Rosalind Miller: shopping with a foodie

We browse the aisles with Rosalind Miller who makes show-stopping cakes for royal weddings, and once made a two-metre-high gingerbread house.

Smoked salmon

'The best easy dinner after work, with scrambled eggs and a little avocado.'

McDougalls premium supreme sponge self-raising flour

'This is a very low-gluten flour made especially for cakes. It’s a bit more expensive than standard flour, but the difference it makes to texture is amazing – you get a much lighter and fluffier cake.'

Rose water

'I make lots of cakes for royal weddings in the Middle East, and rose is a very popular flavour. I was recently asked to make a Persian love cake, which involved a saffron and cardamom sponge with rose and pistachio buttercream. Beautiful.'

Butterkist toffee popcorn

'Pop this in a bag with edible gold dust, and give it a shake. The result is glittery popcorn! It’s a great topping for cakes.'

Vanilla pods

'Put these in a bottle of vodka, leave it for a few days, and you've got a delicious homemade vanilla extract.'

Sainsbury's blue food colouring

'I mix a bit of this with some yellow Dr Oetker colouring to make a great pale-green icing that's perfect for leaf decorations.'

Salted caramel green tea

'I do like a cup of tea while I’m working on new cake designs. This one might sound odd, but it’s lovely.'

Pistachio nuts

'I keep nuts around for snacking; it’s just too easy to eat cake otherwise! My ex-husband is Persian, and his family bring over the most wonderful pistachios.'

Cognac

'The trick to a great fruit cake is to soak the fruit in Cognac for three or four days beforehand so it plumps up.'