Food Bloggers, Unite!

It was a scene reminiscent of the most glorious dream and the worst possible nightmare: an endless line of mouthwatering food that spelled both delight and dread. The glut (ha!) in me knew the next few hours would be pure bliss but my (self) conscious female side thought otherwise – hello, potbelly.

Food bloggers from across Sydney gathered on Saturday (which was, wonderfully coincidentally, my birthday) for the Sydney Food Bloggers Mad Hatters Spring Picnic – organised by Billy from A Table for Two and Karen from Citrus and Candy.

It was essentially just like any other picnic gathering: rugs laid out, groaning with various dishes both sweet and savoury and plenty of people digging in and enjoying. But, true to food blogger-form, the cameras were out at every opportune moment, snapping away at the bevy of exquisite food.

 

Mini burgers by Fat Belly Club.

Bacon and olive bread by Sandra.

Sadly Eliza from Boomerang Banquet and I were about two hours late to the picnic and consequently didn’t get to try some of the food, but the excess of dishes ensured we didn’t completely miss out. The mini burgers by Paulina and Liam from Fat Belly Club were absolutely adorable and the bacon and olive bread by Sandra from The French Wench was deliciously salty.

 

Smoked salmon and blini by Jamie.

 

Blue bruschetta by Moya.

A friend from uni, Jamie of From the Dinner Table fame, made blini with smoked salmon – a scrumptious luxury that I actually haven’t indulged in since I moved out. To me the blue bruschetta by Moya from YaYa’s Yum Yums was, despite its bizarre appearance, the savoury winner of the day – light, airy and perfect paired with creamy blue cheese.

Of course the best part of the two-hour eating fest was the dessert. And because, it seems, most bloggers have a serious sweet tooth, the desserts heavily outweighed the savories. But I wasn’t complaining.

 

S’more tarts by Phuoc.

 

Raspberry and lemon curd tarts.

Phuoc from Phuoc’n Delicious made cute little S’more tarts – a crumbly pastry shell holding a rich chocolate centre and topped with marshmallow. The mini raspberry and lemon curd tarts (also by Fat Belly Club) were equally as sweet.

 

Lemon & blueberry ricotta cheesecake.

 

Earl Grey cake and mini macarons.

The lemon and blueberry ricotta cheesecake by Leila from Tablenosh had just the right amount of tart and sweet flavours and it was rich and creamy like a good cheesecake should be. I didn’t get to try the actual chiffon cake by Ayana but the macarons were superb – a crunchy outer shell yielding a chewy and soft centre.

 

Tea-ramisu.

Cake pops.

 

Cookie monster cupcakes by Sook.

The mini tea-ramisu cups by Tammi from Insatiable Munchies – chocolate teacups filled with sweet custard cream and soaked sponge cake – were an ingenious take on the traditional tiramisu. And the cake pops by Sugarlace were a jollier version of iced cake. There were also three versions of cookie monster cupcakes – these ones, I believe, were by Sook from Nommy Nom Nom.

Mad hatter cupcakes.

 

Food blogger mud cake.

I was in absolute awe at some of the skill using fondant. The mad hatter cupcakes (also by YaYa’s Yum Yums) really went all out with the picnic’s theme and were spectacular to look at. But the real star of the dessert show (and the winner for Best Dessert) was the blogger mud cake by Anna from Diary of a Ladybird. It didn’t only look magnificent – the salted caramel mud cake inside was moist, rich and heady with chocolate and salty sweet goodness.

 

Carmen Miranda... sort of.

Chocolate eclair hat.

The costumes and hats were also a sight to behold. The Carmen Miranda fruit hat was a welcome burst of colour on an otherwise drizzly day and the chocolate eclair hat was just plain fantastic.

But this was easily the best costume of the day.

We ate, we dranked, we discussed Masterchef, Adriano Zumbo and Peter Gilmore’s snow egg. It was great to meet other food bloggers in the flesh and see what a close-knit community the blogging sphere really is.

Someone threw around the idea of a Christmas picnic in the coming months. If this is anything to go by, I’ll be fasting for weeks in preparation.