Actress and Masterchef winner Lisa Faulkner reveals her 10 brilliant bakes

ACTRESS Lisa Faulkner found her life had changed forever when she won Celebrity MasterChef.

Lisa, 43, had been a screen favourite with leading roles in Spooks, Murder In Suburbia and Holby City, but her 2010 triumph saw her follow her passion for food.

She has now written two bestselling cookery books and this year published her third, Tea & Cake.

The show also ultimately led to love for Lisa as she’s now dating MasterChef judge John Torode.

Lisa is one of the stars of Cake and Bake Show Edinburgh, which runs from October 30 to November 1.

Here, Lisa tells us the 10 cakes that mean the world to her.Mum’s PavlovaMy mum died when I was 16 and I think about her all the time. I don’t think about her sadly, but as if she was still here. She’s such a huge part of my life. I only knew her for 16 years but she’s the most influential person to me. Her pavlova is my favourite cake in the world, even though, technically, it’s a sweet pud. My mum was an amazing cook and my sister Victoria and I would always ask for it.

We’d have it as birthday cake and she’d also make it for dinner parties.

When everybody had gone to bed we would sneak down and scoff any leftovers.Betty’s Ginger CakeI was very lucky that I grew up with both of my grandmas as well as my mum being great cooks.

Betty was the grandma on my dad’s side and she never wanted to be called that or nana because she felt she was too young.

We loved staying with her as she lived by the sea in West Wittering and most of our holidays were spent there.

She made the most fabulous Jamaican ginger cake. When my first book came out, my auntie gave me Betty’s brown, beaten-up recipe book, which had this in it. I was so excited and when I make it my sister and dad

think it tastes just the same as Betty’s but I don’t.

Pavlova (Alamy Images) Nana’s Fruit CakeMy grandma on the other side, Esther, was always the one we’d run to for cuddles.

Whatever we wanted to make she’d let us. We’d start with drop scones, go on to knickerbocker glories and she’d say yes to everything. It always ended with such a mess in her tiny galley kitchen.

Her fruit cake, which has been in our family for generations, is my Christmas cake. It’s really rich, I can adapt it for many things and I just love making it.Margaret’s Cornish SconesI do a show for This Morning, Coastal Cottage, and I travelled to Cornwall last summer where I met Margaret who runs a tearoom from her caravan in Bude.

People come from miles around. Her friends help make the teas when queues form. She’s a remarkable woman who chats to anyone about their problems as well as making the best scones with cream and jam you’ve ever eaten.

I like the plain ones but she does fruit ones too.BattenbergIt’s become one of my favourite cakes but wasn’t one I liked at first. I loved the colours, though, and when I was doing the Tea & Cake book I was determined to conquer it.

I spent days making it, ensuring it was moist but still the right colour, that it had the right flavour of rose but wasn’t too soapy and making my own marzipan.

Now I love the process. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle with food and is one of the prettiest cakes in the world. Lots of people hate it but they’re weird!My sister’s lemon drizzleMy two go-to cakes are chocolate cake and drizzle cake. Every mum knows what it’s like to be confronted with: “There’s a cake sale tomorrow, mummy,”at 9 o’clock at night.

Maybe not surprisingly it’s become expected of me that I’ll bring a cake so I find myself up at midnight making something to take into school.

My sister Victoria doesn’t like cooking but she is very good and she gave me the recipe for her lemon drizzle. The only thing I changed was adding a bit more lemon juice to make it even stickier.

It’s foolproof, you can mix it up in 10 minutes and it’s perfect with a cup of tea.

Lemon drizzle cake (Chris Austin)Welsh cakesI met this lovely lady, again for work, in Pembrokeshire. She taught me to make the lightest, most delicious Welsh cakes.

I hadn’t really been a fan before as I’d had them cold, but she had her grandmother’s old griddle pan and served them straight off that with melted butter. They’re a cross between a scone and a pancake and I’ve never forgotten them.

I’m always learning and asking for recipes.Mary’s Fantasy CakeMy friend Mary her acting name is Maimie McCoy made this cake at a picnic eight or nine years ago when my daughter Billie was little.

I’ve never tasted a cake like it. It had strawberries and raspberries and was still warm as she’d just baked it. When I was doing MasterChef I kept on at her until she scribbled down what she reckoned was the recipe for me to make.

Now I bake it all the time and it’s Billie’s favourite birthday cake.Mr Kipling’s Fondant FancyThis might be a bit controversial.

When I was growing up we were never allowed shop-bought cakes. It was all homemade. It was just the way my mum was.

So, whenever I went to a friend’s house and had a Bird’s Eye beefburger I’d be beside myself.

It was the same with cakes. When someone had these fondant fancies it was like a day in a sweet shop for me. There’s nothing like Mr Kipling’s they’re my guilty pleasure.

I like to peel off the icing, then eat the cream bit and finally the sponge.

Chocolate Pud Cake (Mark Burgin)John Torode’s Self-Saucing Chocolate Pud CakeAgain it’s more pud than cake but it’s so gorgeous and John let me put it in the book.

You put all the ingredients together, leave in the fridge overnight then pour hot water and chocolate into it and put in the oven. You get this brilliant steamed chocolate pudding.

When it’s cold and rainy and I come home I either want mashed potato or chocolate when I want chocolate, this is it. It’s an Aussie dish from John’s childhood and it really hits the mark.There’s something about Mary: Bake Off star’s showstopping style – click here to read more