Yoda Cake & a whole lotta fun!

Hi everyone!

Remember in my last post, I mentioned I was making a Yoda Cake? Well here it is!!!

I have to say I was really nervous about this cake but I thought just give it your best shot and see what happens and I have to say I'm quite pleased with the result. Having said that though, there's somethings I would've done differently... for one, my Yoda's gotta go on a diet, he's slightly a little fatter than he should be and his nose needs to be a bit smaller and he needs to be grumpier/more serious etc etc I could go on but I'll spare you. Either way it was awesome fun making it. The flavour of the cake was a red velvet with chocolate ganache and a hint of Frangelico (maybe I lie.. think it was a little more than a hint ;)).

I got to use a new technique I've been wanting to try out for ages. This technique was hand painting on fondant. A little daunting at first because I didnt know how strong the colour would be or how the shades would blend in but I guess I kinda went with it and ended up kinda playing to my artsy side.

I wish I had some progression shots of it all, but unfortunately when I get stuck in I forget all else so the final product is all I have folks. :) In hind sight I also kinda wished I had put some "hair" on Yoda, I was gonna go with fairy floss but then I thought he might look like a bit of a cross between Einstein and Yoda... mmm dunno, if any of you guys can think of something let me know :)

I managed to finish the cake well before time which meant I was able to go relax and have some fun!! It was a beeeaauuutttiffulll summers day on Sat, so after meeting the lovely A to drop off the cake for her Beau we headed to the Sydney Cellar Door for the NSW Wine Festival in Hyde Park.

We went last year so we thought it would be great fun to go again this year and what a good call it was. It was a bit bigger this year, spilling out across 2 sections of the park and there was more spaces to sit and relax. 

After a bit of a commotion with the other lads trying to find us, we finally hit the food stalls. I had the pulled pork roll from Bodegna and Porteno last year so I wanted to try something different. Some of the stalls I saw were Bau Troung - Vietnamese cuisine in Canley Vale, Tony Bilson at Home by Moobi Valley - Modern Australian/French, Bar Coco - really cute stall that had a pull cart and Vespa looking thing that sold icecream and coffees MmmmMmm. 

In the end I caved into the Black beef Angus Sandwich at the Tony Bilson stall. It was served on a lovely fresh crusty bun with a beautiful onion relish and some mesclun to cut through the fattiness. We made a mini stop over at our first wine stall - Capital Wines from the Canberra Region before heading back to our lovely picnic table. We tried the 94/100 James Haliday rated 2009 Chardonnay. Cynical at first as I've never had a wine from Canberra before, I was really impressed! It wasnt dry and was so light and refreshing, perfect for that scorching summer morning. 

Out of all the wines we tried that day, heres a list of reviews of the ones I can remember lol:

Audrey Wilkinson - 2011 Moscato - Everytime I head to Hunter Valley I always visit this winery, its got a gorgeous cottage like cellar door overlooking the vineyard. Their moscato has a very distinct floral/rose scent when you first go to take a sip, there after, the fruit crisp taste follows. The difference of this moscato compared to the others out there is that its sweetness is not too overbearing but works well with the both the mouthfeel and the flavours of the wine. Its just such a delight. $22 a bottle.

Savannah Estate - Zibbibo (Hunter Region). This was a sparkling sweet wine also from the Hunter Region. I loved that it wasnt as sweet as a moscato but it was slightly sweeter than a sparkling Sauvignon Blanc. Again it was really refreshing and awesome to share with friends by a pool ... or in our case a park ;) $20 a bottle. 

Coolangatta Estate - Savagnin (Shoalhaven Region). The name of this wine intrigued me because I've never heard of it before and like the lady could read our minds she was quick to say it actually had no relation to a Sauvignon Blanc at all. This was a very very very dry white. 

Tyrell's Wines - Sparkling Pinot Noir  (Hunter Region) - Contrary to what the name suggests it was actually a sparkling white instead of red. It's light fresh and not sweet at all. Would pair beautifully with spicy food. 

Lilly Pilly Wines 2011 Red Velvet (Riverina Region) - As it was a really hot day, I tired to steer clear from reds. However this little number caught my eye. Even though its not exactly a red, closer to a rose but the colour of the wine was darker than most roses. Anyways, this wine was lovely, it had lots of robust flavour but it was light to the taste as well. I would have to say that this wine was a gem find. 

As well as wine tastings, there was also alot of condiments, dips and cheese stalls. Too many to mention but if you check this map out you'll find all the stalls that are avaliable. Its free to get into the event, however, you need to purchase tokens and a glass. $25 gets you 5 tokens plus a glass, then extra sheets of tokens are $20 each. Each token is for a 60 ml pour and you can do 2 x 30 mls pour to taste as many different wines as you like. 

It was such a fun and awesome day, would definately recommend it, if you wanna kick back with some mates, try some wines you wouldnt normally and just kick back and chillax. 

♥