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The Great British Bake Off finalist is back with a new book, Christmas with Kim-Joy: A Festive Collection of Edible Cuteness as she shares fun treats and talks exclusively to HELLO! about Christmas with her cats and the joy of baking

It’s no small coincidence that The Great British Bake Off finalist Kim-Joy was born on World Baking Day. Winning Star Baker twice, she delighted audiences and the show’s judges with her cute and creative bakes in the 2018 series. Born in Belgium to an English father and Malaysian-Chinese mother, Kim-Joy grew up in London, before studying sociology at Bristol and then a master’s in psychology in Leeds, where she now lives with her partner Nabil, whom she met at a board-game nightclub.

Kim-Joy, as a former psychological wellbeing practitioner, what are the benefits of baking for the mind and soul?

“The process of baking is relaxing as it provides structure to your day, plus it’s such a mindful activity that touches on all your senses - seeing the dough rise, feeling it to see if it has risen, hearing bread crackle when it comes out of the oven, plus the amazing smell and taste of course.

“It also makes you feel productive and useful because there’s a specific outcome - delicious cake! - and you can share it with friends, which increases that feeling of usefulness. Feeling useful is essential to bringing us happiness.”

Your delightful and cute creations on the 2018 series of Bake Off - which saw you finish runner-up to Rahul - were loved by judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith and audiences alike. Where do you find your inspiration?

“I love colour and stories within my bakes, so my inspiration comes from all around me. Sometimes it’s from seeing a piece of art online, sometimes from wanting to create a specific animal, sometimes just randomly chatting to people and then the dots connect.

“As an example, I’ve been wanting to make a burnt Basque cheesecake for a long time as I’ve been seeing it popping up everywhere (probably because it’s so delicious), but it could be tricky to decorate. I had a general idea to create some kind of landscape, but it’s only when I was chatting to friends over Zoom and asking them what ideas they had, that it suddenly came to me. It’s always when you ask someone a question that you figure out the answer at the same time! So it became a dinosaur-era, lava-like burnt landscape.”