Zumbo's cakes

I am sure most Sydneysiders must have heard of the name Adriano Zumbo, from his innovative cakes and Masterchef fame. I am fortunate enough to have tasted some of his famous creations.

On my birthday earlier this year, my friends surprised me with a birthday cake. As they were singing happy birthday to me, one of them was carrying this baby.

Adriano Zumbo's Croquembouche

Oh. My. God.

Who would've thought that they would actually order a Zumbo cake, and his famous croquembouche that kinda propelled him to fame, on top of that?!

I love you guys! You know me so well lol.

Dissecting each profiterole from the croquembouche tower proved to be quite a tricky job. Each profiterole was coated in a thick toffee layer that created the satisfying cracking sound as you sink your teeth into them. The creme patissierie was smooth and not overly sweet, creating a nice balance with the sweet toffee coating. Since there was a generous amount of toffee layer, most of us couldn't get past the second serving of the profiteroles since it was getting a bit too sweet.

Fast forward a few months later...

Masterchef season 2 just ended with Adam emerging as the winner. One of our friends just graduated and he was going back to the home country for good, so we held a little farewell dinner for him in Masuya. I was told that they ordered a Zumbo cake for that occasion, that turned out to be...

V8 cake

Cross section of V8

The famous 8 layered vanilla cake consisting of:
1. Vanilla crème chantilly topped with vanilla glaze
2. Vanilla water gel
3. Vanilla macaron
4. Toasted vanilla brulee
5. Vanilla chiffon cake with vanilla syrup
6. Vanilla ganache
7. Vanilla almond crunch
8. Vanilla dacquoise

Okay, so I am neither a food critic nor I am good at describing my food, but after the first scoop of the cake, I was in heaven, well perhaps vanilla heaven. It was just THAT good.

The vanilla creme chantilly (top layer) was the best cream/custard I've ever had. I especially like the addition of the vanilla almond crunch layer that provides a different texture and subtle saltiness to the very rich mousse like cake. The rest of the layers just somehow worked together to create this awesomeness of a cake that can't be described in words and you'll just have to fork out $150 to try it for yourself. However, may I remind you that this cake was indeed extremely rich with that amount of vanilla. After the first few scoops of heaven, I was struggling to finish my tiny little piece of V8 cake. I couldn't even finish my second piece since I felt so sick halfway through that.

Was it worth the $150 price tag? Well I guess the value of money is relative, but I can say that eating this cake is more for the experience, something like dining in Tetsuya. And make sure you have plenty of people to share this cake with!