We’ve had cronuts, cruffins, and several other strange baked goods tease our taste buds this year, and it’s time for one more twist on a sweet treat before 2016 is over.
S-Cones are, in a nutshell, scones in the shape of cones filled with your choice of sweet or savoury fillings (we hear Nutella is a customer favourite). They have shot to the top of the trending foods list in their home city of Perth, stirring up jealousy around the country.
Nicole Smith, a home baker who has given up her job in sales to work full time on the S-Cones, is the mastermind behind the creations that are kind of, almost, like Nanna used to make.
“We started out just making regular scones with different fillings, and selling them at weekend markets,” Smith tells SBS.
“But we quickly realised that people were finding it hard to eat them with one hand - people are always holding dog leashes, or wallets, or they can’t find a seat at markets.”
The idea to create scones that you can eat while standing up was born, and the next few months were spent creating the perfect recipe.
“It was a very long process of trial and error to get there,” Smith laughs. It isn’t difficult to imagine why, considering the design of classic scones - but they got there!
“They taste just like the scones you had as a kid, but in a cone,” says Smith.
The S-Cones team (who are collectively known as) got their first real launch at the Perth Writer’s Festival in February 2016, when they were invited to show off their product as part of the festival’s food theme.
Since then, they haven’t looked back.
“People often look at the S-cones with a mixture of concern and curiosity, and we’ve found that as soon as people try one they love them,” Nicole says.
There’s a wide variety of flavours available in the S-Cone range, from the classic jam and cream filling to savoury scones, plus Nutella-filled, vegan, seasonal - like the Christmas S-Cone - and cheeky one-offs like the Sconald Trump.
As far as Smith knows, the S-Cones are the first of their kind anywhere in the world.
“We have searched far and wide to make sure we’re not ripping off someone else’s idea, but as far as we know, S-Cones are completely unique,” she says.
Since they started trialling S-Cones in early 2016, demand has been so great that the team behind them now do five regular markets in Perth per week, and lots of extra events and festivals.
They are hoping to take the S-Cones to the east coast in 2017.
Pastry recipes
Moroccan pastry with crème anglaise (ktefa)
