As you probably know I attend this show annually when it is on as it is related to my work.
I had plenty of opportunities to purchase an earlybird or discounted ticket online however I recently purchased a discounted flexi ticket via Groupon as sometimes I have events that clash with annual events I would like to attend and am therefore unable to plan in advance as these events as they do not release their dates until quite late. Groupon is a little more flexible in that aspect however what a nightmare if you need to get a refund or make an amendment to your discounted ticket purchased through Groupon.
At $19 per flexi adult ticket to attend this year's Cake Bake and Sweet Show in Sydney ( 3 day event) , I am unsure if it was worth it. Firstly I could not get onto the app or the print at home ticket link I originally received from Groupon via their email to retrieve my ticket I had purchased in advance. It worked previously so I thought it would work this morning. Groupon had taken my money without me asking from my credit card and sent me a QR code which I thought I could just bring up on my phone and scan at the entrance to the show but it turned out that I actually had to fill in my details again on the Cake Bake & Sweet Show website with the Groupon code and wait for another email with the actual QR code on it to be scanned at the entrance of the show. Because I did not get the final QR code via email I ended up getting a manual paper QR code ticket by providing my mobile number as a search option to the scanning staff at the entrance of the show - what a total waste of my time.
I arrived at the ICC Darling Harbour around 11 am, the show opened at 10 am daily. Upon arrival I was very disappointed - where were all the big signs indicating where the Cake Bake & Sweet Show was this year? There weren't any. This Cake Bake & Sweet Show was just as small as the Sweet Expo earlier this year ( hardly occupying just 1 exhibition hall compared to previous years shows) with no major sponsors or overseas guest pastry chefs. The same old celebrity chefs Miguel Maestre , Kirsten Tibballs, Anna Polyviou and Katherine Sabbath were present at the show.
I also noticed that there were more non cake bake and sweet related stands then there were related ones. What's biltong or jerky, not just 1 fry pan stand but 2 different types, chopping boards , not just one glittery brow makeup stand but 2 ,eraserable textas, peelers and spiralizers, Hello Fresh, dentistry, organic mastic chewing gum, Indian spices, Wine Selectors, Spanish crockery, woodfire kitchen ovens/stovetops and whistling stove top kettles, Flamenco dancers, paper mache, scented candles etc got to do with the Cake Bake and Sweet Show? - this is the cake bake and sweet show show not a food and wine or craft show! ( oh that's right the craft show is usually on at the same time as one of the various food and wine shows but upstairs maybe not this one) OK so some of the above maybe borderline related such as Dentistry ( after all Colgate had a huge promotional stand at one Good Food and Wine Show in Sydney and in Melbourne one year - never repeated) reminding people to brush their teeth after eating sweet treats and as for wine well that goes nicely with sweets and desserts and scented candles made in the form of thick shakes and sundaes which smell very much like cakes and sweet treats are great for those who are on a diet or can't eat sweet things but Indian spices , paper mache, erasable textas, glittery brow makeup and biltong and jerky? Gee I hope those small tubs of paper mache doesn't get confused with the tubs of titanium dioxided white buttercream, fondant, gum paste or modelling chocolate - they all looked the same when they are in clear plastic tubs amongst all the other tools, stencils, moulds and cutters and as for the glittery brow makeup lets hope this doesn't get confused ( particularly the bronze coloured ones) with the edible metallic simmer dust that is used on cakes and biscuits - both are fine metallic brush on powders. What about the textas? they are erasable and not edible ones so don't go using them on cakes and biscuits!
Non exciting entrance to the show
Carbonsteel, stainless steel ( Solid Technik Aus Ion - one of our suppliers where I work) and ceramic coated frypans galore
Kids kitchen tools and kids cooking school ( savoury cooking classes not even cupcakes!)
Spanish crockery
Chopping boards
Where there is dessert there has to be wine
Erasable textas
Paper mache or paper Magiclay I somehow don't think this is edible!
It's all about oral hygiene
Organic or natural Mastic chewing gum - free samples given out. Apparently it's good for your gut chew it then swallow it. Mastic isn't that used in baking? Ok so this was one of the borderline stand at the show- it was edible, it tasted like spearmint chewing gum and it was sort of sweet
kitchen gadgets - ezy seal lids
# 1 of 2 glittery brow makeup stands at the show ?????? So people can come to the show for their baking needs, cakes and sweets then get their brows and makeup done or vica versa - it all makes sense doesn't it?
Hello Fresh - more like Goodbye Rotten. This poor lonely stand probably had very few visitors during the 3 day show. Whilst I was there, this poor guy had to approach random customers and ask them if they knew what Hello Fresh was about.
More kitchen gadgets - peelers, spiralizers and cutters and I don't mean cookie cutters.
Butter chicken???? They were selling the spice mixes not the butter chicken dish themselves
Jerky & Biltong????
Mexican food - OK they were selling empanadas!
Scented candles
Gee there must have been budget cuts to this year's show when the best they can do for a selfie booth is a bunch of coloured streamers and balloons with just a few white cake bake and sweet show balloons thrown in. This year the Queens booth didn't give out any free samples or free cupcake decorating although they still supplied the paid take and bake workshops next door to it's booth. They went one up on their selfie booth with the addition to their bunch of streamers and balloons by adding a wood and rope swing to sit on!
