It is a surprising confession from the celebrity baker who is hailed by Vanity Fair, no less, as one of the best patissiers in the world – and down to the fact we are here discussing his new book, Eric Lanlard's Afternoon Tea.
Lanlard's fascination with afternoon tea started as a child of seven when he came over to England for a weekend with his Anglophile mother on the ferry from his home in Brittany. 'My mother had heard it was the ultimate English tradition and we experienced the full works with scones and clotted cream at a tea shop in Portsmouth,' he grins.
He loves the fact that a little element of his career has come full circle. He has recently created an afternoon tea menu for P&O Cruises, including savoury macarons with smoked salmon from the new book, and shots of Eton mess with DIY pipettes for spraying raspberry puree on the meringues at the last moment so that they don't go soggy.
The savoury macarons are a case in point and Lanlard succeeds in making the method seem achievable, as well as including plenty of unusual and enticing flavour combinations such as hazelnut with pumpkin puree, walnut and docalatte, parma ham and fig macarons.
He finds coming up with new flavour combinations easy. 'I tend to have an instinct for what will work, especially if I start with ingredients I particularly like and think about texture too.' He is particularly partial to Middle Eastern influences like rose water and pistachio that he incorporates into scones.
Lanlard moved to the UK back in 1989 forsaking life as a pastry chef in the French Navy to work with the renowned Roux Brothers. Since then he has achieved global fame, and he is author of no fewer than six baking books and has starred in his own TV series, Glamour Puds and Baking Mad on Channel 4.
Despite his success, Lanlard's day-to-day life remains at Cake Boy in Battersea. His day starts at 6.30am working alongside two chefs in the kitchen to have everything ready for their 8am opening. 'I still love walking into the kitchen in the morning,' he smiles. The rest of the day is spent developing recipes, doing interviews, and even finding time to set up the City Fund Advisory Committee for the Back Up Trust, a Wandsworth-based charity that supports people with spinal injuries, besides running cookery classes.
Whilst Lanlard relishes travelling a great deal, he has plenty of favourite places close to his Wandsworth home that he happily returns to frequently. A recent discovery is Wandsworth Bridge Road's Boma, and he invariably finds an interesting dish with Mexican, Spanish or Arabic influences at Café Tamra on Northcote Road. He is a regular at both The Windmill and The Ship for Sunday lunch and can't get enough of the fish and chips at Brady's on the riverfront.