Carlos Heng and Dan Pigott – MakMak Macarons

A princess cake and a corporate job in banking seem like unlikely ingredients for a macaron company, but they each played a part in kickstarting MakMak Macarons. Carlos Heng and Dan Pigott began their venture in DIY style, with Carlos overtaking Dan's kitchen and selling his sweets in an underground fashion. Eventually MakMak went legit, getting crowned with the honour of Sydney's best macarons in Time Out magazine and opening a flagship store in Newtown, in a shop initially decked in fake seagulls, beach balls mid-bounce and 100 kilograms of sand.

As you could guess, MakMak doesn't take the lazy option when it comes to anything – which probably explains why it has such an excellent rep for creating addictive and seriously quality flavours, such as Malteser & Roasted Banana, Smoked Vanilla & Pecan Praline and Peanut Butter & Belgian Milk Chocolate. The duo once even produced an installation of 350 of their handmade sweets and painstakingly created gold-leaf macarons for a wedding (despite it being the craziest nightmare, because the glitzy ingredient would not stick to the biscuit). Dan and Carlos also talk about the time they made Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott flavours for the last election, what it was like going on research trips overseas (where they ate some surprisingly awful macarons in Paris), and how they manage to make 3000 sweets from scratch each week. Plus, their favourite places to eat and drink in Sydney and where they'd like to visit next.