TONITTO CONTINENTAL CAKES
I wasn’t going to write a review as I am a regular customer and thought everyone within the Illawarra region knows the existence of this place. But I was totally surprised when I discovered a friend of mine, who was born and...raised in the Illawarra region, had no idea this gem of a place existed. Tonitto was established since 1974, was Illawarra’s first continental cake shop and still going strong, which is evident that they have the ‘perfect recipe’ of a successful business. And here’s why I think they are still in business. In my opinion, they know what people want and sell the best and affordable continental cakes available in the Illawarra region. You have the freedom to buy their delicious cakes, biscuits, pies/sausage rolls and much more that is baked fresh on a daily basis in their shop. You can either dine in or take away and there is also easy, accessible free on-street parking available. As a ‘first-timer’ of continental cakes, I would strongly suggest to buy a ‘Mixed Plate’ for only $18 – a fair price. The Mixed Plate consists six of Tonitto’s most popular pastries but smaller version: Cannoli, Cannoncini, Vanilla Slice, Fruit Tarts, Sospiri and Bigne. I’m guessing for the polite people, it will take two bites per pastry or if you’re anything like myself, one bite and it’s gone! I call this plate a ‘test taster’ where you can easily indulge all six without feeling sick and then select which one is your favourite and buy the ‘actual’ sized pastry – which I did, two Cannoncini (vanilla and chocolate) at $4.50 each. I traditionally buy six Mixed Plates to welcome the New Year to enjoy with family and friends – the smiles are priceless and what a way to start a new year! They also offer custom-made cakes to make that special occasion memorable, or just browse their library of cakes they already created online to select from. In our case, it was my father-in-law’s 80th birthday. He loves his traditional, authentic continental cake (vanilla sponge with two layers of custard – chocolate and vanilla covered with their delicious cream) but he also loves their biscuits – Amaretti, Pastine, Conchilge and Croccantini. We wanted the best of both, after all… turning 80 is truly a milestone! With the help of Loretta (the daughter of the founder of Tonitto’s – Vincent Tonitto), she helped us to personalise the cake. After sharing with her what he loves (their continental cake, the small pastries and biscuits), Loretta suggested that it is possible to have all three by presenting them in three tiers! And that is what we selected. She also told us that they can also provide a custom hand-made cake topper. We knew we wanted something to mark his 80th, which Loretta suggested to design a huge number 80 with explosive stars as the centre piece in icing and lots of star-shaped icing with 80 on them scattered throughout the other two tiers. The presentation was very impressive – my father-in-law told us that it was the best, happiest and most memorable birthday he had ever had.More
