Ben Shewry organised the greatest bake sale of all time yesterday at Attica. All the money raised went to support the victims and families affected by the Christchurch shootings. He gathered a bunch of his chef friends who just casually happened to be internationally renowned chefs like himself and hosted a bake sale out of his restaurant in Ripponlea. As a person who loves food, and Melbourne food in particular, you can only imagine how excited I was when I heard a bunch of my favourite chefs were coming together and making special dishes for the good of mankind. Move over Marvel, this is my kind of superhero story.
I saw the event promoted on publications like good food and broadsheet so I knew a big crowd of people would show up. I got there at 7.50am and was about fourth in line.
Not long after we got there they had people roving down the line with Market lane filter coffee and you could buy raffle tickets to win awesome foodie prizes. They gave us a menu so we could plan what we wanted before it was time to order and before I knew it was 9am.
I walked up to the window and Neil Perry took my order, Neil Perry! You know, from Rockpool! I was totally fangirling but kept my cool after asking for a quick selfie. I had a list of what I wanted so I quickly picked up my pastries and was on my merry way. The line was long and went all the way around the corner but it moved fast.
In addition to buying baked goods you were able to donate and get a hug from Hamish Blake.
Ben Shewry even had an option on the menu where he would to cook an 8 course dinner at your house for 10 friends if you donate $20,000 which is really a once in a lifetime experience.
I wanted to start with something savoury so I tried Morgan McClone’s breakfast sandwich. It was a soft buttery brioche bun with a Belle’s hot chicken tender (medium hotness), egg salad and shredded lettuce. Delish.
Dave Verheul from Embla/Lesa made a passionfruit tart. OMG. The custard was perfectly smooth with the pops of passionfruit and passionfruit seeds with a soft buttery pastry and caramel over the top that made this tart exceptional.
Andrew McConnell of Cumulus, Supernormal and Cutler & Co to name a few, made a Basque cheesecake. This was insanely good. It had that dark baked outer with a smooth creamy cheesecake crumble with a subtle zest of orange. A classic cheesecake and it was perfection.
Jo Barret & Matt Stone from Oakridge Wine’s made native spiced hot cross buns that were addictive. The spice, the fruit, the zest, even the glaze was good. The texture of the bread was marvellous and each bite made me want more. Good thing we bought four of these.
Phil Wood from Pt Leo Estate made a classic sponge, vanilla cream fairy bread which was colourful and a joy to eat. The sponge was light and had a good crumble to it and was topped with a decadent vanilla cream with rainbow sprinkles on top. The execution of this dish was on point - remarkable.
Neil Perry from Rockpool made an incredible strawberry mascarpone cake. It had dehydrated strawberries on the outside of the cake that looked like little rose petals and it gave the cake a textural chew that complimented the other layers of strawberry, mascarpone and soaked sponge revealed inside, truly a delight to eat.
Shannon Martinez from Smith & Daughters and Smith & Deli made blood plum and mountain pepper custard filled doughnuts. They were awesome the custard was an unusual flavour that worked a charm. It was fluffy in the middle with a deep-fried outer and dusted with cinnamon sugar. Yumness.
Peter Gunn from Ides made ‘The thank you puff’ which was a big beautiful choux profiterole filled with delicious vanilla cream and topped with dark chocolate ganache. My husband was lucky we got a few of these because I was not going to share mine.
I went to Attica a couple of months ago and wondered when I would be able to reunite with those extraordinary vegemite scrolls again. I was taken by surprise when I heard they would be sold at a bake sale on the weekend. Ben Shewery from Attica made full sized versions of his vegemite scrolls which were steamed (kinda like the texture of a bao but more bready) with homemade vegemite and butter through the swirl. It was heavenly.
The calibre of this bake sale was next level. I mean we had an international food day at my work where everyone cooked a dish but it wasn’t quite the same. I really believe food brings people together and this is a great example of that. Loved the baked goods, loved supporting the cause and loved the community vibes.
If you didn’t get a chance to go to the bake sale, you can still be part of it and donate here: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/christchurch-shooting-victims-fund
I heart the Attica bake sale!
Olives x
