Where baking is concerned, it’s fair to say I’m no Nigella.

My home economic classes were spent hiding at the back clutching my deflated sponge cake, desperately wafting away the black smoke. So in terms of domestic goddesses, my halo fell off years ago — with a loud clang.

I can cook by the way. I have been known to spend three days concocting the perfect mole sauce, and dinner for 20 doesn’t faze me. I can make my own pasta, whip up a stew, quiche, cassoulet, soup, paté, vinaigrette, fondue, roux or mayonnaise without batting an eyelid. But all my guests know I don’t do pudding, and so they bring their own.

Which is why I laughed so hard when the cookery course chosen for me by Daylesford Organic to demonstrate their input into Harvest — the new food and music festival dreamt up by Blur’s Alex James — was the Farmhouse Tea Delights. In other words, cakes.

Not the Artisan Bread Making course, which I’d have traded my own children for, or even the Holistic Seasonal Cooking & Hay Barn Spa Day combo (there is a God), but the cakes. Oh, how we laughed.

And so I did what all feeble cake-makers do and brought my own Nigella to accompany me and, therefore, distract everyone from someone as cake-challenged as myself. A decoy, if you like. Said Nigella, aka Alison, is the cake-meister of our village, her fame traversing far and wide as news of her bountiful skills abound. Behind her, shuffling in like a one-legged bandit was me, bathing in the crumbs of her glory.

But even I took a step back when entering Daylesford’s Cookery School, near Chipping Norton. Its calm, attentive decor encourages you to do your best and enjoy yourself, regardless of your inability to produce anything which doesn’t make people howl with laughter. Throw cookery school head Vladimir Niza and his capable assistant Mike Barnard into the equation, with their cheerful demeanour, and undisputed knowledge and skill kept us in respectful awe, and you are on to a winning formula, cake-handicapped or not.

And, yes, my piped eclairs came out more like male appendages, and my sponge fingers were a tad loopy, but I could roll pastry like everyone else, stuff crème anglaise into profiteroles, cut out lemon meringue bases, mix scones and, above all, admire the obvious artistry, passion and skill going into not just the creation of our summer tea, but the teaching itself.

Lunch was also a highlight, home-made egg mayonnaise or cheese and pickle sandwiches, salads and shortbread biscuits keeping us going, and the day passed in a happy blur of strawberry charlottes, and coconut and lime macaroons, until the table was groaning with enough produce to make any WI stalwart crimson with envy.

To keep our other halves happy, we all took a goodie bag home as well as the complimentary Daylesford pinny, and left feeling thoroughly pleased with ourselves.

As for me, I might even have a go at recreating the sumptuously rich chocolate cake. On the other hand, I’m sure Waitrose do a brilliant version . . .

The Farmhouse Tea Delights course covers doughs and sponges, chocolate work and petits fours, custards, creams, ice-cream, sorbets, jams, compotes and decoration. It costs £175 per person and includes practical and demonstration cookery sessions, lunch, refreshments, a Daylesford Organic apron and all course materials. For more information ring 01608 731700.

Daylesford Cookery School will be on site at the September harvest festival in Kingham alongside the Hix Champagne and Oyster bar, pop-up restaurants Salt Yard and Wahaca, masterclasses and a farmers’ market. Go to the website (www.alexjamespresentsharvest.com) for more information.