Kitchen Kind #21
Alice Bennett
AKA Miss Trixie Drinks Tea
Alice Bennett is one of those Covid success stories that could make you jealous, but also leave you inspired.
After Covid tore through the events industry, Alice left her old job behind and refocused all her energy on her passion for baking. Her business, Miss Trixie Drinks Tea, serves up decadence that Marie Antoinette couldn't dream of. Alice doesn’t just bake cakes, she cultivates a punchy, memorable style; think vanilla buttercake with tart lemon curd and freeze-dried raspberries, piped with classic flowers and ruffles in musk hues, and finished with gummy kisses. Regal, decadent, and a lot of fun, these cakes are influenced by a nostalgia for family food traditions.
What dish or ingredient speaks of love to you and why?
My mum is an exceptional cook. My mum’s lasagna is like my absolute death- row meal. I don’t ever want to cook that though, because it never tastes the same. I have tried to copy this, but it’s never, ever, the same. I have asked for the recipe so many times, but I can never recreate it. A friend of mine is convinced that Mum is adding a different ingredient every time she writes up the recipe, because it’s impossible to replicate that taste. There is nothing in the world like mum’s cooking.
Mum is always saving things too – she’s got a million old copies of Cuisine Magazine and SBS Feast magazine. There is a lot of love in that, in passing things down, rewriting things by hand. These are vivid memories for me, old newspaper clippings that mum would collect that go on to form family classics.
When you think of tradition or ritual, what dish or ingredient comes to mind?
Our extended family is heavily into food. Our Christmases are insane. Our sago plum pudding is the best thing ever. The recipe has been passed down, and it’s incredibly significant for our family. My auntie would make it in advance, it gets boiled and then flipped out on Christmas day and nearly a whole bottle of Brandy is poured on top and lit on fire. That’s a special moment, a grand gesture. I still have got no interest in eating anyone else’s Christmas pudding.
My partner’s family doesn’t have these rituals, so it’s great to see how it bridges different families and brings people together. I think the first time I brought him to Christmas, he had whiplash, because we are so serious about food.
When a friend or family member comes over, what is a dish you like to cook for them?
Things change a lot because I like to try different things out all the time, especially when I am perfecting a recipe. This means things change with the seasons too – friends and family often don’t know what they are going to get, so it can be a bit of a surprise. Often in winter, I will do a crumble – apple and rhubarb, something like that. In summer, I love a semifreddo, but it changes. I guess I often fall back on those passed down family classics, though – things like my aunty’s perfect lemonade scones.
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