Food is glorious, but the cooking part has never been my strength. Sadly for everyone, though, because no one else in our family cooks, that tedious job is mine every night. For me, the most disappointing part of being a grown-up is having to come up with a family meal each evening.

So when those doyennes of culinary inspiration for Aussie families at The Australian Womens’ Weekly approached me about putting my name to a cookbook, it was a moment to remember.

We met in their iconic offices overlooking busy Park Street, in the heart of Sydney. Written in my spiral notebook was a wish list of favourite dishes and a shopping list of regular ingredients.

“It needs to have lots of mince, packets and jars,” I tell the editors. “And sugar, lots of sugar. Caramel slice, coconut ice… Oh, and a cat cake! Not for cats to eat, but for humans!”

“Of course we can do that,” says Sophia, the woman charged with turning all this into real recipes. “Let me come up with some ideas and we’ll get cooking.”

A few weeks later we’re in a studio, shooting the images for the cookbook. I’m getting cramps in my hand as I slowly rotate a glamorous-looking taco to make sure the photographer can get the best angle of the lettuce and cheese. Brightly coloured chunky cocktail rings are not just a perfect match for my pastel French manicure, they showcase the golden taco shell balanced on my fingers.

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Next up, my hand modelling is being challenged by the beauty of a baked bean toastie (I’ve never seen baked beans look this fabulous!). Nearby, a talented chef is preparing trays of caramel slices and delicately placing musk-stick whiskers on the pale-pink iced cat cake. Here I can see the joy of cooking come to life.

Later, back at the in-store display, flicking through the pages of my book, I laugh when I see how magnificent the mince looks in the taco. I make sure my cookbook is at eye level on the shelves so that shoppers can’t miss them when they walk past.

I also know which cake I’ll be making for my birthday this year. But let’s be clear – “make” is a generous term: my tome suggests buying a pre-baked cake and cutting it into the shape of a cat. Now that’s what I call a cookbook!