When a young Adriano Zumbo packed his school bag in country New South Wales, he often tucked in five or six sweets from his parents’ supermarket. That sugar-filled ritual may have set the tone for what would become one of Australia’s most recognisable careers in pastry.
“Cooking and pastry helped me focus. I found that I really enjoyed it and that I went to another place when I was doing it. Nothing really disturbed me or bothered me,” he recalls.
While Zumbo’s name may be synonymous with precision, creativity and whimsy, at home he loves indulging in comfort food (including the occasional quick pasta, as he demonstrates in his appearance on Season 8 of The Cook Up with Adam Liaw.
While his professional creations often feature dozens of components and bold ideas, at home, Zumbo prefers to keep things low-key with cakes, cookies, macarons and gelato. “In my job, I'm always trying to be creative and create something more experimental, more involved and unique. At home, I just want the opposite. So that, for me, is classic, really easy, comfort food. Gelato, apple pie, custard flan, those kinds of things,” he says.
After dazzling Australia with multi-layered, architectural desserts like the famous V8 vanilla cake, and “Zumbaron” macarons, his business closed in 2018 due to financial challenges.
However, today, the “sweet assassin” remains a force to reckon with in the pastry world, consulting, teaching, curating the high tea menu for QT, doing pop-ups and TV appearances. And nearly three decades into his career, his philosophy hasn’t changed.
“I like to have fun and I really like to be true to flavours. Quite often, pastry looks nice, but then you eat it, and it doesn't really taste like what it says it is. A lot of flavours get lost or there's too much sugar or there's too much fat,” he says.
“For me, it's always about trying to find the best way to achieve the best flavour and texture.”
And his top three secrets to making pastry like a pro? The answers may surprise you.
Invest in the right tools
To get those silky textures and spot-on bakes, Zumbo recommends a few key pieces of equipment, starting with a stick mixer.
“It helps emulsify things in a lot of creams and custards. Most people would just get a whisk and try and whisk it through. It still works, but you can end up with a little bit more of a gritty texture, that isn’t as smooth,” he explains.
Also on his essentials list? A digital scale and thermometer to achieve the precision necessary for pastry.
Find inspiration in the mundane
For Zumbo, sparks of creativity can come from just about anywhere: nature, a supermarket visit, the shape of a building, the pattern of floor tiles, his travels, or even the curve of a street light.
While some people are better than others at noticing all these details, he says that you can train your brain by taking the time to notice your surroundings. Who knew mindfulness was key to making pastry?!
Make more mistakes
“The growth and progress in cooking come from mistakes. You have to make mistakes. You can't develop a recipe or a technique or something moving forward without making them,” he says.
But technical skill alone isn’t enough. A great dessert, he says, needs to connect with the person eating it. “You're eating this thing and it's taking you on a journey. That emotional connection, that’s what makes a great pastry chef,” he says.
And the one thing that probably doesn't matter as much as you think, according to Zumbo? The ingredients.
If you’re tempted to splurge on that block of Isigny French butter or bar of Valrhona chocolate, he says go for it, if it makes you happy.
The growth and progress in cooking come from mistakes.
But he’s quick to reassure home bakers that you can still make great desserts with supermarket ingredients, as long as you know what you’re doing.
“If you're baking all the time, go find what you like and what you can afford, because in the end it's, it's all about making it work,” he says.
Whether you’re swirling custard at home or dreaming up your next showstopper, Zumbo reminds us that the heart of dessert lies in joy, curiosity, and a little bit of sugar.
