Eat. @ Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio

647 Chapel Street, South Yarra 3141 ph : (03) 9827 7060

Okay, strictly speaking the title of this post is misleading as you don't actually eat AT Burch and Purchese, since there is no area for sitting down and indulging in the sweet treats on offer here.  However, it is indeed a sweet studio, and all the desserts here are works of art.  Bubs in Pram was blissfully asleep when I visited, but I'm pretty sure if the Little One and the Macaron Monster had been there I'd have had a hard time stopping them from eating the beautifully presented sweets on display as art pieces around the studio.

The staff were informative, friendly and helpful, and let me take plenty of photos.  As in an art gallery, the pieces should be viewed instead of just talked about, so get ready for a whole lot of pictures of their enticing, delicious and very clever creations.

Individual cake portions at $9.  A bit more expensive but we
felt our selections were worth it!  A lovely destination for a treat!

Divine meringue clouds, soft and chewy inside, slight bite on the outside,
and zingy fruit flavours throughout. $4 - not unreasonable, considering
my local bakery charges $2.50 for a hard lump of meringue.

Bespoke Cake Creation, Ladybird entiredly made out of chocolate. 
I so want to be a kid nowadays!

Lots of goodies to take home, from jars of spreads, to packets of crumble and
bars of chocolate.

Bespoke cake creation with chocolate flowers (which can be bought individually
for $3) and a oh-so-cute caterpillar.

Yet another gorgeous bespoke cake.

Cute chocolate dice, who's for a game?

Bags of luscious honeycomb.

Awesome edible wall art.  Enough to make you lick the walls!

To quote their website,  "Ian Burch & Darren Purchese fuse science with sweetness to create a truly unique retail dessert experience".  Here are the masters at work - still friendly enough to give me a smile and a wave!

Of course I didn't leave empty handed.  My favourite has to be the Coconut, Passionfruit, Ginger, Mint (coconut mousse | passionfruit curd | coconut caviar | passionfruit jelly | salted oat & ginger crumble | white chocolate mint wafer | ginger macaroon | brilliant white chocolate spray)  The flavours of the different layers are interesting, clever, and compliment each other perfectly.  I'm a sucker for a good crumble and this is one of the best! 

The Strawberry, Rose, Yogurt, Pink Peppercorn (strawberry mousse / strawberry rose jelly / yoghurt cream / butters shortbread with pink peppercorns / strawberry rose jam / yoghurt crunchies) is an interesting combination that works surprisingly well.  The geek in me just love the cute little test-tube filled with youghurt crunchies that you sprinkle on top of the cake just prior to consumption.  The peppercorn in the butter shortbread is a fun sensory surprise.  A cool and adventurous dessert!

The Chocolate, Mandarin, Salted Caramel (Kendari 60% chocolate mousse | Murray River salted caramel | burnt mandarin cream | St Clements marmalade | aerated chocolate shortbread | chocolate mirror glaze) is a rich and luscious dessert.  Very chocolatey with the perfect hint of mandarin and caramel.  Fantastic with a cup of tea.

A jar of Chocolate, Caramel & Hazelnut spread - a rather grown up, indulgent version of Nutella!  Yum!

I used half a jar of the Salted Caramel Spread as filling for my latest batch of macarons. (Lazy but clever, don't you think?)  A lovely thick caramel that can be used in lots of different sweet treats.

And last but not least a packet of Triple Choco Bikkies with freeze dried fruit.  Disappeared in a jiffy.  Very fudgey with a pleasant zing of fruit.

Burche & Purchese offer private consultations on a Thursday evening for bespoke cake creations if you'd like to discuss and plan a special treat for an upcoming celebration.

Eat.Play.Shop. Recommends - the Awesome Coconut, Passionfruit, Ginger, Mint - Hubby, I want this for my next birthday cake ..... please ;)

Give it a Miss - if you want to dine in - take your goodies home and spoil yourself with a good pot of tea.