Photos below
This was my second favourite - so much detail, the emu feathers were made from rice paper
This was my third favourite probably eqia l with the dunny cake.
This cake deserved to win. It was so realistic - nice to see the Vegemite jar was generic and did not have the Bega or Kraft licensed logo on it!
I spent a bit of time looking at the cakes on diplay but was feeling a little hungry. I had just purchased $15 for 4 different flavours of baklava but was now looking for something savoury to eat besides cafe sandwiches pies and hot chips. Too many sweet things at the show such as different flavours of cupcakes, canolli, ice creams, macarons (yes they are still around) etc. In the middle of it all was a lamb and gravy roll. It tasted like a meat pie on a bun! Simply delicious for $10 and I am at the same time supporting an Australian lamb farmer.
These are the final 4 flavoured baklava that I chose to purchase out of all of the above flavours.
Looks yummy? It sure was - lamb and gravy on a bun!
After scoffing this lamb and gravy roll down it was time to have another look around - by now I think I had seen everything and really wanted to go home. I had briefly watched Kirsten Tibballs and Katherine Sabbath but decided to wait and watch Miguel Maestre at
1.30 pm - I'm just filling in time Miguel is scheduled on stage so waiting for his performance. The 1.30 pm and final celebrity spot for the final performance of Sunday wasn't even finalised until the show opened today.
As usual Miguel always puts on a show and it is a full house with standing room only. He is the only non pastry chef in the line up As explained to us sometimes it's nice to have a break from the sweets. The host for the "Super Theatre" was, I think, Sammy from Sammy & Bella of MKR fame. Here's where the show starts with Flamenco dancers in the VIP area before Miguel appears on the stage. As usual he keeps us entertained and upto date with his latest celebrity adventures via a video clip ( this time of him appearing in promo for I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!" with his buddy and Living Room co host Dr Chris Brown and comedian Julia Morris for his charity RUOK I think it was) before cooking talking and giving away stuff by throwing it at his live audience. He invites people up on stage to participate and makes fun of his own accent - he is very difficult to understand sometimes due to his thick Spanish accent. It is getting easier over the years to understand him but there are always a few culinary joke repeats - a few well known ones are " don't take the pith out (of a lemon)" - his accents makes people think he is saying "don't take the piss out (of the lemon)" and the use of the culinary term " it's caramalised" which Miguel is always translating to meaning "it's burnt". Not so good at plating up Miguel refers to it as "looking rustic". Onto a bit of serious cooking in between his always humorous over the top shows - today he was cooking the great Australian seafood BBQ and yes there was a few rather hot smoking BBQs on the stage and in the VIP area next to it. You could smell and see the smoke. Not really the a best thing to demonstrate particularly when the bush fire season has just officially commenced with a total fire ban. His cooking demonstration wraps up for another Cake Bake & Sweet show in Sydney, the Flamenco dancers appear on stage once again and Miguel brings his 2 cute little kids onto the stage with him. He indicates to someone in the VIP area and calls out "Gringo" to bring his little son over - I spot a guy incognito wearing shorts, a short sleeved shirt and a hat and possible glasses carrying Miguel's little son and passing him over the barricade ( actual I thought he sort of accidently dropped him or something his son was carrying in his hand as he passed him over the barricade) looking suspiciously like Dr Chris Brown one of Miguel's co hosts on The Living Room - why? He only calls one person "Gringo" all the time on tv and that is Dr Chris Brown.
( refer my Youtube video of Miguel @ Cake Bake & Sweet Show)
A final look around the show and a few purchases from one of just a handful of bakeware suppliers - a packet of Loyale decorating wires ( a bargain of pkt 50 for $3.40 a packet - much cheaper then purchasing at work at 50 cents a wire!) to practice my fondant flowers with, a packet of Wilton holly and ivy suger toppers for a bargain of $4 ( I'm sick of waiting for them to arrive at work) and a set of 3 leaf cutters ( unavailable at work) for $2. I really need a pastry wheel , flower nail and a embossing rolling pin ( all unavailable at work or sick of waiting for them).
Next a quick look at what final pastry chef Anna Polyviou is doing for the final Super Theatre presentation - she made a pinata or a chocolate smash cake. The kids loved it you should have seen it when a man in the audience with crutches stood and held it up only to pass it onto someone else to suspend over another lady from the audience who laid under it with only a teatowel over her head to protect her whilst a kid from the audience was blind folded and given a bat to hit the chocolate pinata. First hit missed and wasn't hard enough to smash it but second hit smashed it and a horde of kids ran and scrambled for all the candy and chocolates that came out out of it. How the woman laying underneath it escaped without being crushed I am unsure - all I saw were kids everywhere.
Time to go home around 4 pm end of another Cake Bake and Sweet Show in Sydney.
Rating : 5/10 what a shocker, so bad I have to go to the Melbourne one now which stallholders are saying will be bigger and better and which at least a few of them will be attending.
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