What's cooking: Jenny Nicholls

Jenny Nicholls

Jenny Nicholls' first attempt at baking was the bakewell tart "with a dash of pepper". She was 8. Thankfully, her years in hospitality - involving cooking, being front-of-house and running her own cafe - meant she got pretty good at sticking to the recipe.

She did a stint at Devonport cake shop Ice It, before setting up her For Heaven's Cake, where she creates everything from classic wedding cakes to an innovative painted tapa number.

"I get to bake, paint, sculpt, and deal with lots of lovely people."

What's your favourite cake?

If I had to choose one, probably lemon. Anything with lemon.

Is there any kind of cake you'd never eat?

One that looked disgusting, very much like a cake I made for a client. I hasten to add that the brief was to make it grotesque. It was a nasty looking foot for a podiatry student, covered in weeping sores, bunions, gory broken toenails - but it tasted great.

Do you eat the icing?

If it's dark chocolate ganache.

How often do you eat cake?

Less and less, mainly because I work with it every day, so the desire isn't what it used to be.

The most intricate decoration you've ever done?

Stacks of mini three-tier cakes for a wedding - all iced in different colours, and so small and fiddly. Or, reproducing the detail of a bridal dress.

The can't-live-without decorating gadget?

Cake smoothers, or paddles, for that perfect smooth finish on fondant icing.

What's the most over-rated ingredient?

White chocolate. It has too much fat and not enough taste. Give me 75 per cent dark chocolate any time.

Any tips on achieving the perfect icing at home?

Read up on method, watch someone who knows, and practise.

What do you eat when you can't be bothered cooking?

Muesli and Greek yoghurt with fresh fruit. I've been addicted to it for years.

Your favourite cake shop and why?

Brown Sugar in Ponsonby Rd has a timeless appeal. The cakes look divine, and the colours everywhere work so well on the food, the walls and shelves. And I could spend hours trawling around the cake shops in Melbourne.

What do you drink with cake?

Depends what time of day or night it is and the occasion. It could be coffee in a glass, my favourite Earl Grey tea, or a gin with lashings of lemon, no ice.