It seems that the Good Food & Wine Show gets bigger, livelier and more crowded by the year.

Now in its ninth year, the show is one weekend foodies have firmly marked on their calendar. It’s not only a chance to try new products, savor local wines and watch celebrity chefs out in force, but also the opportunity to forget about your waist lines and indulge in whatever crosses your path.

This year’s show, though down one Gordon Ramsay, had the same spectacle as the previous years. It took us good 3 hours to walk around all the stalls, and even then, we felt like we’d only skimmed past the ones we liked and missed some others.

Here were my top 10 highlights from this year’s show:

1. Cookie Couture by Nadine Ingram

The Cookie Couture stand is one I look forward to visiting every year. Nadine always puts up a centrepiece which does a great job of drawing in the crowds. Last year was a pastel coloured carousel cake, this year, it’s a macaron covered flourless chocolate cake, which had me gushing and squealing like a maniac.

Though known for her gingerbread cookies, Nadine tells me that this year, it was the macarons that sold out on the first day.

“It’s Masterchef,” she says, with a knowing look.

2. Cupcake classes at the Sunbeam Academy

The Sunbeam Academy had plenty of onlookers watching the cupcake classes. This open plan kitchen, decked out in all the latest gear from Sunbeam, was hard to resist – especially with all the sprinkles, icing and assorted sweets lying around.

3. Celebrity chefs at Good Food magazine

The Good Food magazine cooking theatre offered a nice selection of cooking demonstrations with celebrity chefs, which included Margaret Fulton, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan. We hung around for George’s session, which was a roasted barramundi with calamari coleslow and bougatsa. He’s more likeable in real life than on TV – I wonder if it’s that pesky Channel 10 editing?

4. Batlow Apples

Perhaps the most striking stand at the show this year. It brought a piece of the Easter Show to Darling Harbour!

5. Jelly Joy

Jelly Joy is one of my favourite sweet treats. For those who haven’t tried it before, it’s basically a bag of sugar syrup with jelly bits.

A few weeks ago, I stupidly talked myself into a bet to see if I could 100 in one sitting. Thankfully my friends let me off the hook. Seeing all that Jelly Joy stacked up at the show made me glad I didn’t attempt the challenge.

6. Playboy Energy Drinks

Is there a better way to grab people’s attention better than two leggy blondes dressed up as Playboy bunnies?

7. Coffee galore

We are impressed by the free tastings by Gloria Jeans and Toby’s Estate. Especially with the crowds, you need a strong hit to get you through the day.

8. Smeg fridges

We loved the pops of colour the Smeg fridges brought to the show!

9. Cupcakes galore!

There was no shortage of cupcakes at this year’s show. We were disappointed we missed out visiting Sharon Wee’s stand, but we did eye off the ones at Cake Connoisseur.

10. Lindt Masterclass

If you love your chocolate, this was one class you didn’t want to miss. Led by Swiss-born Master Chocolatier, Thomas Schnetzler, the chocolate appreciation session was an hour long choc-fest.

More details on the Lindt Masterclass coming up shortly!