Cacao is winner of the 2010 award for best macarons, according to Melbourne Macaron, a student initiative which was judged by Macaron King Adriano Zumbo and Melbourne eating aficionado and Epicure writer and food critic Larissa Dubecki. I purchased a selection of 12 to take to morning tea with a friend, and another 4 to devour with Mr K, not wanting to leave him out of the process. I have to say I didn't try all of the macarons this time around - I stuck to a smaller selection, so apologies in advance for the less than comprehensive reporting.
As a starting point, I didn't think the appearance was as good as those from Luxbite - the feet and biscuits were a little flatter but the taste was definitely better across the board. The texture was the chewiest of all the macarons we tasted.
I selected what I thought would be my favorites for tasting: passionfruit chocolate, lemon, salted caramel and raspberry. I also tried vanilla, earl grey and rose.
The passionfruit chocolate was sensational: velvety and fruity. The lemon was beautifully zingy and the salted caramel highly successful - using real salted caramel in the filling. Salted caramel is the flavour I judge all macaron makers on and this was a fantastic specimen indeed. Raspberry was also lovely and sweet redolent with authentic fruit flavour. Rose was a tad bland - not light, floral and fresh as I was expecting, more sweet and nothing... The earl grey was fine but nothing special.
The highlight for me was the vanilla. The filling was speckled with real vanilla bean and the biscuit retained it's crispness beautifully. Just Delicious. If you only want to try one macaron at Cacao, this is the one. I'd go back for the vanilla one alone. Seriously good.
Coming up soon, our final stop on the Macaron Chase - La Belle Miette!
Kitty
7 comments:
Reading this series is pure torture. I always do it at work, late in the day when there is nothing but a dodgy vending machine to satisfy my cravings!
God they look good!!!! I would have bought the same flavours as you!
It's interesting that vanilla can more often than not, taste better than some of the more exotic flavours.
x
Z - Just one more to go, and then a special dessert post that I think you'll enjoy!
SSG - I'm such a sucker for the traditional flavours. And the vanilla at Cacao is very very good...
Wow! I've never tried macarons in Melbourne, and now that's on top of my list (well, if they're gluten free? are they gluten free? I have no idea what makes a macaron delicious - probably flour. It makes everything delicious).
YUM
What a great series! I love how macarons are everywhere now. I remember when it was really hard to get them! Thank goodness things have changed! :P
Deirdre - theoretically macarons are gluten free. Some are not so it pays to ask. I know at La Belle Miette they say all of theirs are gluten free except for the hazelnut because it has wafer in the filling. Macarons are one of the best gluten free treats.
NQN - I really enjoyed the research! I bet you are not surprised!! I agree, they seem to be everywhere, but not all macarons are equal. You should do a Sydney series!!
K xx
Hello again - glad to see that you discovered Cacao also! Our post on Cacao is here.
http://momoandcoco.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/cacao/
By the way, we would love any suggestions of dessert places in Sydney as we will be heading over there soon. We have tried macarons from AZumbo and Baroque. Anywhere else ? We love cakes too! :)
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