Luxbite' on Flinders Lane in Melbourne CBD on If only this is in Sydney. But then, considering the amount of Melbourne eateries branching out to Sydney lately, one can only hope. I'll let the pictures do all the talking. 

Endless Love - Lychee ganache, rose cream, lychee, fresh raspberries

Lolly Bag Cake

Chocolate Easter Freckles Macaron (available for Easter only...sorry)

Luxbite
38 Toorak Road, South Yarra VIC 3141
(03) 9867 5888
http://luxbite.com.au/
Mon-Sun: 10:30am - 7:00pm
 



BURCH AND PURCHESE SWEET STUDIO

Chocolate, Hazelnut and Salted Caramel Tart

Apart from the high end shopping, South Yarra sure love their sweets. This store has more focus on chocolate with their cake creations and the signature tube desserts. Still felt like a kid in a candy store. Was getting into a sweet coma by this point of the day and sadly many of the treats here were best to have in store than takeaway so didn't savour as much as I would have liked. Though the chocolate, hazelnut and salted caramel tart was scrumptious in its sweet and salty way. Again, I'll let the photos do the talking.

Burch and Purchese Sweet Studio
647 Chapel Street, South Yarra VIC 3141
(03) 9827 7060
http://www.burchandpurchese.com/
Mon-Sun: 10:00am - 6:30pm
 

This concludes my many recaps of my April 2015 Melbourne trip. I hope you enjoyed looking at the food porn as I did. Hopefully there will be more Melbourne trips coming up soon later this year so I can get into Huxtaburger, The Kettle Black, Top Paddock, Proud Mary, Patricia Coffee Brewers, Duke Coffee Roasters, Chin Chin etc. Otherwise, there's always next year... 

My idea of shopping!