On Sunday, Tim and I went on a Cupcake and Macaron Tour of Melbourne conducted by Great Food Tours. It was a cold, grey, rainy afternoon, but it did not matter, as we were moving pretty quickly and were often indoors.
We had a glitch at the start of the tour, as I was sent an email telling me to meet the group at the Visitor Information Centre in Federation Square, when in fact they were meeting at St Pauls Cathedral. This delayed everyone by around 20 minutes - but at least they waited for us. Our tour guide, another Tim, was very friendly and informative - I did learn some things about the history of certain CBD buildings that I did not know.
Our first stop was Little Cupcakes in Degraves Street. This is my personal favourite, because the flavour of their cakes and icing is really good, and you can buy mini cupcakes without having to order them especially - which means if you want a little inexpensive treat ($2.70 for most flavours of mini cupcake), you can.
I have never had good old fashioned vanilla, so I ordered a vanilla mini cupcake - and it was really delicious:
There is nothing to hide behind with vanilla, and the flavours shone through here.
Tim ordered peanut butter flavour, which he said was also good:
Our next stop was the Royal Arcade in Collins Street, where we stopped for a chocolate at Koko Black:
I have been to Koko Black before, but on this occasion, our tour guide procured raspberry liqueur chocolates for us:
These chocolates have a runny centre, so you have to eat them in one bite to avoid leakage. The centre was smooth and not overly sweet, making this the perfect bite-sized treat. It was also a surprise, as there is a separate chocolate tour and we were just expecting cupcakes and macarons - but I am certainly not complaining!!
Also in the Royal Arcade, we visited The Little Royal Macarons:
Next stop was the gorgeous La Belle Miette in Hardware Lane:
Both their shop and their macarons are as pretty as a picture:
We were given a macaron of our choice each to take home in a little bag:
I chose cherry blossom and sake flavour - doesn't it look like a perfect little shell:
The inside was wonderful, with a daub of cherry jam (though I can't say I tasted the sake):
This macaron was absolutely devine - it is definitely the place where I will buy macarons in the future.
We then moved on to Cupcake Central, in the Melbourne Central shopping centre:
Our group each got a standard sized red velvet cake to try:
This cake was delicious and moist, but was tooth-achingly sweet - even the cream cheese frosting could not take the sweet edge off the flavour of this cake. If you like your cupcakes very sweet, then this one is for you.
Our final destination was The Cupcake Family, off an alley in the QV Centre. We each received a mini cupcake there from what was left at the end of the day. I chose the blueberry version:
Perhaps it was the fault that it was the end of the day when we arrived, but this cake was pretty dry and lacklustre - it was my least favourite of all the samples that I tried. It did have a whole blueberry in the bottom of it, but it did nothing to take away from the dryness of the cake. However, Tim enjoyed his strawberry version.
Although our tour started out rather stressfully because we could not find the group, I relaxed and enjoyed it, thanks to our expert tour guide, Tim. I think this tour was a great way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon, and would recommend it to anyone who likes cupcakes and macarons.
+ 61 39 028 8163
Shop 7 Degraves St
Melbourne VIC 3000
Ph; +61 3 9602 3884
Shop 4 Royal Arcade
335 Bourke Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Ph: +61 3 9639 8911
Centre Kiosk
Royal Arcade, Melbourne
335 Bourke Street Mall
Melbourne VIC 3000
Ph: +61 421977599
30 Hardware Lane
Melbourne VIC 3000
Ph: +61 3 9024 9926
Level 2, Dining Hall
Melbourne Central
Melbourne VIC 3000
Ph: +61 3 9077 4542
Shop 22 Red Cape Lane
QV Centre
Between QV Square and Swanston Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Ph: +61 3 9663 0055
What a cute idea for a tour! I don't think I could eat dessert afterwards but maybe if I had mini ones :P
ReplyDeleteThis does indeed sound like a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Thank goodness the tour waited for you, and most of your samples were as good as they look!
ReplyDeletewhat a great way to spend a grey afternoon - cupcakes and macarons are so pretty just to look at - love to look at Little Cupcakes but am not sure I have eaten from there. Love koko black and I think I have been to Cupcake Central in Melb Central and found their cupcakes pretty but a bit dry. Though I guess everyone has off days
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun tour...it all looks delicious and such fun to glimpse at the shops. I love your photos.
ReplyDeleteThouroughly enjoyed the tour yesterday. It was made more special due to the enthusiasm of the tour guide Heli. A job well done!!!. Priya (Marina) Aug 3rd @ 4.54pm
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