Can Bryony be a Better Cook?

With plenty of deceptively easy recipes and fantastic tips, Lorraine shows people with no kitchen confidence how to pull off an impressive meal for friends and family.

In this episode, Lorraine helps 26-year-old Bryony, who admits to passing shop-bought food off as her own, but now she's been tasked with hosting her best friend's hen party. So Lorraine creates an inspiring canape menu for her, including Thai larb gai, bite-sized chocolate napoleons and delicate coconut meringues filled with ginger cream.

"The day started with breakfast as usual in my kitchen with a bowl of cereal and a cup of tea in my hand…but this time, the room was rigged with bright lights, cameramen checking filming angles through windows, and Lorraine Pascale standing there having her make up done! I knew it wasn’t going to be an ordinary day.

After a quick chat Lorraine made the dreadful mistake of asking me to cook something for her. There and then I chose to cook a poached egg. 'Easy, can’t go wrong' I naively told myself. I couldn’t have been more wrong! The egg fell apart in the pan, I burnt the toast, used a sieve to get it out and in the end fed it to the dog who didn’t even eat it!

Fortunately Lorraine took control from there on in and taught my mum and I chorizo and lemon grass scrolls, and feta cucumber bites. Simple and tasty! Ready for something more adventurous… larb gai! This wasn’t so easy and highlighted my terrible cutting skills. But we got there in the end and they tasted delicious.

By making dishes that are ‘assembled’ and served cold, it eliminates the risk of ‘burnt offerings’ to my friends.

The next day was all about drinks with a surprise trip to the London Cocktail club. JJ, the owner, gave me a mixology class and chatted about flavour combinations. After having a go I was left with the task of making a signature cocktail for my friend Katie. I’m not sure how much I’d taken on board from JJ as I came up with a weird mix of coconut water, grapes and vodka!? Strangely it actually worked or maybe I’d just tasted too many mojito combinations beforehand.

On the day of the surprise party, Lorraine, Mum and me spent the day prepping everything. Coconut kisses with ginger chantilly cream took up most of the time but were well worth it. The girls arrived excited and in their Little Black Dresses and fetched Katie who was in a nearby pub. When she walked in it was obvious by her face she had no idea about what had been going on.

After a quick intro to Lorraine Pascale and an explanation of why the BBC were there she quickly relaxed and it wasn’t long before you couldn’t hear anything apart from girly chit chat and laughter. Fortunately everyone seemed impressed with what I’d made and I didn’t see anyone spitting into napkins.

I can’t say I’m much of a cook but I am looking forward to hosting some Christmas canapé and cocktail parties!"

See how Briony gets on, Friday at 8:30pm on BBC Two.