Woolworths Town Hall: Mini Iced Cup Cakes, CBD Sydney (7 Sept 2011)

Cnr Park & George Streets, Sydney NSW 2000
http://woolworths.com.au

Convenient yet high in sugar

I'm not quite sure if Margaret Fulton would approve of the 42.6% sugar content but then again perhaps that’s just normal for iced cupcakes? The Mini Iced Cup Cakes ($9.99, 24 pieces) from Woolworths Town Hall are the cheapest I’ve come across in Sydney. Less than half the price of the $1 mini cupcakes from The Cupcake Factory. They were well-packaged to protect the cupcakes from being squashed in transit and were moist in texture. They looked quite pretty although once I opened the packaging I thought the aroma of the cupcakes was pretty sugary and smelt a bit processed. They tasted OK washed down with a tea or coffee although it was quite evident they were high in sugar.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Cheap, Bite-sized, Well-protected packaging, Convenient and nicely decorated, Good for entertaining parties

CONS: High in sugar (42.6%) and fat (15.9%), Has a slightly weird processed sugary scent when package first opened

MUST TRY: Finding a low sugar and low fat mini cupcake that's still tasty and moist

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Woolworths Mini Iced Cup Cakes ($9.99, 24 pieces)

Nutritional information

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Cinnamon Donut & Strawberry Croquembouche (28 June 2011)

Cheap, easy and fun

A work colleagues birthday inspires me to create a birthday cake. I knew he loved Krispy Kreme donuts but discovered their Wynyard shop had closed and the Central Station shop was unfortunately too far to get to during my lunch time. A trip to the CBD Town Hall Woolworths scores me cinnamon donuts on special ($2.48, 12 pack) and strawberries ($3.98, 250g punnet). For my 39th birthday I did something similar using mini iced donut which tends to work better. Of course it's not as good as a real French croquembouche which you'd find at Patisse.

Cinnamon donut & strawberry croquembouche ($8.94) — feeds 24 people for afternoon tea. Plate and birthday card not included.

Donuts for the sugar hit and strawberries as the gluten-free option

Time to eat

Are the Celebrity Chefs selling out these days? (30 Nov 2010)

http://www.woolworthschristmas.com.au/freshchefs

A fresh perspective

Every time I see Curtis Stone, the chef of supposedly all things seasonal, on a Coles ad or MasterChef which is sponsored by Coles I have a little cringe because I wonder if this means he's somewhat sold out. I bet his never walked into the fruit and vegetable aisles in Randwick Coles to spot the sad looking bruised and battered produce I've seen lying around — and I've lost count how many times I've noticed moldy strawberries still left on the shelf. Anyone wanna do a quality spot check? It's nothing like you see on the MasterChef pantry that's for sure — I wish it was though.

It now looks like Woolworths is getting in on the act and using Celebrity Chefs brought to the Australian household limelight on MasterChef to advertise their supermarket as a destination for all your Christmas food shopping. I seriously wonder if Margaret Fulton, Tobie Puttock and Guy Grossi really pick Woolworths for Christmas or is it more the other way around with Woolworths picking them as their feel-better-about-buying-from-a-huge-supermarket-rather-than-your-local-independent-butcher-or-farmers-market-promotional-ambassadors. I would have thought professional chefs would be buying directly from farmers and suppliers so they have more control over what they're really getting and serving their customers and building on a trusting relationship?

I also wonder if these Fresh Food Chefs actually cooked the pavlova, turkey and leg of ham they're holding or is it just all advertising props made by food technicians and food stylists. Winners are grinners as they say and someone must be winning through all this but I doubt it's the hard working farmers. That's my gripe and whinge for the day.

Dear Reader, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject.