'Are you picking the cocoa beans yourself?' Price of Messina Xmas trifle stuns

Is there such a thing as the cost of living crisis when gelato is involved? Apparently not.

6 min read

November 6, 2024 - 1:09PM

Lifestyle

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I went to get a tub of Ben & Jerry's last weekend and at $15 for a relatively small tub from Coles, I very quickly realised that the only place the delicious cookies and cream treat needed to be was back on the freezer shelf I pulled it out from.

I'm not paying for expensive ice-cream right now. I would dare argue that NO ONE is paying for expensive ice-cream right now.

So you can imagine my horror when I opened up the latest newsletter from popular gelato house, Gelato Messina, announcing their exciting Christmas line-up - complete with some hefty price tags.

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Gelato Messina's delicious Xmas trifle is coming!

"Christmas Comas are coming," boasted the email from Messina. I mean, who's not going to click on that?

The special newsletter revealed that the Gelato house's famous Christmas trifle was going to be on sale from November 12th and customers better get in quick to avoid the disappointment of it selling out.

Customers, who had a spare, I dunno, $250 for a dessert!

But according to the store, this isn't just any old dessert or trifle. This one is deluxe (you'd bloody hope so) boasting "generous layers of strawberry marsala jelly, lemon curd, strawberry gel, strawberry roulade, cream cheese chantilly, lemon custard gelato, strawberry sorbet, vanilla meringue."

According to Messina, it's the "perfect dessert to bring when you're told not to bring a thing".

Wait, isn't that Cadbury Favourites catchphrase? Anyway, I digress.

$250.... For a dessert to take to someone's house for Christmas lunch because you didn't have the time, patience, or skills to make something yourself.

Mate, it's cheaper to buy them a bottle of Moet or Veuve. Actually, TWO bottles!

The Gelato Messina Christmas trifle looks delicious! But my bank acount won't agree. Images: Supplied

"Are you picking the cocoa beans yourself?"

Am I the only one who has a problem with this?

I took my question to places I know I'd get a decent and fair response - social media and the Kidspot office.

"I'm sure it's delicious but $250 is way too much for me," someone commented on a post via a private Christmas fan Facebook group, agreeing that this is a cost not many Aussies will be able to afford right now.

Our lifestyle reporter, Cassidy, agreed: "Whilst of course there is a market for everything, I think $250 is a lot to spend on a dessert for your family Christmas - and way more than I think the average person is prepared to spend in the midst of a cost of living crisis unfortunately. Plus, I don't think anything holds up to a homemade trifle anyway!"

Ah, fair point. Granny's trifle is pretty delicious.

But Kidpsot Kitchen editor, Liz, says we need to stop thinking with our wallets and appreciate WHY items like this have a big price tag.

"Having a chef background and coming from a catering perspective too, I think people underestimate how much time and effort goes into making these things," she insists. "Cakes and desserts take a lot of energy (and patience!) to create."

OK, so let's go to the people themselves then to get some clarification, shall we?

Gelato Messina responds

When Kidspot reached out to Messina about people being shocked over the price tag, they wanted to remind us that their products are delicious for a reason. Because it's made with quality ingredients and by talented and experienced pastry chefs.

"Our annual Christmas trifle is a Messina tradition and has been part of our Christmas offering since 2017. The price has not increased since 2022, even though the costs for us to produce it certainly have," they responded.

The rep went on to emphasise that every trifle is "handmade from scratch" at their Marrickville HQ where their team of pastry chefs "make and assemble each one by hand", including their chocolate team who make the custom chocolate on top.

"We pride ourselves on using highest quality ingredients, including making all our gelato from our own jersey milk produced on our farm in country Victoria. It also comes with a bottle of brandy custard which is made using the same milk, a glass trifle bowl and a Messina print coolerbag," they added.

OK so handmade and quality ingredients. Got it. Then came the maths.

"It serves 20-30 people, so if you take the mid range of 25 people, it's $10 per person. Each trifle weights around 5kg," the rep shared.

OK I get it. But that still makes me sad that a lot of people won't be able to enjoy this deliciously indulgent treat on Christmas day.

And for those people, Messina wants me to remind you that the more affordable range of cakes is available for just $30 at Woolworths and a variety of gelato cakes (from $72-$109) are still available in their stores.

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It's actually a lot more work than you think

Speaking to Kidspot further, Sydney-based cake maker, Liz, who is passionate about creating masterpieces for her clients via her small business , Cake Lady Cakes, says she is often saddened to hear when people can't see the value in some of these elaborate creations.

"Pricing is the hardest thing about selling cakes. We know as cake makers that no one wants to pay because it's 'just a cake' but when 'just a cake' takes the whole week to make, why isn't it worth it? How much is a week's worth of your work worth?" she asks.

"I totally understand that not everyone can afford one and I don't expect everyone to buy one but people don't realise that they are also paying for my expertise and time, as well as the ingredients, supplies and overheads.

"I know that when customers are given a quote, a lot of the time they will be taken aback by the number they're given. But when just paying for supplies for a 20cm cake is up around $100 before the work even starts, I don't think it's unreasonable that cake artist expect to be paid properly for their work," Liz adds.

"The same can be said for the Messina trifle. Firstly, it's Messina! They have so much expertise and experience and that is part of what you're paying for. And as a result, they make delicious and amazing gelato. I definitely couldn't make the components that go into that trifle, and I'm assuming they use premium ingredients.

"Ingredients are costing more than double what they used to. So the prices for cakes have to reflect that. Couveture chocolate, premium vanilla, high quality butter, free range eggs, cream, milk, flours, sugars. All the ingredients add up. And those are just the ingredients for the basic cake. Then decoration is on top of that cost. Generally, a cake maker isn't getting paid as much as people think!"

Messina - and cake makers around Australlia - insist it costs them more than we think to make their delicious creations. Image: Supplied

These things don't just bake themselves

Cake creators who hail from smaller towns and cities are facing the same problem.

Jacqui who bakes creations via her business Divine Cakes in Hastings Point, NSW, says she totally backs Messina's price tag and agrees with their comment about it costing them more to make the item than the $250 they're requesting.

"I totally understand why Messina is charging the price they’re charging for this trifle. It has high-quality products using the best of ingredients - you can tell it’s in the taste!" she insists.

"I’ve had a look at the trifle in the components of it and there’s a lot to it. There are so many components and they all take time to make. Then there’s the cost of each of those components and the time it takes to make them.

"There’s also research and development involved in bringing out a product like that. Plus, of course, packaging and the labour to actually put it together once all the components are made.

"I don’t think people realise the amount of time and effort, cost of ingredients, and packaging that goes into a cake can quickly add up. There are also the costs involved in shopping purchasing sourcing new products and producing a quote. All of this takes time."

OK, so maybe they're not picking the cocoa beans themselves, but I get it, quality things cost money. It's just that the majority of us don't have it right now.