(Picture above: B kindly demonstrates the best way to enjoy a coffee cup chocolate from Belle Fleur)

Of the many fine shops on Darling Street, Adriano Zumbo’s patisserie is a permanent fixture on my must-visit list. Now, the Belle Fleur chocolate shop is on it’s way to becoming a favourite too. I love Belle Fleur’s chocolates, but had never visited their shop until now. A quick detour before my cake class during the weekend, led to me being a little late for my class because I got side tracked by the lovely displays of chocolate – from the exquisite truffles and moulded chocolates at the glass counter, to the showpiece chocolates such as the telescope and giant hamburger.

It’s a lovely little shop decked out in warm tones, with slick displays. The welcoming look of the interior is unfortunately not quite echoed by the service, which was rather perfunctory, though to be fair, I was there at a rather ungodly hour of the morning. Too early, to be thinking, “chocolate”, perhaps. Forgive me if I’m being too critical, but I think Willy Wonka has permanently tainted my idea of the perfect chocolate shop. If the lady behind the counter had been friendlier, I suspect she would have successfully talked me into selecting an even larger box of chocolates (I’m very easily swayed in that regard).

As it stands, I picked a selection to fill a small gift box. The coffee cup chocolate consisted of three layers : a dark ganache on the base, a milkier ganache in the middle, and the white “cappuccino foam” on top. Very pretty and tasty, though not as strongly flavoured as I had expected.

The next day, I turned right onto Darling Street and hit Adriano Zumbo’s shop. Again, another early morning visit, so I was the only one in the shop and had plenty of time to browse. I had resolved to walk away with only one item because B and I had recently been suffering from a glut of desserts (horrifying but true), and settled on one that I had been meaning to try – a nut coated chocolate number with a paddle pop stick poking out of it’s side. It looks a bit like a Golden Gaytime (a chocolate mousse and honeycomb version of the Gaytime wouldn’t be such a bad idea, would it?). I’d forgotten it’s name and would have quite happily referred to it as the One with the Unpronounceable Name, except Lorraine has already reminded me that it’s called Maxiadz. The Maxiadz was two discs of chocolate dacquoise sandwiching chocolate mousse and a creamy raspberry filling. It was very flavoursome, yet light at the same time. Delicious!

Also spotted while on the way to Belle Fleur : a cute selection of mini cupcakes from a bake shop whose name I have forgotten…The Stroppy Streudel..? Can anyone refresh my memory?

Belle Fleur Fine Chocolates
658 Darling Street
Rozelle 2039.

Adriano Zumbo Patissier
296 Darling St
Balmain 2041.

Isn’t she pretty? I didn’t want to name her, but I must admit, I still felt a bit of a pang when I handed her over to Jillian, who met me at the end of the class to adopt my cake. After you spend two straight days moulding her, dressing her, fixing flowers in her hair and adjusting her cakey boobs, you kind of get attached to this mass of mud cake and fondant.

She is a Naughty Fairy cake, which I learnt how to make in Planet Cake’s Basics 104 class. I’ve attended a few of their other classes before, but I specifically signed up for this class (which was spread out over two days) because I’d never made a 3D cake before, and figured, once you knew the basics, you could apply this skill to any other type of 3D cake. Not to mention the fact that it’s so much fun and you get to meet and ‘talk cake’ with a whole bunch of other like-minded people. Lorinda, for example, who makes the most gorgeous looking cakes (and she has won prizes for them too!). You might want to consider her if you ever need a cake in the future.

The other great thing about this class, apart from the fact that the instructor Handi Mulyana made everything look so easy, was that you could go nuts and customise your fairy as much as you wanted; from skin colour and hair colour, to the style of dress and accessories – as can be seen from the group shot of all the fairy cakes (or the graduating class of 104, as I like to call it). Note the ciggie in the demo fairy cake’s mouth on the far right, and the one of the far left, made by Linda, which has a touch of the Dolly Partons about her (the cake that is, not Linda!).

Jillian sent me an email this morning to let me know that the Fairy cake was very much appreciated at her dinner party. So she wasn’t just a naughty fairy, but a very happy one as well!

Planet Cake
106 Beattie Street
Balmain 2041.

From Sherry Yard’s latest cookbook, comes this gorgeous nutty, spiced biscuit dough which can be used as a tart shell, or formed into cute thumbprint cookies. For a little hint of something extra, I substituted the normal honey with Tasmanian leatherwood honey. I still have half the dough which I’m keeping well wrapped in the freezer, for a rainy day when nothing but a quick, homely biscuit will do.

The following is just the recipe for the basic dough. I’m sure you know what comes next, if you’re planning on making thumbprint cookies – pinch off little portions of dough, roll into balls, indent with your thumb and bake until golden. Cool, then fill with a jam of your choice. Here, I have opted for a homemade strawberry jam by Christine Ferber.

Linzer Dough :
(from Desserts by the Yard, by Sherry Yard)

1 cup plain flour
1 cup cake flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
170g hazelnuts, toasted, skinned and ground
226g unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, preferably Vietnamese [I used normal ground cinnamon]
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1 tablespoon honey
1 large egg
1 tablespoon grated orange zest

Sift together the plain flour, cake flour and salt. Stir in the ground hazelnuts and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium speed until lemony yellow, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the sugar, cinnamon, and five-spice powder and continue creaming the mixture on medium speed until it is smooth and lump-free, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.

Add the honey, egg and orange zest and beat on low speed for 15 minutes, or until they are fully incorporated. Do not overbeat. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle. On low speed, add the flour and hazelnut mixture. Beat slowly until the dough comes together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then mix for 15 seconds, until an even-textured dough is formed.

Remove the dough from the bowl. Divide into 2 equal pieces. Wrap in plastic wrap, pressing the dough into a square, and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 2 days.