"There is no margin for error with pastry," says Bernardette Box, head of the Berkeley's 'Prêt-à-Portea' afternoon tea and responsible for its intricate array of fashion-inspired cakes.

"It requires more precision than you can imagine. Take the biscuits we make: it takes two days for them to be finished, and we have to keep production going all the time. It has to be perfect every single time."

Hélène Darroze, who often takes her young children along to Prêt-à-Portea, agrees, adding that it's not just about accuracy. You need flair, too. "Bernadette has such emotion in what she's doing, and it shows. Not all skilled pastry chefs have emotion. I can imagine her having her own pastry shop."

Box left high school and went straight into a kitchen apprenticeship at the opera bar in Sydney's Opera House, and it wasn't long before she moved on to the pastry section. "I love the discipline," she says.

London has provided Box with her ideal job. "When they told me it combines detailed pastry work with fashion – it's as if I dreamed it up myself."