I am genuinely not even going to begin with my customary, third person introduction because you guys are about to be taken on a very long journey through the world of sweets.

I really suggest snuggling down, grabbing some savoury snacks, popcorn preferably, because I am about to take you on a candy roller coaster of sweet, sweet, and a little bit more sweet fun 😉 – if you didn’t have a cavity before, I assure you, you will after reading this post.

Consider that my only warning!

And remember… this is only part 1. Yes, I am rather thorough 😉

I think the best way to go about showing you all the wonderful world of the Cake Bake & Sweets Show, is to start riiiight from the beginning! Located at Sydney Olympic Park’s Showground Dome, it covered massive area, and the entire festival was located in a covered location, which was a great idea in case of weather!

Though we were lucky and had a sunny day anyway – doesn’t my mummy look pretty? I don’t think you have face-met her before 😀

We ambled over to the massive dome, and I got my press release (MEDIA ZOMG) badge, though I totally kept my cool, and may have kept flashing it “accidentally” at all the security people, because I felt super important. Then, by extension, it was really cool, my mum was also included as being media by extension, because she came as my guest! We both kept our lanyards, it will make good stories in the years to come! 😉

Now, I told you a bit about the show in this post, where some people were lucky enough to win two tickets each and experience the show for themselves, so I will give you a little bit of a rundown –> The Cake, Bake & Sweets Show was Sydney’s inaugural sweets extravaganza, where you could see a range of professional master pieces, view demonstrations by AMAZING talent line up (Eric Lanlard, Adriano Zumbo, Anneka Manning) and even participate in some cooking classes yourself. Yes, all in one big dome!

Mum and I got there at around 9:50, and a massive line was already forming outside the dome, while we were lucky enough to slip by the security and go through the glass doors and get an early peek 😉

We were greeted by numerous stalls, littered all over the area, and greeted with a free goodie bag (which I can’t show you yet, it isn’t the right post 😉 – it was a little overwhelming to be honest, and hard to know where to start, so we just took the easiest option and went for the first pretty thing we saw.

Yes, we are rather deep are we not? 😉
But by then the crowds had started coming, and even some events had begun – be it moulding workshops in a booth or properly in classes!

This led us to an exquisite array tables, part of the Dessert Table Showcase section of the event. I have seen many beautiful tables in my life, but that is usually because the wood is super polished, or it has some intricate design on it.

Never have I actually seen a table specifically decorated to entice, and celebrate a specific theme, be it wedding or child’s party!

My mum was actually a HUGE fan of this table, and I could legitimately see the stars falling out of her eyes, and the rainbow pouring out of her month as she tried to understand how someone could be so creative.

Moi? I loved this one. I know, I know, super colourful, super childish, but it really called to me!

Or maybe it was the strawberry milk? It is hard to know with me 😉

But regardless of which design, or which colours chosen, the pairings between the sweets, backdrop and props was exceptional – kudos to all these designers and creators who worked endlessly on perfecting such beautiful tables! I wish I had picked up all their cards and had fifty million weddings just to hire each one!

On second thought… 50 million regular parties, because I don’t think I want to be an super divorcer…

Just a warning (another one) I may repeat myself profusely throughout this post, saying I am sorry I wasn’t able to photograph every single one (be it cake, table) and show you guys. But I guess it leaves a little mystery if you ever want to come down to what will undoubtedly become an annual event? 😀

Next stop? Stall time!! We were feeling a little picky, I mean, the number of stalls were so many, with majority doing workshops, that we wanted to start off in quieter place, as undoubtedly, it would only get more hectic (which is totally did!)

Lo, and behold, we reached the stall of Christen’s Gingerbread Home. A really nice lady was just waiting at the stall for someone to come up and try the various cookie samples she had set out, and look at the cute little ginger-men everywhere, and mum and I decided we should go up and say hi 😀

She had an array of miniature cookies (which she said they would be releasing in small packets later on), and stacks of gingerbread men and stars on display.

She even showed us a Gingerbread Shack (totally Aussie style!) building kit! It was very cool, considering the company comes from Queensland, is one of the most Aussie brands you could find, running strong for 25 years now!

I tried the chocolate chip cookie, and it was buttery and crumbly, so I thoroughly enjoyed it! Mum was eyeing it though while she munched on her macadamia one… I told her she should have tried the chocolate chip (it always wins!!)

There were also gingerbread (the original) flavours as well as chocolate cookies!

I gave her my card, and promised her (all terminator style in my head actually) that we’d be back 😀 – and we were, but again, that is not for you to know in this post, gosh!! So impatient… 😉

After this pit stop, we felt nourished and refreshed so we decided to trek it for around 10 meters and reached the Australian Cake Decorating Championships area – we could actually vote on the cakes we felt were most beautiful.

