Salt is a more-ish sort of thing. But it can be a bad thing if there's too much salt. It's awful.

I learnt a lot from eating junk food.

I love raw caster sugar. It's a bit more earthy than white sugar, especially for cakes.

Temperature is the key to making a smooth custard butter cream. Some add the butter when the mixture's still hot but it tends to split and you end up with a grainy result. Wait for it to cool.

I couldn't pay attention to a novel; I'd get three pages in and couldn't remember what it was about.

There are no mistakes in life... only experiences.

The hardest challenge is doing something more traditional. When you do something new, it's easier because it's its own thing. But the traditional ones, you have to do them right.

A lot of old Australian bakeries used a lot of trans-fats but I just wanted to use quality ingredients - butter, cream, custard - to produce a high-quality product.

I had a Vegemite bun every day from the tuck shop for lunch when I was a kid and I was inspired by that.

Chocolate's good for ya - high cocoa content chocolate is.

I ate everything. I ate every single lolly you can think of. Chocolate bars, Curly Wurlys, Aero bars, Fantales, Minties, Clinkers, Cherry Ripes. Pretty much anything, you name it, I ate it.

I used to eat the batter raw. My sister would make it and I'd lick the bowl and then I started to get it off the shelf and whip it up and eat it with a spoon.

Mostly my ideas come from within, from my experiences, my childhood and the master of all sweets and lollies, Mr. Willy Wonka.

I eat around 6 handfuls of 65 percent and up cocoa mass content chocolate each day.

Compound chocolate is gritty, cheaper and doesn't have that fruitiness, the backnotes and smoothness you get in couverture.

Chocolate is one of those flavors that's very likeable, very loveable, very versatile.

When we first opened in 2007 no one really knew about macarons. We sold maybe 50 to 100 a day.

I was born in the Chinese year of the rooster, so maybe that explains my affinity with chickens.

I do the odd pie, or quiche or sausage roll.

I eat cake every day.

When I was a kid, my parents ran a supermarket; I grew up in there and everything was free, it was like a wonderland. There were lollies and biscuits and chips, and I used to eat more of that than vegetables.

Inspiration is everywhere - life, travel, childhood, nature - it depends on how you see it, how you can absorb the inspiration, and it depends on how your mind thinks. It could be a pattern on the floor that may be the next pattern I put on a cake, it just depends upon how you take it, when you're seeing it and what you're looking for.

I think you need to have a day or two when you treat yourself, because it brings happiness, it stimulates your mind.

I love a good burger, and when I was brainstorming pies, I thought, hey - burgers and pies are both perfect for eating out of your hands.

I say to the guys at work, 'You've got to have fun - we're here more than we're at home.' Same with cakes; when you go and buy something, you've got to buy some fun.

Long term, I'd love a big shop with everything in it. A one-stop shop. A haven.

I love chocolate and I think there is no such thing as too much.

If you're dreaming up a dessert, you've got to remember to keep it well balanced.

Use your imagination. Look around the kitchen and see what you can use.

If you have the chocolatiest everything you eat two spoons full and be out on the couch for the rest of the day. It's better to have something you can enjoy.

What better way to celebrate 50 years of defending human rights than over a candlelit dinner with friends and family.

High tea is fun. It's elegant and social and a great way not to have to devote yourself to a big meal but still have a drink and a relaxed time.

If I was hosting a high tea at home the last thing I would want to do is make it too fussy for myself.

If you use apple in one dish think of using citrus or something more neutral like vanilla in another. You constantly need to be challenging the tastebuds but not assaulting them.

If I hosted a high tea at home it would be an Italian aperitivo-style high tea. I'd make little meatballs with lemon puree and mozzarella centres. Or maybe little schnitzel sliders with coleslaw.

There were some flavors that didn't work, like doughnut-flavored Tim Tams.

I don't get time to go to the gym often, so I exercise on the job.

I'll eat a bowl of bircher muesli for breakfast and I really like fresh carrot, orange, ginger and mint juice.

When I'm working and I need to taste food, I use a small spoon or eat a small piece, rather than wolfing down an entire piece of cake.

I'll put a 25-kilogram bag of sugar over each shoulder and run up the stairs with them when we're loading ingredients that have been delivered, and I'll hold 25-kilogram blocks of butter at shoulder height to build arm strength as well.

Growing up and walking around the supermarket, lollies were the thing that gave me that kind of kick, and you'd expect lots of them. It would be that or a pack of cake mix which got me into food.

I'm a bit of a thinker so I think a lot, and process a lot, and it always evolves into something different.

Whether it's a leaf from a tree, the supermarket or person, everything is art and movement, it's all inspiration.

Chocolate fondant, creme brule, and sponge cake with jam, cream and fresh berries are always winners.

In the end, you have to do what makes you happy - the people who love you and are around you are all that matters.

I'm used to criticism.

When I was 19, I began work at a French sourdough bakery in Balmain.

I've become good at judging whether a girl wants to be around you just because she's after your status or because you're popular.

The great thing about pastry is there are so many avenues - it's very hard to get bored doing this.

I go to Perth a few times a year and I love going there.