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The cake makers' tool kit

Justine Costigan grills Melbourne's sweets experts on their habits, tips and the touches that give their work a winning edge.

Props: Scullerymade, styling: Caroline Velik.
Props: Scullerymade, styling: Caroline Velik.Marina Oliphant

Jamie Romanella

The traditionalist

JAMIE Romanella once had thoughts of being a policeman but a job in the kitchen at Ivanhoe Cakes prompted him to reconsider. After learning the trade, Romanella married the boss's daughter and eventually took over the business. His jam or vanilla-custard bomboloni are sold in cafes across the city, while a large tray of sugar-dusted bomboloni in the window of his Ivanhoe shop lures customers in from the street every morning. It's the reason much of Melbourne thinks starting the day with a doughnut makes perfect breakfast sense.

Jamie Romanella.
Jamie Romanella.Supplied
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Favourite kitchen tool? My rolling pin. It's about 100 years old and it's always been with the shop. My workers laugh at me because I won't use another one. It once fell off the bench and cracked in half but I fixed it - and I'm still using it.

Recipe book?
It's all in my head. I've never used a book. My father-in-law taught me how to bake and I still use his recipes.

Baking secret?
It's all in the ingredients. Always use the best you can. Premixes are common in bakeries but it's not the same as a cake made from scratch with real butter.

Ivanhoe Cakes, 101 Upper Heidelberg Road, Ivanhoe.

Philippa Sibley

The dessert queen

Design supremo Christopher Montebello.
Design supremo Christopher Montebello.Eddie Jim

PHILIPPA Sibley's latest book, PS Desserts, tells you everything you need to know about mastering the basic techniques of baking and preparing the perfect dessert. Despite intimidating MasterChef contestants with her renowned ''Snickers'' creation, Sibley isn't convinced that any of it is that difficult. In fact, she thinks people should get into the kitchen and try it for themselves.

Best beginner's tip?
Preheat your oven. Just do it. The first thing I do when I walk into the kitchen is turn on the oven. The oven has to be the right temperature so the pastry or cake will start baking immediately. If it goes into a cold oven, the butter will melt and it will be a disaster. So if your recipe says preheat the oven, preheat the oven.

Which baking rule should never be broken?
Don't compromise with ingredients. Good butter is the key to good cakes and pastry. I use a Belgian butter called Corman [the label for the wholesale professional market. It also has a retail line called Carlsbourg, which, like the professional version, is 82 per cent butter fat. It's available from David Jones, Thomas Dux and Leo's]. Our butter here isn't good enough. Butter is made from cream, and cream is white. And it should taste like cream, too. Butter that's bright yellow is probably rancid.

What's the fastest way to have a disaster in the kitchen?
Don't walk away from whipped cream or egg whites. A moment's distraction and they'll be beaten too long and ruined. Perfectly whipped egg whites are the key to a great sponge.

What's your idea of a perfect dessert?
The most beautiful seasonal fruit with ice-cream.

Albert Street Food and Wine, corner Albert Street and Sydney Road, Brunswick.

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Christopher Montebello

The aesthete

TRYING to re-create Christopher Montebello's exquisitely decorated cakes would intimidate even the most passionate home baker. The owner of South Melbourne's Let Them Eat Cake, Montebello's star ascended dramatically when his Oprah cake created for her 2010 visit to Australia received publicity around the world. Inspired by Valentino and Chanel, the former Florentino pastry chef describes himself as a designer but he is also a master technician, creating amazing edible sculptures from smooth icing and cake.

Best cake to use as a base for decorating?
Something dense rather than airy, such as a flourless orange and almond cake, a flourless chocolate cake or a good butter cake. It needs to be able to hold its shape.

Key to perfect icing?
I use fondant [or royal] icing. It has to be kneaded, so it takes practice. You can buy it already prepared but you need to develop a feeling for it. It's all in the hands.

Best tip for beginners?
Icing is wonderful but you don't want to eat too much of it, so keep that in mind when decorating your cake.

Angie Locharden with her custard tarts.
Angie Locharden with her custard tarts.Eddie Jim

Greatest disaster? A lovely meringue cake with mascarpone and berries. I'd made it half a dozen times in Melbourne but when I attempted it in Brisbane, the humidity just killed it and it collapsed.

Let Them Eat Cake, 147-149 Cecil Street, South Melbourne.

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James Woods

Chiffon cake specialist Nat Paull.
Chiffon cake specialist Nat Paull.Simon Schluter

The Francophile

JAMES Woods is the baker responsible for the buttery croissants, pain au chocolate and almond croissants at Sugardough in Brunswick East. Inspired by Pierre Herme - the French pastry chef renowned for macarons and chocolates - Woods focuses on the best ingredients and eschews fancy machinery for the basics: his rolling pin and whisk.