Can I just tell you now, that it is sinful to ask a human being to do that. I don’t know when fondant, cake and frosting magically turned into clay, but I cannot imagine any other way that these cakes were made. Oh. My. God.

Janice style x300, for ‘Friends’ fans.

Whether it be all about nature, all about dresses, all about anything, it didn’t matter, because every single one was so exquisite. I actually have around 500 million photos of all the cakes but this is part 1 of the ones I thought were especially mentionable!

Get ready for cake onslaughtery.

Ready.

Set.

Oh, right, you have already hit by the onslaught… 😉

I found that no matter what order I put all these cakes in, each was better than the last, making it a circle of never-ending gorgeous on a whole new level of cake hood.

To think, we just pass random people on the street, but they could actually be responsible for making something akin to art!?

Much better than the dots and lines you find in contemporary museums these days… if you ask me 😛

And look at that detail!!!! Those roses are not real, and in case you didn’t notice, those people are not dwarfs!! 😉

Now, you may never want to see cake again, considering I just hit you with a mass load of cake spam, oh so gorgeous cake spam, but believe me, the next cake spam I deliver, will have cakes that are even more intricate than the ones I have shown you.

I know, the impossible has actually just exploded and happened.

Moving on from my obsession with pretty cakes, no professional cakes, which I hope I just passed on to you beautiful people, we start ambling away from the sugar load that had just hit, and stumbled upon nuts. No, I don’t mean nut bag crazy people, I mean legitimate nuts.

Specifically, an almond company’s stall.

And of course, they were all Australian owned – really showing my Aussie produce spirit guys!

Almond Co grows their nuts in southern areas of New South Wales, and told us they had a range of different almond products, fresh from the plant to the factory to the market. Meal, slivers, roasted, salted or candied, you name it they had it.

We just settled to eating the small sample cups of almonds that were generously being given out, while of coursing, eyeing the rather large bowl.

My mum is always on about how I need to eat more nuts, they give me energy, but I think I will listen to her if she buys me these almonds. I don’t usually like them (unless in meal form in desserts!) but I may be persuaded 😉 –> They were crunchy, tasted fresh in their roastedness and I actually, for the first time, liked them without salt. Approved *tick*

More stalls, more stalls, we then felt our sweet appetite returning, so came over to Rich’s stall. No, when I saw Rich’s, I am not referring to King Midas by some pet nickname I gave him, I mean Australia’s leading company in non-dairy whipped topping.

Needless to say, despite seeing the very impressive cakes on stand, as well displayed in the glass, I was not convinced, and figured it would be some ridiculous fake sugar representative and random chemicals giving it both shape and glossiness.

How wrong I was. I tried the taster whipped topping in a small cup, on top of angel food cake, on the insistence actually, of my dear mother, and wanted to cry. It was perfectly sweet, a lovely silky-fluffy texture but NONE of the heaviness I am used to with whipped topping.

Their secret? Palm oil. Raw, organic, and chemical free. Oh my.

I would tell you more, but then I would have to kill you. Standard rule no? 😉

They even had their own little chef’s area, where you could enjoy a wonderful demo of him frosting various cakes with this whip, and proving that it is as easy to handle as its dairy counterpart.

The stalls went on and on, ranging from many a cake-decorating sellers, to basic baking utensils, brands of chocolate, jam, crackers, lollies and so much more, and even magazines.

If I kept going one at a time, I would have 100 parts to this post – but click this link and this link to see a nice, comprehensive overview of all the brands involved in the producers marketplace – many of them ship, and I know I will be shopping online, buying so cute decorations for my baking! I would have done it there, but I do have uni right now, so I needed to get home and work.

But look, here I am, writing this post instead 😉

I know this has been an extremely long post already, but I did warn you 😛 – Allow me to finish it off with one last chocolatey stall we visited – Adora Handmade Chocolates!

Similarly to the Gingerbread stall, we did end up going back here near the end and buying some wonderful produce, but for now, just look at these chocolates and weep.

Their most popular one was called a Butter Truffle.

Now weep some more.

I am wiped out for now, but next time, we start getting some celebrity appearances into this post, because what is an event without them aye? 😉

I would leave you all now, but I STILL AM TO ANNOUNCE MY WINNER FOR THE MOUTAI GIVEAWAY!!! SO THE RANDOM WINNER IS…

Charlie @ Hotly Spiced

Congrats!! If you could just email me at gobakeyourself@yahoo.com.au with your mailing address, I will get that to you asap! If you just email within 7 days, it would be much appreciated 😀

Till next time mes cheris!

Disclaimer: Go Bake Yourself (and guest) attended the Cake, Bake & Sweets Show via invitation of Thrive PR, but she attended only Saturday, and all her thoughts and opinions of stalls, talents, companies etc. are her own. She also paid for her own purchases and was sponsored in no other way.