Not everything goes to plan in the kitchen. As a baker running a small business, I can say I’ve had lots of moments where I have said “Why am I doing this”? This morning my mum requested I bake for her my Sicilian almond cookies. I was assembling my ingredients only to find I had run out of sugar! Trekking outside in torrential rain was not in my plans for a relaxing day off, but needs must and off to Woolworths I went.

I returned home with six bags of caster sugar, open my fridge and discover to my dismay that the two cartons of egg whites that I had intended to use had actually expired. Why me??

Determined not to go on a second Woollies drive, I raid the fridge and manage to find enough eggs for this batch of biscuits. My recipe only uses egg whites, which left me with over a dozen egg yolks…. What to do? Make a curd I thought. I had been giving lemons away for weeks thanks to the abundance of my heavily fruiting tree, so it was meant to be! The curd actually tasted incredibly fresh and zingy and my mind is now turning to recipes I can use it with.

The moral of the story is never give up! Baking can be an unforgiving mistress but at least you can always turn lemons into lemon curd

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