Zumbo, a dedicated pastry purveyor with a tattoo of Willy Wonka on his arm, has been a regular guest on the Channel Ten cooking show since the first series in 2009 and is best known for the tower of terror that was the croquembouche. Yet a new sugar king, Bernard Chu from LuxBite, appeared during Kids' Week to parade his seven-layered Lolly Bag Cake. Zumbo said he ''hadn't heard'' from MasterChef about creating another mind-boggling challenge. The program is guarded about the talent line-up to prevent giving anything away to contestants.

The macaron competition for South Yarra's well-heeled is set to intensify because Chu's store in Toorak Road isn't too far from Zumbo's upcoming outlet in Claremont Street. Chu's Lolly Bag Cake has been a huge hit, and in the past six days he has sold 1500 slices to customers waiting 45 minutes in a queue to hand over $7.50 and devour layers of childhood favourites such as bananas, freckles and spearmint leaves. The victory for Chu has been even sweeter because he moved here from Malaysia 10 years ago and had no idea what the lollies were. ''It was very, very hard for me,'' he said. ''It was a challenge.'' While keeping troops in the kitchen calm as they toil to meet demand, Chu is sifting through 220 email orders for a full-sized Lolly Bag Cake.

Lady-like in Vermont

The suburb of Vermont may not know it but it played a teeny-weeny role in shaping the career of New York cabaret diva Lady Rizo. The woman, who doesn't shy from calling herself a ''superstar'', visited as an exchange student when she was called Amelia Zirin-Brown and stayed with a family. Despite conquering the Manhattan nightlife scene, she was keen to reminisce about her time in the 'burbs by having dinner with the family on Tuesday. Possessing an impressive collection of false eyelashes befitting a ''dream-maker'' - another description - Lady Rizo is bringing her femme-fatale finesse to the Salon of the Melbourne Recital Centre on Thursday. When performing in the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, she rubbed shoulders with Kate Ceberano and Teddy Tahu Rhodes, a great thrill that was up there with spotting the Dalai Lama in her hotel. Keen to taste our city's fine coffee, a variation on NY kwoffee, she went to St Ali in South Melbourne for the laneway adventure that it is.

Lionel pours a beer

Hello. If it's Lionel Richie you're looking for, he's inside a fridge in a beer ad for Lion Nathan. The American singer, whose son-in-law Joel Madden was the likeable bad-boy rocker on The Voice, has lent his voice from the song Hello for the Tap King home dispenser for draught beer. The brainwave of the BMF ad agency, the clip shows a man looking in the fridge and there's Richie at the back, playing a white piano then pouring a beer and handing it to him. The 60-second commercial shot in Los Angeles will air in Oz in July and it's rumoured Richie pocketed $1.5 million to sing a few bars. Americans are rooting for Richie, and not just because they love root beer. The Hollywood Reporter says the ad is ''hilarious'' and the singer didn't even have to dance on the ceiling of the fridge to keep anyone entertained. When Richie released his 1984 hit, he probably didn't envisage that nearly 30 years later his face would appear on teapots and mugs saying: ''Is it tea you're looking for?''

Sexing up politics

Don't be surprised if Gold Logie winner Asher Keddie is seen in Spring Street on a research mission because she's playing a politician in the new Channel Ten drama Party Tricks. Her character, Kate Ballard, aspires to become premier and is on her way to the top until a popular TV and radio personality called David McLeod becomes opposition leader. That role is played by Rodger Corser, the actor who appeared in Paper Giants: Magazine Wars on the ABC as celebrity agent Harry M. Miller. Keddie, the Offspring star who is blissfully in love with partner Vincent Fantauzzo, will explore matters of the heart in the program when it unfolds that the characters had a ''secret, tumultuous affair''. That should keep Liberal and Labor MPs glued to the couch.

Winter blues for Shaun

It's honey and lemon drinks all-round for Carlton footballer Shaun Hampson and girlfriend Megan Gale after a winter bug struck and they had to cancel their appearance at a soiree for the Range Rover Sport at South Melbourne venue Luminaire. The footy club should add fluffy onesies to its merchandise collection to up the comfort factor for players and fans confined to couch duty. Here's the theatrics that they missed: the car was craned up into the penthouse, and for the big reveal it was driven out of a branded shipping container, which came from New York after the ''global reveal'' with actor Daniel Craig. After presenting the weather on Channel Nine, Rebecca Judd changed out of her demure frock and arrived at the party in a racy J'Aton mini.