Times of indulgence

There's definitely no shortage of sugar quarries in the city: places to mine for sugar hits. With chocolate cafes taking over a la Starbucks of the early noughties, I'm already beginning to see the appeal of something that's just a little bit different. Throw in a wine bar and I think we're on a winner.

Bacco Pasticceria at Chifley Plaza, Chifley Square, Sydney

Walk into Chifley Plaza at lunch and you won't miss the queues for panini at Bacco Pasticceria. With the more formal Bacco Wine Bar set inside the plaza a bit more, one is spoilt for lunch choices amid high end retail temptation. I'm keeping my eyes on the sugar as that's a little more wallet-friendly than some of the other stores, but sweet temptation nonetheless.

Selection of cakes

Pretty pastel macarons

Lemon torte and brownies

While the oversized sandwiches look like a great lunch option, it's all about the ecstatic and intoxicating properties of the cake and pastry case.

Bacco cake box

Ricotta cannoli

I will admit to a soft spot for crunchy cannoli; under some delusional notion that deep fried pasta dough is healthier yet just as tasty as full cream and sugar heavy delicacies. Plus I used to have such fun filling them with vanilla and chocolate custard back in the casual cafe job days. This shell is filled with a sweet ricotta and pistachio mix; not so sweet as to be naughty but creamy enough to be a slightly wicked indulgence.

Bacco (left), brownie (back) and lemon torte (right)

And uncovering the pretty cake box, there's trio of treasures waiting to indulge: the tri-layered Bacco slice, a massive chocolate brownie and the floaty-looking lemon torte. Five forks pause with bated breath as a few quick pics are snapped and then it's all in. The cake attack is fast and fierce, with forks crossing, lots of thoughtful tasting and re-tasting, and immediate reviews and favourites.

Somewhat disturbed by the Bacco slice, we all taste it numerous times as a whole and in its separate layers. It looks a lot like the luxuriously deadly Mortal Sin cake but in the end we conclude that only the bottom dark chocolate layer is worthy.

The brownie is topped with a delightful chocolate frosting and whimsical little balls of chocolate crackle - almost like minuscule Maltesers. We revel in the minature cracling more than the fairly standard chocolate cake studded with walnuts.

The lemon torte is the saving grace of the box: a short pastry case filled with a tart, cheek-pinching lemon curd and topped with fluffy, soft meringue.

This sweet indulgence was, admittedly, administered after a big meal but I think we did as well as we could. There's always a time and place for indulgence of the ecstactic and intoxicating kind.

Aftermath of Bacco session