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The Sweet Assassin

Born into the Candy World, Aussie Adriano Zumbo
Celebrates the Nostalgia and Originalities of Confections

By Oprah Davidson

While he’s been quite the star in his homeland of Australia since the early 2000s, with a dozen shops across the continent, Adriano Zumbo became notable in the U.S. with the airing of his Netflix show “Zumbo Just Desserts” in 2016. The bright and brilliant chef, known as the “Sweet Assassin” shares the importance of having fun in the kitchen, his take on creativity and his hope for the future of baking and pastry. In a world bombarded with social media highlights and “everythingisgreatism,” Zumbo’s transparency about success and failure comes as a breath of fresh air.

The Q&A

How has your childhood influenced your pastry career?

My childhood helped me heaps with my career choice of pastry. My parents owned a small supermarket, so I was always around food. My mom always used to cook lots of Italian meals; she had a handful of desserts she would always make and they’d be my favorites because I had a sweet tooth as a kid. I pretty much lived off of junk food: chocolate bars, biscuits, chips, all different types of candies. I was the kid in the class who had the bag full of them because I had a supermarket. It was free. I left school at 15 and started an apprenticeship. And here I am today. It was a risk at the time. After six months of doing my first year of apprenticeship, I knew I really loved it. I wasn’t focused at school. It made my brain start ticking and thinking, how can I be better? What can I do with this?

Did you have a mentor?  What’s your take on mentorship and do you feel it’s necessary (to become a great chef)?

Dean Gibson was my head chef at my second job, third job, and through my apprenticeship, and he really helped me just understand the vision for quality pastry.

As a creative inspiration when I was young, it was Pierre Herme. He was in a league of his own. Back in the day, he was just doing stuff that other people weren’t doing – the simplicity of his work and the unique flavor combinations.

I think having a mentor not only helps you with your culinary skills, but also with your mental training. Sometimes it’s a very headstrong industry, right? And there are still people out there who might not say the right things to you at the right time.

It’s super important to have someone you can go to, to dump all your problems or your issues or your thoughts or what you want to know, someone with the leadership skills to help you.

What would you say to anyone who wants to be a public figure in this industry?

My best advice would be don’t want to be a public figure. Be yourself. You’re never going to be the best. There are so many different aspects of what we do. The only time someone will crown you the best is if you win a world championship or something. And even then, to be in that category, a competition is completely different to having a business or being just a sole creative.

I remember someone used to tell me, ‘I’m going to open this pastry shop. I need five million or something. I’m going to open up this thousand-square-meter kitchen with all this top equipment.’ He lasted a few months. It’s a big investment for a few months. And it wasn’t his investment. It was somebody else’s. It’s not about being the best or having all that straight up; it’s just a long grind. Be yourself and do what you love.

Having a mentor not only helps you with your culinary skills, but also with your mental training.

Is there any part of being a chef you enjoy the most?

I enjoy the creativity, coming up with ideas and making them happen. The biggest thing I probably love is the people I’ve met over the years, from traveling around the world, from having a business, from teaching.

Were you always good at what you do or did you have challenges to overcome in the beginning of your career?

When I was younger, I did a lot of stuff. I just put myself out there and I was just in the right place at the right time.

And here in Australia, when I was coming through the ranks as the young apprentice, the industry was very small. Most great Australian pastry chefs went overseas. It’s obviously changed here in Australia over the last, I’d say, 15, 16 years.

It changed when those TV shows like MasterChef started to educate the people at home and everybody about cooking different flavors, different cuisines around the world, and really opening their minds to go out and try stuff. For pastry and baking, it showed how much time and effort goes into what we do and what we make. It started to give more opportunities for more small entrepreneurs to jump in and give it a go.

You’re known for making desserts using unusual flavor combinations. Is there a dessert that you thought would go over well, but didn’t? Are there any that you really loved, but the public didn’t receive well? 

We used to have – we call it Zumbaron day. We used to transform the shop into just macarons, 60 flavors of macarons. And we used to do some crazy flavors. They’re not for everyone, but they’re just an experience. On those days, you’ve created this deep-fried salt and pepper squid macaron; or cheeseburger pork bun macaron; or toothpaste. The list goes on.

People like it. People hate it. But it’s experience, right? One definitely comes to mind. It wasn’t on a macaron day. It was actually a cake. And it came from medieval Italian time. It was eggplant and chocolate. I just couldn’t make it work. It just was weird. It tasted awful.

I’ve done some wacky stuff at events. You kind of have this free playing card when you do an event. There will always be a funky ingredient in there like caramelized onion with chocolate and lemon. You make it work. When people are eating it, they don’t really even think about it until after.

Don’t want to be a public figure. Be yourself. You’re never going to be the best.

