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Sweet Envy - the grandest little bakehouse in town 

1/2/2015

26 Comments

 
Pastry chef Alistair Wise with his wife Teena and daughter Matilda, image courtesy Murdoch Books
Pastry chef Alistair Wise with his wife Teena and daughter Matilda, image courtesy Murdoch Books
Next time I'm in Tasmania, the first place I'm heading to is North Hobart, to seek out Sweet Envy, a hugely popular, old fashioned cake shop, bakehouse and sweet parlour rolled into one!

Sweet Envy, a.k.a. 'the grandest little bakehouse in town', is owned and run by acclaimed pastry chef, Alistair Wise, and his wife, Teena. Having both grown up and completed their pastry and bakery apprenticeships in Hobart, the pair went on to work in top restaurants in Melbourne, London and New York. Alistair worked for Gordon Ramsay and ran his pastry department at The Connaught, alongside Angela Hartnett. Meanwhile, Teena worked at The Greenhouse under an Alain Ducasse protégé and then moved on to couture cakes. Upon their return to Hobart, they received a call from Gordon Ramsay to open his New York hotel, The London, which received numerous awards for desserts and Best Bon Bon Trolley. Now based back in Tasmania, Alistair and Teena have brought to life their own specialised food destination, Sweet Envy, and recently produced a cookbook with the same name.

Alistair and Teena have a refreshing light-hearted approach to their work, as indicated by the hilarious stories and fun vignettes sprinkled throughout the book. Even the contents page made me smile, with chapters titled, among other things: 'Afternoon delight'; 'You Tart!'; 'I scream'; and 'Backdoor Fanny's'. The 100+ recipes are superb and include morsels such as 'Bada Bing!', which are described as 'chocolate cookies with a runny caramel centre and creamy caramel frosting, dipped in milk chocolate'. There are artisan goodies galore and clear instructions on how to create them at home. This is a book that sweet lovers across the globe will want to add to their shelves!

I had the opportunity to catch up with Alistair and Teena via email recently, and our 'conversation' follows below:

Hello Alistair and Teena, it's lovely to make your acquaintance. Thank you for taking the time for this conversation with me. 
Congratulations on the publication of Sweet Envy, it's such a delightful, beautifully written book!
Thank you.

You're both well-travelled, award winning pastry chefs who have worked in top restaurants in London and New York. I read that you first met in a quirky little pastry shop in Hobart. Tell me, how long ago was that? 
Way, way, way too long ago! 20 years!

Some of your cakes have been heroes in New York and London. What's the most popular or all time best selling item at the cake shop and bakehouse?
Pecan sticky bun of course! It's chewy, sticky, nutty, caramelly, buttery pastry goodness gets everyone hooked! (Can I fit any more 'y's' in there?).

I'm in awe of Teena's cake decorating skills. What would you say have been the most spectacular or unusual number produced by the cakeatorium?
The most grand cake was for Hobart's Theatre Royal, which had its 175th birthday. Celebrating with an eight-tiered monster cake that had all the tiers representing different sections of the theatre from draping, to gold embellishments and a whole tier of fresh red roses. It was truly elegant feat that Alistair managed to get roped into helping with!

The most unusual cake would have to be the 'divorce cake' that was a heart cut through the middle with a beautiful house, car and manicured garden on one side and the other was a dirt patch with tent and smashed up car...  literally the lady got a matchbox car and took to it with a hammer! Divorce party? Very strange!

I love that you have an obsession with ice cream. Tell me a little about Bessie and Harriet – the trucks.
We have a love of all things old, they ooze character have curves to die for and are built to last!

Bessie is a 1963 commer karrier original Mr Whippy van. She is a way for us to have a bit of fun, throw out some wacky flavour combinations that hopefully the punters will give a go, or if not we get a laugh at watching their faces recoil in disgust!

Harriet is a 1950's J Van which, way back when, got used as bread delivery vans here, so we thought we'd put  cake in the back. What a cool way to rock up to a wedding! 

We also just had another thought to get a small bond wood to have in tow as an extra little something something to work on. Maybe something savoury?

Do you have a favourite recipe?
Framboise, the first time making this cake was the day that our pastry grew up!

Who are your food heroes and who or what inspires you?
Alistair: Daniel Bowen, I like the way he thinks! 

Teena: Peggy Porschen, she has amazing talent. 

Matilda, our daughter, always inspires us. Also fresh local produce and social media is captivating at the moment. Looking at what's out there, seeing how we can adapt it to make it our own, and the challenge to make it better!

When it comes to the cookbooks on your shelves, do you prefer to keep the pages pristine, or do you love it when they’re well used and the pages are splattered with butter, oil and flour?
Depends which books they are...  You always have those special ones you want pristine, but then you have your old favourites that you return to regularly that are completely trashed!

Is there a recipe you'd like to share with Good Things readers?
We just shared 100 recipes...  Buy the book and take your pick!

And finally, what's for dinner tonight?
You've got us on a good night, we are actually attending a wedding that we have made the cake for, done the flower bouquets and also made one of the main dishes. Twelve x the trout en croute deliciousness! (which you will find on page 48-51 of the Sweet Envy book) give it a go!

