For Her – Taste of Melbourne 2012

As promised the “For Her” post for Taste of Melbourne 2012 This is the sweet post with ALL desserts from the event ~ I was so tempted to just write this post and then forget about all the savoury dishes…but then that doesn’t seem fair and hahaha Mr Bao wont be too happy ether!

Gundowring Ice-crea One Crown each

Let’s jump right into it! First dessert we had was one of my favourite Gundoring Ice-cream, one of the first products I ever blogged about They’re from rural Victoria and nothing beats their creamy and delicious ice-cream. We got 2 baby cones to share, a banana and vanilla flavour, and if I remember correctly it was only One Crown each, great taster size.

Love this picture of the man selling the Gundoring ice-cream you can just tell he loves his job!

Salted Caramel Beignet 2 Crowns

We then wandered to the Cacao Fine Chocolate stall, I’m a frequent customer at my local Cacao and love their pistachio macaron. But I haven’t seen these salted caramel beignet before ~ being only 2 Crowns, I couldn’t resist. However, I was a little disappointed, I couldn’t really taste any saltiness in the caramel and the beignet was a little dry >_<

4 Crowns per cupcake

I’ve seen 180 Cupcakes at last years Taste of Melbourne, and have put it onto my ‘go back’ list, but haven’t had the time, as they are a local cupcakery in Ivanhoe, which is a little out of my way. I do like their moist and fluffy cupcakes. I was really surprised that the zucchini cupcake was so delicious, I couldn’t even taste the zucchni ~

Valrhona 70% Chocolate Tart 8 Crowns

Moving on to the more well known restaurants ~ I’ve had desserts at Albert St Food and Wine before and also have Philippa Sibley’s book, but I totally forgot to bring it and ask her to sign it I really liked this chocolate tart and it was a very good tart case which was crumbly with a velvety and rich chocolate filling YUM!

Vanilla panna cotta with citrus salad 8 Crowns

Next up Kirk insisted on trying the Vanilla panna cotta with citrus salad, baby basil, candied almonds and blood orange caramel sauce. We all agreed that it was presented very well with the candied almonds ~ flavours were also good and if we really wanted to be picky hahaha the panna cotta was slightly firm according to the Pastry Chef (Kirk)

Warm Chocolate mousse 8 Crowns

I then got extreme jealous from Thanh and Ms I-Hua’s Instagram photo of the warm chocolate mousse they had ~ So the next day when we went back this first thing I got hehe and boy I was glad! The warm chocolate mousse with toasted marshmallows and caramel popcorn, it was like a cross between a hot chocolate and a chocolate pudding, super delicious! Sighhhh looking back… I’m getting serious cravings!

Mr Hive Kitchen & Bar

I was trying to be good and avoid Mr Hive Kitchen & Bar’s dessert degustsation…but lol Kirk persuaded me to go we went pretty late at around 9pm, and the stall ends at 9:30pm so we felt pretty bad that the pastry chef, had to serve us. For 30 Crowns you get 3 desserts with an almond milkshake, salted caramel truffle and lolly bag to take home It’s actually good value for money as it generally costs $45AUD or more for the dessert degustation, even though portions are bigger.

Raymond Blanc the new pastry chef

First dessert was the Chilled Watermelon soup, Elderflower Liquor Jelly, Kirk really liked this dessert as he loves watermelon. Everything was so delicate with little melon balls ~

Delicately plated ~

While I found this dessert very refreshing the elderflower liquor in the jelly was a little strong for me but still a very good summer dessert ~

Chilled watermelon soup

We then moved onto the famous and very popular Mrs Hive’s Chocolate Bar, I’ve had it before and even though I’m not a fan of peanut butter, this is probably the only peanut butter and chocolate desserts that I like I particularly like the smooth cold texture of the bar.

Summer Berry Eton Mess

I wasn’t sure if I’ll like this dessert ~ because I don’t generally like mousse-type desserts ~ But this totally blew my mind hehe Mr Bao had a little taste and really liked the crunchiness from the blueberry meringues Gosh I love desserts with berries ~

Summer Berry Eton Mess

Salted Caramel Truffle and Almond Milkshakes

Both times I went to Mr Hive, they served a chocolate milkshake, but this time they served an almond milkshake. Even though it was nice, I still preferred the sweetness from the chocolate one ~ while the salted caramel truffle on top is my favourite! You have to eat it in one go, as it explodes in your mouth. I seriously would buy a whole box if they sold it hehe. I didn’t take a photo but you also get a little lolly bag full of handmade lollies ~

Now that concludes all the sweets and desserts that I had But I also bought some things home with me ~ such as chocolates from Monsieur Truffe.

Monsieur Truffe

And a mini Christmas pudding Because I really have no clue how to steam cakes without making them soggy hahaha

Christmas Pudding

My Dear Readers this is my sweet post for Taste of Melbourne, there was still so many more desserts I didn’t get to try >_< so I have decided to try even harder next year to knock them all down!!!

Hope you’ve enjoyed the Taste of Melbourne posts will go check it out next year ~ I know I’m already looking forward to it