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Mostly my ideas come from within, from my experiences, my childhood and the master of all sweets and lollies, Mr. Willy Wonka.
Sugar brings happiness. Eating it once or twice a week in a dessert, that's what life is about. There is nothing wrong with it.
Living in a small country town, there wasn't a whole lot to do so you find your own fun. I was always getting myself in trouble.
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.
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.
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.
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 have the pleasure of being surrounded by desserts and chocolate. If that makes me a sex symbol then great, but it's not my aim in life.
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.
Focus on the flavor and texture of your desserts. Don't go overboard with too many ingredients and flavors keep a good balance of flavors.
I've never been worried about being alone and there is no pressure to get married, although I would love to do it one day with the right girl.
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.
You need to have that natural instinct in the kitchen, in order to develop that combination of interesting flavors that make great desserts work.
Everything you do in life or experience in life gives inspiration for the creative process. But it also depends ultimately on what the consumer wants.
In my early teenage years I wasn't doing well at school and I wasn't really interested in a way. I knew I wasn't going to go to uni or anything like that.
That way I look at it, I want to push myself to create things people could've never imagined. It's a good motto to have in the back of your head, I think.
I would definitely recommend getting a decent electric mixer. A good quality non-stick baking mat is also essential for creating those impressive desserts.
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.
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.
Despite being quite a shy kid, I was in my element with my mates. I definitely wasn't shy then. We had a lot of fun, running around town getting into mischief.
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.
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 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.
I was a real unfocused academic student, always fiddling around in class, or doing something silly and thinking of something else that had nothing to do with school.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Coming from an Italian family, my parents had supermarkets and they said I had to take over as any son should take over the family business - I copped a lot of flak when I said 'no.'
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Everyone has different tastes and palates. Most of the time I put a smile on people's faces but sometimes you get people who have a different view and you take that on board and see what you can make of it.
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.
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.
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.
I love Vegemite sandwiches, Milo, ham sandwiches, chicken breasts, and that's all I used to eat. I wouldn't eat anything else. So at home there was always two sets of dinner, one for Mum and Dad and one for me, because I was so fussy.
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.
You might go to a cheap bakery that uses really bad fats and sugars and stuff like that. You go to a nice bakery and you can enjoy a nice sweet that's made well and it doesn't make you put on any weight if you eat in moderation and if you do a little bit of exercise.
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.
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.