Thanks so much for your time.
You're welcome.

Print Friendly and PDF

Sweet Envy the cookbook
Sweet Envy by Alistair Wise and Teena Kearney-Wise, image courtesy Murdoch Books

Sweet Envy - 100 recipes from the grandest little bakehouse in town by Alistair Wise and Teena Kearney-Wise, $45.00, Murdoch Books. Thank you to the publicity team at Murdoch Books and also to Alistair and Teena for giving me the opportunity for this conversation.

Tell me dear readers, have you visited Sweet Envy in North Hobart? And don't you just love the sound of this book!?
26 Comments
Tandy | Lavender and Lime link
1/2/2015 06:16:28 pm

What a happy looking family and another great interview Liz :)

Reply
Lizzy
1/2/2015 06:53:24 pm

Thank you, Tandy... I thought the top photograph showed the family's easy going nature and great love of good food!

Reply
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef link
1/2/2015 10:31:43 pm

That's a lovely photo and it makes me want to know more about that book. Great interview, Liz!

Reply
Lizzy
14/2/2015 02:53:05 pm

Thanks so much, Maureen

Reply
Adri link
2/2/2015 04:05:38 am

Well now if only this spot were in my neck of the woods, the world would be a terrific place! It sounds divine, and you are to be congratulated on a lovely write-up. Well done!

Reply
Lizzy
14/2/2015 02:53:21 pm

Thanks so much, Adri!

Reply
Andrea Mynard link
2/2/2015 04:36:11 am

Looks gorgeous Liz, love the sound of sticky pecan buns - and the family pics are lovely!

Reply
Lizzy
14/2/2015 02:53:38 pm

Thanks so much, Andrea!

Reply
Eva Taylor link
2/2/2015 06:34:31 am

What a great interview and the book looks fantastic too. Ice cream and sweet shop all rolled into one sounds fantastic. I love the name Matilda!

Reply
Lizzy
14/2/2015 02:53:53 pm

Thanks so much, Eva!

Reply
Carol Abnett
2/2/2015 07:58:56 am

Hi Lizzy,
I love your blog, I am always looking for Australian sites and yours is one of the best. I am a sucker for cook books, I have never counted them but well over 500, I have just ordered Sweet Envy, I have seen it advertised before but until reading about it here I didn't pay much attention to it, I am looking forward to cooking some delicious treats from the book.
Thanks Carol.

Reply
Lizzy
2/2/2015 02:55:10 pm

Dear Carol, thank you for your very kind words! I feel so chuffed. Glad that you have decided to buy Sweet Envy... do let me know what you will be baking from it : )

Reply
e / dig in hoabrt link
2/2/2015 08:57:26 am

ah, well if you visit the shop lizzy, I hope you have a better experience than me. i hate to be negative, but ... I've been twice and both times I was ignored by the sales assistant while she continued her private conversations. i'm afraid I will not go back. the food must be good - but so must the customer service.

Reply
Lizzy
2/2/2015 02:49:48 pm

Oh E, I'm sorry to hear that you had a bad experience...

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Hotly Spiced link
2/2/2015 01:10:02 pm

They do have a wealth of experience but I couldn't imagine anything worse than working for Gordon Ramsay - I don't enjoy someone screaming obscenities in my face. I'm wondering what the chapter titled 'Backdoor Fanny's would be about xx

Reply
Lizzy
14/2/2015 02:54:25 pm

So true, Charlie! Remind me to tell you about that chapter xo It's yummy.

Reply
Jenny
2/2/2015 01:13:41 pm

I just finished reading Vivien's Heavenly Ice Cream Shop, this couple are living the dream! I would love to go to Tasmania for a foodie holiday. Last year I got an email about a chocolate festival held in August, just not sure I could handle the cold in winter.

Reply
Lizzy
14/2/2015 02:54:59 pm

Hi Jenny... Tassie is a wonderful foodie destination... I've been in July and had short sleeves!

Reply
InTolerant Chef link
2/2/2015 02:46:48 pm

The book certainly sounds like it will be full of fun flavours :) Very entertaining interview Liz! Xo

Reply
Lizzy
14/2/2015 02:55:20 pm

Thanks so much, Bec!

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Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella link
2/2/2015 05:17:17 pm

Nice interview Lizzy! I would have loved to have seen more pics of their creations as I am not familiar with them up til now :)

Reply
Lizzy
14/2/2015 02:55:55 pm

Thanks so much, Lorraine! Unfortunately, this was all I was able to share here. : )

Reply
Krista link
2/2/2015 09:25:15 pm

What a lovely family and delicious creations! That Pecan roll sounds amazing. :-)

Reply
Lizzy
14/2/2015 02:56:14 pm

Thanks so much, Krista!

Reply
David link
8/2/2015 03:43:18 am

The Café looks so wonderful, and I love the photo of the Wise family!

Reply
Lizzy
14/2/2015 02:56:33 pm

Me too, thanks so much, David!

Reply

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