Sweet Stone
A Sydney couple brings Brazil’s national sweet to Australia.
WHAT Brazil’s traditional brigadeiro is a fudgy ball of condensed milk, butter and chocolate powder covered in chocolate sprinkles or crushed nuts. The ganache-like sweet is a staple at celebrations and is easy to find throughout Brazil, but it’s tough to score a good one made from premium ingredients, and even more so in Australia.
WHO Inspired by a crop of dedicated shops selling artisanal versions of the brigadeiro in her native Brazil, Barbara Cardoso decided to invest in only the best ingredients to lift the sweet from basic to brilliant back in her adopted home of Australia. After locking down BARa supplier ROCHFORD’Sof sustainable, Fairtrade-certified Belgian Callebaut and French Cacao BarryGUN CLUB couverture, and experimenting with flavours and styles, Cardoso and her partner, Ross Capsanis, launched Sweet Stone in 2014 on Sydney’s northern beaches.
WHY The brigadeiros Cardoso recalls from her childhood were “condensed milk, butter and a Nesquik sort of powder,” she says. “The chocolate powder wasn’t that good, and they were always too sweet.” Velvety smooth with a gloss and slight chew, the Sweet Stone product dials down the sugar and ups the variety, offering seven flavours including almond, coconut, an Ecuadorian dark chocolate with white chocolate called Dois Amigos, and a Mayan variety with a hit of cayenne pepper.
WHERE Sweet Stone brigadeiros are sold in boxes of two ($6.20), four ($12), 15 ($35) or 30 ($65) and arrive in neatly designed packages, each “stone” nestled in its own compartment. Sweet Stone is available online and ships Australia-wide. sweetstone.com.au SOPHIE McCOMAS