nyone who knows me will testify I’m very keen on food.

For years I’ve been spoiled, like many of us, by a busy mum who is an excellent cook capable of rustling up anything at five minutes’ notice.

However, during the past few years I’ve been as interested in how it comes to be on my plate as I am about eating the end result.

Now I’m trying to make it as a cook in my own right. There have been some mistakes along the way and I’ve admitted I’ll never win Masterchef, but I’m still learning.

And it was in search of a cooking education that I headed to the excellent Bettys Cookery School.

Bettys has been synonymous with its fine cafes and tearooms across Yorkshire for the best part of 100 years. But one of the most recent additions to the brand’s bow is the Cookery School, which celebrates its tenth birthday next month.

It promises to lift the lid on some of the secrets behind some of Bettys’ best recipes and teach novices and more advanced chefs some of the tricks of the trade.

I went along to one of the Cookery School’s one-day Sweet Success courses, with the promise of lessons on producing a lemon meringue pie, cherry chocolate cheesecake, apple strudel and sticky toffee pudding.

I also booked a spot for my mum, Jayne. For her, it was more like a finishing school. For me, it was like the first day of junior school.

There were 18 of us on the course, 16 women and two men, starting at 9.15am sharp at the school at Betty’s headquarters in Plumpton Park, Harrogate. We were welcomed to the course by host Hilary Clissit who made sure everything, including our own lunch, went to plan.

Throughout the day we were given demonstrations by the course’s excellent chefs, Michael Vanheste and Melissa Hudson at a central workstation, incorporating a large plasma screen for a top-down, close-up view of the food as it was being prepared.

I tried to take notes on the recipe folders we were given, but quickly realised my concentration on what the chefs were showing me was far more important.

My concentration was rewarded as nothing went badly wrong, and the competitive instincts of mother and son were briefly ramped up, until I discovered I was taking on a master.

But for novice and master alike, there was plenty to take in and plenty to learn as we constructed our first dish, the lemon meringue pie.

Michael and Melissa were on hand to cast their expert eye over our efforts including advising me on a bit of repair work on my sweet pastry as my heavy-handedness slightly got the better of me.

Of course, it is difficult to go wrong when all the equipment you need is at your fingertips and the ingredients are measured and set out in front of you exactly as you require them.

As the pie pastry was in the oven, it was back to the demonstration area to learn how to make the meringue and then straight on to the cheesecake.

There was no time to kill on the course – no standing around waiting for things to cook or bake in the oven.

Quite rightly, everyone has to wash up their own equipment as the day goes on, so while there was five minutes for a quick cup of tea, the actual cooking takes up the bulk of the day.

Thankfully my meringue turned out a treat and, thankfully, it did not look better than my mum’s.

The same could be said for the cheesecake and I was understandably pleased with my efforts as we took lunch. Chef Michael promised things could get tougher after lunch and he was not wrong.

I had never made strudel pastry from scratch and I can now assure anyone who tries it is a difficult, and frankly hilarious, task. After creating dough for the pastry, you are required to spend 15 minutes swinging it onto the work surface as though it were a club.

The aim is to stretch the gluten in the dough, but there is always the danger bits will fly off as it is whacked more and more ferociously against the worktop. I made an utter pig’s ear of mine and the official diagnosis was it had become too dry.

Chef Michael kindly, and secretly, lent me some dough he had produced earlier and I was able to make an apple strudel like everyone else.

As we went back to the demonstration area to learn how to finish off the strudel, we learned how to make a start on the individual sticky toffee puddings, courtesy of chef Melissa who described the recipe as her favourite.

This time I managed not to make any errors and after popping them in the oven and washing up they were done.

The time was well after 5pm and it was the end of a full-on day. There was a quick demonstration on how to pack our food into boxes to take home and a chance to sample the chefs’ versions of our dishes.

It was an excellent day. The chefs were fantastic and could not do enough to help and the courses are set up superbly for amateurs and experts.

I felt tired, but delighted with my efforts. I learned lots and will never buy any dessert from a shop again, although I will probably cheat and purchase pre-made strudel pastry.

The course was a treat, the desserts even more so.

To find out more about courses at the Cookery School, go to bettyscookeryschool.co.uk or call 01423 814016.