You once made a “pig’s blood” macaron.  What was your thought process on that, and how did it go with your diners?

It’s so delicious. My parents are from Calabria in the south of Italy. And down there, a lot of places handle their own meats. They use all the parts of the body and all the blood; they make a chocolate pudding. It’s called sanguinaccio and it’s a chocolate and pig’s-blood pudding with a spice, usually like a cinnamon or a clove.

The characteristics in blood are quite minerally. So, it really has interesting flavor. It coagulates. It gives that beautiful mouthfeel. It kind of gives a natural creaminess without obviously having any cream in it. It’s very salty and it really hits nice with dark chocolate. Funnily enough, everyone who tasted it just loved it and would never have thought that they were eating what they were eating.

You’re no stranger to the world of competitions.  What are your overall thoughts on them? What would you say to someone who wants to compete, but doesn’t feel ready enough? 

I think if you’re not ready enough or good enough, then the best thing to do is to volunteer yourself into a team; or if it’s an individual person competition, be someone’s assistant. Just say, ‘look, I don’t want anything for it. I want to like be here. I’ll hand you your tools. I’ll clean up. I’ll melt your chocolate, whatever you want me to do.’ And then get a feel for it. Because you’re really going to be going through the steps with them and understanding what it’s going to take to compete.

They’re going to be grateful because they need help. Give them the time to focus on what they need to focus on. And for someone who’s in there for the experience, it’s priceless. If you have the time and the money, then go for it. It’s a great opportunity that won’t be there forever.

There are so many things that go into it for that moment of glory. And a lot of the time, you can come back empty-handed. You really have to be sure you want to do it. It’s a very rewarding thing if you can succeed. It’s a great experience even if you don’t. But if you’re not feeling like you’re competitive, do some smaller competitions that don’t cost you as much and don’t take up more time. Get the feel for it.

Sometimes we get lost in what we see if we spend too much time on social media.

What is your hope for the future of pastry?

I really hope it can grow and become more accessible. High costs make it very hard for a pastry business to survive and grow. I think somewhere along the line something’s going to change. How far does creativity go? We’ve nearly made everything in pastry: fruits, metal objects and animals. What’s next? Do we just dump everything into a bowl?

Right now, there are a lot of custom molds and stuff like that, but custom molds aren’t friendly on the budget for a lot of people and businesses. Then there’s a different aspect of pastry than professional; there’s domestic pastry, more home baking, which is huge as well. People at home are able to do more because of the accessibility to different equipment and the push to want to do something new.

So, I just hope it keeps growing, we’ll always have those same nostalgics. Trends come and go, but those core things that stick around connect people to the comforting flavors of the foods. The flavor is the most important thing. When something tastes good, you always remember it even if it doesn’t look like a Picasso. I think sometimes we get lost in what we see if we spend too much time on social media. I think we all have a natural instinct of creativity and what that is.

What’s your take on social media’s impact on the food industry?  Where do you see it going?

Look, it’s good and bad. Obviously, you have an outlet to be able to show the world what you can do. And you can do whatever you want. You can make extravagant things, crazy things. You can make things look better than they are because you don’t have to show them live. It gives you an outlet to present things in some beautiful ways: videos, editing, graphics, captions, coming up with products, filming products. It’s a lot of work. It’s nonstop. You’re working to make money. And you’re also trying to be creative in your own space. Sometimes you just need to sit there and do nothing and let those ideas and insights come. But then you’re thinking in your head while you’re sitting there, oh, no, I’ve got to post.

The flavor is the most important thing. When something tastes good, you always remember it even if it doesn’t look like a Picasso.

Who’s your biggest inspiration?

I love watching sporting documentaries. It’s a different thing, but it’s the same mindset and dedication that you have to be great. It’s the same as a quarterback or a top basketball player. It’s that mindset where you have to train and train and you have that confidence to lead a team into battle and get them out of the deepest ends when they need to.

What are your thoughts on pastry school? Is it still advantageous or necessary?

Look, it’s not essential. I know some amazing pastry people who just love it. It comes to them. Sometimes people have that natural knack and they just kind of go with it. Usually, those kinds of people build quite a rustic, natural kind of creativity. I think training is essential in some senses, to get people skills and techniques and teach them a little bit of discipline as well about the industry and what to do. But I’ve seen both succeed well. I think the formal training gives you a little bit of an edge. Some chefs want to understand that you’ve been trained and you have a certificate, so that when you come into that kitchen and I tell you to make a choux pastry, that’s what you’re going to be doing.

(This article appeared in the Winter 2025 issue of Pastry Arts Magazine)

Staff
Staff
Pastry Arts Magazine is the new resource for pastry & baking professionals designed to inspire, educate and connect the pastry community as an informational conduit spotlighting the trade.

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