Zest Cake and Dessert Studio opened in Main Street, Rutherglen, on the first morning of Rutherglen Winery Walkabout at the weekend.

Carmen Connell’s cake and dessert studio specialises in bespoke wedding and celebration cakes as well as dessert catering.

Berrigan-based Carmen Connell and her school principal husband Michael had already planned to move to Corowa for his work and for her to open a cake shopfront in the region when tragedy struck.

Ms Connell lost her husband of 10 years when he died in September 2015.

Together with their daughters, Madison, 12, and Dakota, 8, Ms Connell wanted to continue the journey she had started with Michael.

“I want to set an example for my girls that we can do things as women and we are quite powerful,” she said.

“Our life hasn’t ended, don’t get me wrong, what has happened is terrible but we can’t let it define us.”

Tocumwal-raised Ms Connell, who has a background in real estate, started dabbling in cake decorating about a decade ago.

She trained in cake design in Sydney and Wagga before she focused on patisserie in Wodonga TAFE’s first intake for the course in 2015.

“I really like layering and gateaux,” she said.

“I have just started working with mousses and have created a Rutherglen dome, which is a chocolate jaconde base with red wine mousse, caramel cream centre and covered in a red wine pear compote.”

Zest offers six to eight sweet creations daily and will add savoury tarts such as blue cheese, polenta and caramelised onion and feta and roasted beetroot from next week.

“I have always loved food and grew up in a house where we made food from scratch,” Ms Connell said.

“But surprisingly, I prefer savoury.”  

Zest serves Brunswick Blend coffee and loose-leaf tea from Toby’s Estate.

Freakshakes – an extreme milkshake based on popular desserts – will also be introduced next week.