~ SPECIAL REVIEW ~
Limited edition, Christmas-themed macarons created in collaboration with a Malaysian macaron-maker.
Our experience
MoMo & Coco have scoured the irresistible sugar land of Melbourne to find a selection of the most covetable Christmas treats for your festive wishing and dreaming. Our first special review covered a perfect stocking filler from Burch & Purchese. For our second special Christmas dessert review, allow us to introduce a rather special, limited edition gift bag…
Established two years ago, LuxBite was perhaps the front-runner of modern sweet patisseries in Melbourne. Indeed, MoMo & Coco highly recommend its hybrid cakes and giant macaron-cakes (see our previous review here). In celebration of its second Christmas, LuxBite recently collaborated with Malaysian, online-only, macaron-specialty maker, Crumbs, to create a series of Christmas-themed macarons. Available for a very limited time, $38 will avail you to an assortment of goodies and of course, a set of four of these incredibly cute, themed sweeties.
We will quickly run through the non-Luxbite bits and pieces. Our gift bag contained two elegant, gauze pyramids filled with loose tea leaves, a product from Tea Forte. There was also a well packaged torta de siena, a rather chewy, rummy panneforte.
Turning to the Luxbite products — there was a pair of nut-crusted, puff-crusted chocolate hazelnut ball labelled “Housemade Ferrero Rocher.” Potential IP infringement, anybody? Probably not — absent in this version is its namesake wafer shell and the chocolate creme layer is replaced with a more sugary version. Nonetheless, an ideal petit four orb.
There was also 100g of a new Luxbite product, “Heilala Vanilla Caramel Spread” (full size is $10 per jar). It has the potential to become the opium of Melbourne’s sweet world. Highly addictive. We recommend you heat the desired amount a little before consumption so that it acquires a more viscous, rather than paste-y, character. Look out for our upcoming review on Luxbite’s other spreadable products.
Ok, you have been very patient thus far. Let us know introduce the macarons themselves. Each quartet included a duo of Luxbite macarons, and a pair of Crumbs macarons. It was a pity that these were only available in a $38 bag — there should have been an option of buying the box by itself.
By contrast to our multiple, disappointing samplings of Luxbite macarons in the past (see our review), the Luxbite pair in our giftbag surprised us. The texture of the two Luxbite macarons were airy rather than possessing that terrible sticky soggy nature. That said, it was just a bit too crunchy in the shell. But a slightly crunchy macaron is far more pleasant than a soggy mess! The highlight was the generous ganache centre bisecting the meringue halves. The Watermelon & Guava macaron was a touch sickly sweet, but the Peanut Butter & Jelly was an excellent, creamy, bold-flavoured morsel with a little wedge of jam jelly at its centre. It was an experience that has prompted thoughts to re-visit and re-try Luxbite’s previously dismal macarons. Perhaps they have recently tweaked their recipe for the better? Readers, how are your recent experiences of Luxbite’s macarons?
The pair of Crumbs macarons redefined the meaning of eye-catching macarons. Say goodbye to a rainbow of block colours discs! Melbourne macaron-makers, where is your imagination/creativity?! The texture of the Crumbs’ macarons were difficult to fault — airy but soft, rather than crunchy. Not soggy. Appearance-wise, there was a tiny air pocket in one part of the raised shell. This was a forgivable flaw given the meticulous attention given to the other components of the macaron. Our wide-eyed teddy bear macaron had been carefully painted with thin eyebrows and mouth, and possessed a three-dimensional snout. Our beaming snowman had a cheeky dot grin, and nose and red scarf in relief form. One had to appreciate the considerable effort taken in creating these — a very confident, careful hand was surely needed to pipe these colours on top and next to each other. The only weakness we might note was that the flavour of the chocolate ganache and of the meringue halves could have been more pronounced.
Our verdict
Overall, this sweet irresistible from Luxbite-Crumbs represents two things. A considered gift bag that allows dessert-nuts to sample a few products from up-and-coming niche producers as well as of course, an array of Luxbite treats. But it is also a case-in-point of how international collaboration between sweet makers can produce something rather special, and exceedingly memorable. Melbourne patisseries and pastry chefs, take note, watch out.
Dessert adventure checklist
- ☑ Dessert destination: LuxBite, 38 Toorak Road, South Yarra, Vic 3141.
- ☑ Budget: $$-$$$ ($38).
- ☑ Sweet irresistibles: Macarons.
- ☑ Must-eat: n/a.
- ☑ The short and sweet story: Limited edition, Christmas-themed macarons created in collaboration with a Malaysian macaron-maker.
Dessert Correspondents 
Awesome & very very detail review MoMo & Coco 😀
Just wanted to share about the flavour of Crumbs macarons. I’ve made it attuned to local Malaysian taste coz many Malaysians prefer “less sweet” tasting fillings. Also, the box was focusing more on LuxBite’s flavours and Crumbs novelty design. Hence I concentrated mainly on one flavour which is easier for a little me to manage (I’m baking everything alone) in larger volume.
In terms air-pockets, for novelty designs, it’ll be really hard to reduce it. For plain round ones, its easier coz there’s a technique to remove it.
Thank you soooo much for trying out Crumbs x LuxBite’s Xmas pack. Am in awe that its reached the shores of Australia and I get to share my work there. 😉
Hi Crumbs! Thank you for your compliment and for sharing your macaron-making process and the perspective of preferred tastes in another part of the world. We will be heading to your region soon, so will look out for you! 🙂 Do consider opening a little store in Melbourne in the future too! With regards, MoMo & Coco.