I'm not sure if this is the first year that it was run, but Sweet Magazine (which I only heard of though Facebook) organised Sweet Expo, which was held in Sydney earlier this year, and is being held this weekend in Melbourne. An exhibition dedicated entirely to baking and cake decorating? Yes, please!
I booked these tickets back in June, so I was fortunate to get them for the early bird price ($19 instead of $24). It was held over at the Showgrounds, in Ascot Vale, so I figured the event would be nice and big, given how large the venue is.
They did have a huge area.
There were different sections. First up was a bunch of stalls, that sold cake decorating tools, courses for dessert-making, cake decorating ingredients (various forms of icing, specialty ingredients). I had my eye on some hazelnut paste, so I could make
There were lots of amazing cakes on display. Though I can't say I'd want to eat them, necessarily, because they look so pretty. I don't think I've ever actually eaten fondant before, so I don't know if it's very nice.
There was another section with food trucks. I thought it was kinda funny, there were more food trucks here than at the first PAX, but there were not nearly as many people - maybe 20% of the crowd? But I guess this was a food-based event, so having lots of variety was good. My second-breakfast was doughnuts, because what self-respecting Don could pass up some Luca Brasi doughnuts?
They were nice, but a bit messy (the sauce soaked through the box and dribbled down my hand). And a bit too doughy for me.
The last section of the venue featured workshops and cooking decorations. I got to learn how to make Turkish delight (it's easier than it seems!).
I also got to watch one of the pastry chefs from Le Petit Gâteau (which you may remember I mentioned earlier because of their delicious orange cake) make a gluten-free lemon curd, raspberry, strawberry dessert. I also found out he won pastry chef of the year and is opening his own patisserie / cafe in February next year. It'll be in Prahran.
Unfortunately, it seemed like they didn't have aircon at the venue, so after a while, it was starting to get really hot. I also regretted not doing my shopping when I first arrived (which was when the show opened), as it was also really crowded by the time I was done watching the cooking demonstrations. I had my eye on a mini-rolling pin, and realised they also have acrylic rolling aids, so I picked those up, and some disposable piping bags.
It now occurs to me that they mini-rolling pin looks like something you should probably keep hidden somewhere other than your kitchen drawer. But if anyone does ask, I'm going to put them to this blog post where I say that it is a non-stick rolling pin. Because that's what it is.
I'm back on the croissant wagon, as I realised it is nearly 1 year since I changed teams, and I've warmed to my new team. So I wanted to celebrate by making pain au chocolat. The acrylic aids are to help me roll my dough a bit straighter while laminating, and the non-stick mini rolling pin is for rolling out the individual pastries.
Back to the expo, I arrived just past 9, and ended up leaving not long after 11. I'm not that keen on cake decorating. I know looks are important, but I think I need to work on getting the taste right before I focus on trying to get the cakes to look pretty. The cooking demos were interesting, but it was too hot to hang around. I don't know that I'd go again in the future, because a lot of the focus seemed to be on cake decorating. I did enjoy watching the professional chefs cook, and it was nice hearing them talk about their thought process while cooking, and how they're not always the perfect chefs they appear to be.
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