i still remember… it was 2007, and there were but a handful of members of the adriano zumbo appreciation society i’d created on a whim. “when we hit 50 members, we’ll have a cakewalk!” said zumbo. and then, nothing… nothing… and then fast forward a little, to masterchef, and queues, and the little fan club ballooning to 1200 and counting.

and then one day a couple of weeks ago, i got a message in my inbox saying how sbs were producing a 6-part (!) tv series about one adriano zumbo, and how the cakewalk was finally happening, and would i please let the fanclub know, and would i come along too?

why, yes!

we walked up to rosebud restaurant just short of 7 last night, and the queue went a block ’round the corner. but here’s the thing: having had the foresight to set up the zumbo fanclub all those years ago meant we didn’t have to queue, yay. with the tv producer’s best wishes, we crossed the road for a modest stomach lining of salmon and avocado maki, and then settled in front of the cafe windows to watch the models do their practice runs.

over and over and over again.

which only meant that once we were ushered in quite some time later, and the models finally made their parade down the runway, they moved smooth and smiley, and no-one dropped a single cake.

cake! there was a strawberry bubblegum cake, and a sweet corn cake, a pineapple cake, a milo-in-a-glass topped with a chocolate dome and straw, a mandarin tart, a lime tart, a raspberry tart, a glossy black licorice log, a caramel wheel, an eclair topped with wasabi peas… being the summer collection, there were also bikinis.

bikinis bearing macarons.

[i must say, i think the cakes would have been much more arresting had they been rendered in oversize softies by dawn tan, and sent down the runway with the models concealed inside. but y’know, that’s just me.]

the pastry chef himself strutted down the catwalk, with a tray of strawberry bubblegum macarons. i ate one, too quickly, and my teeth shriveled up inside my cheeks. (might hang out instead for the pancake and maple syrup macaron, instore.)

there were other miniatures to sample: here’s a tiny cookies ‘n’ cream sandwich. the biscuits are totally the consistency of something straight out of the ice cream freezer at your corner shop. the surprise — hidden within the creme filling in the regular size version — is a chocolate shell filled with liquid(ish) chocolate. altogether, quite agreeable.

and then suddenly it was over. oh but wait, it wasn’t! suddenly there were full-sized cakes streaming out of the kitchen, and i lucked into the raunchy raspberry tart. thanks, counterboy. ’twas just like old times.

a mound of yoghurt mousse covered in italian meringue and fresh berries. hidden within, a cone of tart raspberry jelly. now this one was every bit as luscious as i hoped it would be.

under the bright tv lights, we picked at the plump raspberries and meringue peaks for a while as we marvelled at the shiny licorice cake snared by team ooh look. but it was way past bedtime on a school night after all, and the kid (who’d somehow discovered backcombing during the long wait between samples) was suffering the effects of a steady stream of small sugary treats.

the rest of the tart made it only halfway home.