Marion Reilly, 33, is an associate director at Investec Wealth & Investment, and spends her spare time indulging her love of baking and cooking

ONCE I get home from my busy daily routine of client meetings, fund management presentations, networking and business events, my cookery-loving side comes out and I love spending time trying out new recipes in the kitchen.

I find cooking really therapeutic and I’m passionate about all things food.

I love baking, but I also cook a mean steak pie and enjoy using my skills in the kitchen to whip up treats for friends and family.

I work in The Plaza, on Old Hall Street, and also really like bringing in tasty goodies for my colleagues and clients – which usually go down a treat.

My signature dish is a totally sinful chocolate indulgence cake. It’s to die for – almost.

It’s a really rich chocolate cake, which I layer through with a gorgeous, velvety chocolate ganache.

My three nephews live nearby and are always popping round to visit, and this recipe definitely goes down a treat with them.

The secret to a perfect ganache is to combine good quality and dark and milk chocolate – I use Green & Black’s.

I’m quite a tranquil cook – I’m all about the planning and preparation, so things don’t usually get too frantic when I’m cooking.

The most ambitious meal I’ve cooked was a dinner party to celebrate my aunt and uncle’s ruby wedding anniversary – we had lovely little canapés and I made a beef Wellington, which was perfectly cooked, I’m pleased to say.

We had a fantastic evening and it was nice to be able to use my skills in the kitchen to create a special night for them to enjoy.

My husband, Phil, and I got married in April. We met at school and our wedding day was one of the most amazing days of my life.

I was in my element choosing the menu and the pièce de résistance – the wedding cake.

Our cake was three-tiered with chocolate, fruit, and vanilla levels and decorated with little cartoon-like characters of Phil and I.

We’ve recently moved to south Liverpool, so we’re spending quite a lot of time redecorating.

I’d love to remodel my kitchen – it’s the busiest room in the house and I want to create a really warm, welcoming, social space, as I enjoy entertaining and having a chat while I’m whipping up my delicious treats. I’d really like to have a bash at TV’s Come Dine with Me, and have applied three times – sadly, with no success so far.

My biggest kitchen disaster was actually during a mock Come Dine With Me competition which my friends and I did for fun.

I’d planned out a special Chinese- themed evening with a full banquet meal.

At first, everything went really smoothly and I was beginning to feel pretty confident, but when I started cooking my delicate little spring rolls, they started to balloon to an alarming size.

Eventually, I was left with “spring rolls” the size of burritos – definitely not a winning course, and one my friends haven’t let me forget.

My husband even sent me on a specialist Chinese cooking course, so that I could learn how to perfect the dreaded spring roll.

Happily, thanks to my Come Dine with Me disaster, I can now add Chinese cuisine to my skills list.