private void runConversionTest(Properties tbl, byte[] serializedSimpleRecord) throws SerDeException {
    KafkaSerDe serde = new KafkaSerDe();
    Schema schema = SimpleRecord.getClassSchema();
    KafkaSerDe.AvroBytesConverter conv = (KafkaSerDe.AvroBytesConverter)serde.getByteConverterForAvroDelegate(
        schema, tbl);
    AvroGenericRecordWritable simpleRecordWritable = conv.getWritable(serializedSimpleRecord);

    Assert.assertNotNull(simpleRecordWritable);
    Assert.assertEquals(SimpleRecord.class, simpleRecordWritable.getRecord().getClass());

    SimpleRecord simpleRecordDeserialized = (SimpleRecord) simpleRecordWritable.getRecord();

    Assert.assertNotNull(simpleRecordDeserialized);
    Assert.assertEquals(simpleRecord, simpleRecordDeserialized);
  }
Use the KafkaAvroSerializer from Confluent to serialize the simpleRecord.
kafka-handler/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hive/kafka/AvroBytesConverterTest.java