“Lettuce cake? But, why?” I exclaim when former Coronation Street star Wendi Peters tells me what she’s going to make at the Cake and Bake Show next month.

Although I’m not sold on the idea, Wendi assures me it’s delicious and, well, I can hardly argue with the actress who competed in the 2009 finals of Celebrity MasterChef.

“I think, and most people who try it think, it’s a really nice cake - and if you didn’t know lettuce was in it you wouldn’t know,” says the Chorleywood resident defending her unusual recipe, which she will demonstrate to audiences at the ExCel London centre event.

“I thought: ‘You know what, why shouldn’t it work? We have carrot cake, courgette cake, why not lettuce cake?’”

This is not going to be the first time Wendi has taken part in a live cookery demonstration, as along with appearing at many Cake and Bake Shows around the country she has also been on Market Kitchen, Christmas Cooks, The F Word and This Morning.

“It’s one of my big hobbies, I’m obsessed with the Bake Off - all those programmes that are on television,” enthuses the 47-year-old. “I don’t claim to be a professional, but it’s a really big hobby of mine and I’ve done MasterChef and I just adore it, I love meeting all the bakers.”

Thankfully, the Cake and Bake Show will be slightly more relaxed than the mother-of-one’s eight-weeks under the gaze of MasterChef judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace, although the latter is another of the celebrities taking part.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” stresses Wendi. “I think on TV – because it is edited down to so little – they don’t show just how much hard work it is. It was hard but it was brilliant and I learned so much.”

And she says she was intrigued to see how the show works behind-the-scenes.

“As soon as the cameras are off, the crew comes in and everything goes, absolutely everything,” she laughs. “They don’t have to make any lunch on set! You do all the cooking and then it’s just left and someone else clears it up for you. It’s just heaven!”

Wendi’s early memories of baking are from her mother, while she was growing up in Blackburn, Lancashire.

On Fridays it was baking day and she recalls coming home from school to trays of almond slices, scones and freshly baked bread greeting her in the kitchen.

“I used to love watching her bake and I sort of learned from her,” remembers Wendi. “Sometimes now I come home from rehearsals and my daughter, Gracie, will have made biscuits and I think that’s brilliant. It’s obviously rubbed off on her as well and she enjoys it doing it.”

Any recipe recommendations for the Autumn months? Root vegetable cupcakes, says Wendi, made with beetroot, parsnip and carrot.

The Cake and Bake Show, ExCel London, Royal Victoria Dock, Western Gateway, October 4 to 6, 10am to 5pm. Details: 0844 854 1364, thecakeandbakeshow.co.uk