Despite claiming that her acting career has been 'patchy', Jane Asher has been prominent on stage and screen since playing Lewis Carroll's Alice as a child. Later she starred alongside Michael Caine in Alfie, and Jeremy Irons in Brideshead Revisited among many other roles. She is associated with the 'swinging' 60s, which is more to do with her relationship with the young Paul McCartney than anything else. She now says, 'I was never the dolly-bird type. I didn't particularly like going to discotheques and sitting up till 4am in a haze of cigarette smoke.' More recently, Jane has written cookery books, presented television programmes and worked on behalf of many charities including Children In Need and The National Autistic Society. Jane, who is married to cartoonist Gerald Scarfe and has three children, presents her new series Good Living on BBC-1, in which she 'promises to take the stress out of Christmas.'

Q:I saw a photo of you in a chocolate dress. Was it uncomfortable and could you only stay in it for a short time for fear of melting? Alison, Plymouth

Jane Asher:That was for a picture advertising chocolate digestives - and it's probably got more coverage than any other picture I've done. It's not that the picture was overtly sexy, it wasn't chocolate draped over my body, it was done over a skirt. But it was uncomfortable. Holding one position for a long time is always tough, I got very cramped and under the hot lights the chocolate did melt. It had to be topped up and eventually the smell was awful. I remember that I had to go to some smart do that evening and all they had in the studio was one basin with cold water so I had to try to rinse it all off. For the rest of the evening I could smell the chocolate. But the photograph looked amazingly good and sophisticated!

Q:Where did your interest and outstanding skill with cakes originate from? Joanne Powell, New Zealand

JA: It was a childhood hobby. I learned basic cookery from my mom, taught myself cake techniques and then got fed up with my own cakes not looking as good as the ones in the shops. I think my showbiz side must have come out, the enjoyment of entertaining, because the cakes got increasingly wild and funny until many years later when a friend suggested I put them all into a book. That became a bestseller and eventually cake-making stopped being a hobby and became a business. That was helpful when my children were young and I didn't want to be acting onstage away from home. But having cakes as a business certainly changes things for me - I don't now sit at home doing a cake for the fun of it anymore. But it's an extremely happy and pleasureable business to run because people are generally buying cakes for celebrations. We made Prince Charles' birthday cake, for instance - we're always very tactful about our VIP clients but I'm sure he won't mind now it's over. It was the cake for the party at Highgrove, so it was a large one.

Q: What is the strangest cake your company has made?

JA: We've made so many at the shop it's difficult to say. We once created a birthday cake for a lady's party which was a model of her in the form of a naked marble statue. We make a lot of saucy cakes but I try to ensure that it's tastefully, humourously saucy rather than anything else.

Q: How did you get into presenting and what has been the highlight of your TV career? Anam, London

JA: I suppose I got into it via the books, really. Having done lifestyle books - horrible word - and being an actress, I suppose it made sense to bring the two together. I think that's what happened. The highlight is difficult. I enjoy Good Living, which is coming up soon - though that's not why I'm saying that! The Christmas one is always good, always busy with food and decorations and that's the most fun to do. I enjoy the crafts on the show enormously, too, when we have experts in showing how to make things. You watch them thinking you'll go home and do the things yourself, which is fun. Some I have done myself later on, though I don't think one should ever expect that anyone would do everything.

What do you want the audience of Good Living to gain from watching?

JA: The show is really designed to give people new ideas for the home, particularly during this festive season. It's just about sharing some tips for having fun.

You are very involved in charity work. What do you bring to charities and do you feel that it's the responsibility of people in the public eye to participate in social issues?

JA: No, famous people shouldn't be obliged to take part in charity. Personally, I feel I can contribute - I can give time and help gain publicity for the causes I'm associated with.

Your cake shop has a website but do you personally use the Internet much?

Oh yes, you bet. I use email now all the time -I'm a complete convert. I've always been one for leaping into technology because I love it but I wasn't sure about email, I couldn't see the advantage over fax and phone at first, apart from the cost. But it's so handy, it's wonderful for keeping in touch and for business it's essential. We get a lot of overseas people wanting to order cakes and we can now direct them to the site so that they can have a better look.

You're writing novels now which so far have all had an unexpectedly dark side. Do you enjoy writing them as a kind of release?

I must do! I think it's partly contrast, my image for people is a fluffy, biscuity kind of woman and the books aren't. But I can't judge it, I don't think they're that dark myself and I don't set out to write them that way. Certainly the first two books turned dark but perhaps it's that I like reading that kind of material. I'm at the outline stage now of a third novel and I'm trying to keep it brighter.

Does it annoy you when you are constantly linked with Paul McCartney rather than being the individual that you are and were in the Sixties? (Dave Thursby, High Leigh, Cheshire)

JA: No, not at all. I've never spoken about that time because it was private and I took a decision not to. The problem is that it then becomes a challenge and journalists do try sidling up to the topic. It's been 30 years now, so I don't expect they'll succeed in getting it out of me. Plus, after years of semi-fame, never really being famous but not being obscure, you get used to seeing yourself written about in so many ways. There used to be a bit of truth in everything, but not really truth in any. I look at myself objectively and in a way I see myself as a commodity. When they first produced my cakes in the factories they introduced a new conveyor belt and it became known as the 'Jane Asher'. As in 'Jane Asher's broken down again'! Your name becomes somehow outside yourself. Now, when I'm at home being Mrs Scarfe, that's when I'm most myself.