How can I make croissants at home without getting up in the middle of the night to bake them? Have them ready to bake on trays the night before then leave them in the fridge overnight. In the morning, take them out and give them 30 to 40 minutes to prove - you may need longer in cold weather - before baking. There's no greater thing than croissants out of the oven.

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How do you get your dough so flaky? You have to get the layers into it. It needs patience and technique.

What's the most important ingredient? Butter. Good croissants are made with good butter. I use unsalted butter from the Murray Goulburn region.

What are your other favourite ingredients? I only use Valrhona chocolate, vanilla from Simon Johnson, eggs from Green Eggs and fresh nuts from NSM in Brunswick.

If you're not eating your own, whose croissants do you buy? I go to Cavallini in Clifton Hill. I love their croissants and coffee.

Sugardough, 163 Lygon Street, Brunswick East.

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Natalie Paull

The trendsetter

NAT Paull's modest North Melbourne cafe is home to some of the most delicious and inventive cakes in Melbourne. Her Elvis cupcake, a banana and peanut butter confection with bacon praline, may be the show-stopper but it's her elegant chiffon cake, a popular American creation invented in 1927 by travelling insurance salesman Harry Baker, that's now fighting Elvis for top position.

What's so special about chiffon cake? It's really quite impressive. And you need a bit of chutzpah to make it. The mix is poured into an ungreased cake tin and baked. After it's baked, you have to hang it upside down overnight. If it doesn't hold, you'll hear a terrible plop. It's very nerve-racking. The next day, you take it out of the special mould and it's ready - an incredibly light, fragrant cake that's absolutely delicious.

Why is the cake so light? Egg whites. You need to whip them until they're really stiff and creamy. Do it slowly though, it's not a race. And make sure the whites are at room temperature. Cream of tartar also replicates the effect of whipping them in a copper bowl

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Where can you buy chiffon-cake tins? I've found them in op shops but you can also buy them at good kitchen suppliers or online.

What can you do with a failed chiffon cake? Trifle is really the only option.

Why do you love American-style baking? When I worked for Maggie Beer, she gave me a cookbook by Rose Levy Beranbaum. She's a Jewish woman based in New York and her books will give you an incredible understanding of baking [her first book, The Cake Bible, is in its 47th printing]. All her books are just amazing. I idolise her. A few years ago, I made strudel with her at a Melbourne Food & Wine Festival event. The first day, there were a few tears in the pastry but on the second day, it was perfect. That was the happiest day of my life.

Beatrix, 688 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne.

Angie Locharden

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The new star

ON FRIDAY mornings, Angie Locharden delivers small batches of Portuguese custard tarts to select cafes in Melbourne. If you've ever bitten into the flaky pastry and rich, cinnamon-infused custard at Market Lane Coffee, Brother Baba Budan, Ora or the Final Step, you've tasted her work. Locharden's business, Caaaake!, operates out of a tiny rented space in a commercial kitchen in St Kilda. From her corner, she makes delicious cakes for some of Melbourne's most respected cafes.

What's the secret to a great Portuguese custard tart? Really flaky butter puff pastry and making a runny custard infused with cinnamon. The sugar syrup in the custard helps the top caramelise so it's got a sticky, toffee flavour.

How do you become a good baker? When I worked with Philippa Sibley, I learnt to pay attention to the small print. If you pay attention to the details in the recipe, you can make beautiful cakes. Plus, you must really love baking and eating cakes.

Pet baking hate? Cupcake shops. The cakes may look incredible but they often taste disgusting.

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caaaake.com

Darren Purchese

The composer

THE man behind Burch & Purchese, the uber-glam cake salon in South Yarra, grew up eating lumpy custard and jam roly poly, so his delicate cake creations could be seen as revenge for the torture of being forced to eat British school lunches. Trained at the Savoy, he uses classic French techniques but combines flavours and textures in surprising and delightful ways. Think smoked white chocolate, coffee, aniseed and lemon or mango, milk chocolate and ginger.

What's your favourite kitchen tool? Good kitchen scales with metric and imperial conversions. Weights and measures are quite important in baking. It's a precise science. I don't use measuring jugs. I don't trust them. I prefer to weigh liquids in grams on a scale. A Microplane and palate knife are essential, too.

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Favourite kitchen toy? A mini paint sprayer from Bunnings [a Wagner 180]. I fill it with lukewarm chocolate and spray it on cold cake. It creates a great powdery effect. Make sure you do it in an enclosed space. We have a spraying room here. I once did it in my kitchen at home and we're still cleaning chocolate from the walls. A small heat gun, also from Bunnings, is great for sticking two ingredients together and for creating a lovely chocolate shine.

