Sugar Rush 2015: Lobby Lounge, Shangri-La Hotel

Yesterday was a day significant for many reasons – it was Mini-human’s 2^nd birthday; it was Monsieur Poisson’s and my 6^th wedding anniversary (yes, our son’s birth happened to coincide); it was our first date night out since Mini-Human came along...aaand it is also a proper (albeit possibly short-lived) return to blogging because I’M BACK SUGAR-HITTING, BABY!! More on that later.

By the way, I know my very sporadic blog posts always reference Mini-human these days. He is, obviously, a very big part of my life but I can assure you this is not about to turn into a “mommy”/parenting/baby blog.  So as it was his 2^nd birthday, I made him a cake. Following a conversation on Facebook about how kids’ cakes and parties have become rather elaborate these days, where Wifey suggested a more traditional “number two [cake] with Smarties”, I had my mind set on making a poo cake. Because, you know, he was turning 2, the number 2, number twos, poos, etc...and because I’m mature like that haha. I wanted it to look like the poo emoji but didn’t want Mini-human to be consuming crazy amounts of chocolate so I had the brilliant (or at least I thought so) idea of making a unicorn poo cake! A butter cake with sprinkles mixed through so I wouldn’t have to use food colouring, covered in buttercream and then with more sprinkles. Potentially a lot less offensive than a poo-looking cake too – if family members asked, I would tell them it was a soft-serve ice-cream cake.

#cakefail

So the above left is the “artist’s blueprints” and the above right is what Mini-human got – a cake resembling an iceberg covered in sprinkles rather than a unicorn poo. Oh well, it was always more for my than his anyway. The important part is that he ate a small slice, had his first taste of buttercream and probably the most sugar he’s consumed in one sitting too. Well, that’s if you discount the Sugar Hits he shared with me while I was pregnant...

A couple of years ago I presented in hospital after my waters broke. I was told to go home, make myself comfortable and wait, as contractions had yet to start. During this “relaxing” time I tidied our study and did other little jobs about our place then blogged about a Sugar Hit. Yes, I blogged about the final Sugar Hit I was to do for 2 years whilst awaiting the arrival of my son. So I guess it’s kind of poetic then that Husband and I pick up where we left off, with a return to Sugar Hits at Shangri-La.

(Could I just say that I’m not happy with the name change to this event? Good Food Month was renamed to CRAVE Sydney International Food Festival then back again, so you think organisers would learn from experience. However, no – “Sugar Hit” became “Let’s Do Dessert” which is this year known as “Sugar Rush”. Just stick with what’s tried and true, dammit! Or at least appease to old stubborn types like me, heheh.)

Anna Polyviou’s “Rushing around like nuts” has a refined presentation featuring her signature graffiti spatter on what is billed as “milk chocolate, banana mousse, passionfruit caramel and peanut crunch.” The flavours come through in the order of milk chocolate followed by banana, then a kind of brownie base with crunchy peanut butter. The quenelle of milk chocolate mousse is silkenly smooth, while the accompanying biscuit crumb lends a hint of savoury. The passionfruit caramel is zingy and the meringues offer textural lightness versus the crunch of the peanut toffee bits.

The dessert is small in appearance but won’t leave you wanting. It has a lot happening in terms of complementary flavours, especially if you like banana like the Husband, and texture but without leaving you richly full. It is one of the pricier of this year’s Sugar Rush events however (no more uniform pricing), at $25 per person which includes a glass of Yalumba dessert wine. An excellent reintroduction to Sugar Hits for us, and hopefully not our last for 2015!

Lobby Lounge,Shangri-La Hotel

176 Cumberland St, The Rocks, Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 9250 6000