I think the main mistake people tend to make is that they rush desserts. Take your time and plan ahead.
I love Melbourne and South Yarra's perfect for high tea.
When I have red velvet cake, I normally have cream cheese icing.
You can always imagine the unexpected and strive for it. You may never get there, but it's always a good thing to have.
So my brain started ticking and I bought all my books from a cookbook shop, Libraire Gourmand in Paris. I bought them over the Internet and they sent them from France. I got the 'Larousse' in a box with 20 other books. I was pretty excited. It was like Christmas for 20 years.
Texture and flavor is king.
It was a great challenge creating the Zumbarons. Coming up with the elements for each was the hardest, but it only took us one attempt and we were happy with the flavor.
There is sugar in everything. It doesn't matter what you eat in life, there is sugar in it.
For me with sugar, it's all about balance. It's about being strong enough and to have the willpower to say, you know what, Saturday is my treat day, I'm going to eat cake, I'm going to eat dessert, I might eat a packet of biscuits.
There's nothing better than opening a block of chocolate and sitting back and that little joy it brings to your face and to your body.
I'm not that menacing. Although I can be quite direct.
It's definitely always daunting to have your name on a show and a lot of pressure in some ways, but obviously in other ways it's a lot of fun and it's a great honor.
I hope I come across as supportive and encouraging as well as being firm when I need to be firm.
For me inspiration is pretty much life. The life around you and everything that happens, the people you meet, where you go, what you've eaten in your childhood.
My favorite dessert for me to eat at home is Milo and ice cream.
Before I went on sporting trips I'd take chips or lollies. I had a love for sweet foods.
I was a fussy eater when I was young and a lot of the time my parents weren't there because they were always working. So I'd just eat lollies and biscuits and chips. That's kind of where I got the taste for the sweet fix.
I want to promote pastry. Pastry has always been in the background - it's always cooking, cooking, cooking on programs, and pastry has just been this thing at the end. I want to show people what we do.
I want to stay ahead and to stay ahead you always have to be thinking out of the box.
I'm like anyone else: there's good and bad in what I do and there are always people out there who think they know better than you.