The secret to a perfect chocolate glaze? We use frozen cake and then pour on hot glaze. The frozen cake immediately sets the chocolate. Then you can slowly bring the cake back to cold in the fridge before eating it.

Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio, 647 Chapel Street, South Yarra.

Fiona Richardson

The pastry perfectionist

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FIONA Richardson's handmade pies are created with pastry that's flaky and crunchy. Mouthfuls of pastry with smoked rabbit, duck and quince or wagyu appear at some of Melbourne's top events but Richardsonalso sells her tarts and pies at farmers' markets throughout the city. ''Pastry is my signature and there's a real demand for good pastry in Melbourne,'' she says.

What's the secret to great pastry? Butter with a very high percentage of butter fat. It's also important not to overwork the pastry. It's fine to be able to see streaks of butter in it as it helps make it flaky and crunchy. Mix your dough until it just comes together then let it rest. Rest it again after you've rolled it out and put it in a pie dish. Resting it is the key to getting a good shape. I don't think pastry is like cake baking; it's less about accuracy, more about instinct.

What happens if pastry gets warm? Pastry needs to stay cool or the butter will start to melt. If you've got very warm hands, use the heel of your hands instead of your fingers and palms to work the dough. Make sure your filling is cold, too. Good pastry chefs always have cool hands.

Best appliance? Don't use a food processor, just your hands.

Richardson sells her Tartbox range at farmers' markets every weekend and through Leo's supermarkets. See pastrylounge.com.au for a list of markets.

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Marianna DiBartolo

The Sicilian

MARIANNA DiBartolo's cannoli rate as some of Melbourne's best. She says most Italians would traditionally buy this special-occasion dessert rather than make it. At her West Melbourne bakery, Dolcetti, she makes delicate cannoli, each covered in icing sugar with a tiny piece of glace cherry for decoration.

How do you get that cannoli crunch? I deep-fry them in vegetable fat and roll the dough through a pasta machine - on its finest setting - a couple of times to develop the layers that help create the signature bubbles.

Do you prefer ricotta or custard filling? Vanilla or chocolate custard or a ricotta filling are traditional. I use a custard I've developed from a French recipe. Italian custard often has lots of cornflour in it and you can taste it. I like to keep my ricotta filling simple. People should not be afraid to taste the ricotta. I just add cinnamon and sugar. Less is more.

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Why cannoli? It's the contrast between smoothness and crunch that is so addictive. On any dessert platter, cannoli are the first to disappear.

Dolcetti, 223 Victoria Street, West Melbourne.

Helen Wall

The prizewinner

A MEMBER of the Country Women's Association since 1974, Helen Wall has won numerous prizes for her slices, sponges, fruit cake, sultana cake and plum puddings, as well as for her crafts. If you're feeling intimidated by that list, Wall happily admits she's not so good with jams and preserves. That's a relief. A past state president of the Country Women's Association, she has two grown sons who live and work on the family farm near Shepparton. She says farmers tend to be keen on morning and afternoon tea so there's usually a slice ready to accompany them.

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What's so great about slices? They're easy to make. Most of them are made in one dish and some don't even need baking, which is great if you don't have an oven. Slices freeze well, too.

What's your favourite slice? Lemon marshmallow slice. Three layers comprising biscuit, lemon custard and fluffy marshmallow.

Best thing about baking? Sharing recipes and always having something good to eat.

CWA and PWMU (Presbyterian Women's Missionary Union) cookbooks are available online.

Mara Szoke

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The individualist

AT MARA Szoke's Inner Biscuit in Kyneton, almond rose crunch biscuits walk out the door. The gluten-free biscuit is ugly but sweet, with a hint of rose. Szoke has worked for Greg Brown and Greg Malouf, and at Babka and Loafer, but Inner Biscuit is her first solo venture and reflects her love of the pastry section, ''the calmest place in the kitchen''.

Biscuit essentials Biscuits cook quickly so only bake when you have time to focus. You need enough space for rolling, putting biscuits on trays and cooling. You can never have too many cleared surfaces.

How do you disguise a biscuit disaster? Layer broken biscuits with ice-cream and fruit in a tall glass; trifle - layers of biscuits drowned in liqueur with custard and jelly; hot fruit crumble - use nutty or butter biscuits as a topping; ice-cream sandwiches - put softened ice-cream between two biscuits and freeze.

Why don't people bake any more? The main reason is that life has become too busy - too busy watching cooking shows on TV, too busy tweeting, Facebooking, YouTubing, reading and talking about cooking - and then running out of time to do it. And there are more artisan bakers out there making gorgeous produce that we can buy.

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Favourite baking shop? Scullerymade [1400 High Street, Malvern] has everything you need to get started.

Inner Biscuit, 34 Piper Street, Kyneton.

This story was originally published in Epicure March 13 2012.

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