Prudence Wade finds out about the baker's journey through food.
Baking is all about spreading a bit of joy with sweet treats - something Kim-Joy Hewlett knows a thing or two about.
Her signature bakes are delightful, delicious and full of cute animals and characters.
A former psychological wellbeing practitioner, Kim-Joy was a finalist in series nine of The Great British Bake Off, and now dedicates her time to bringing what she calls 'edible cuteness' to the masses.
These are her food memories...
Her earliest food memory is...
"I grew up in Belgium. I went to nursery in Belgium for a bit - you know when you have a memory, but you're not sure if it exactly happened that way? I was eating sandwiches and it was in the morning.
"The teacher was laughing at me because I think she thought I was eating my lunch. But in my head, I knew I wasn't eating my lunch, I just couldn't really explain it. And that's all I remember - it's a bit vague."
Her culinary highlight...
"Definitely Bake Off stuff, but none of the technicals - I didn't like them, they were too hard. I just panicked in the technical, because I hadn't done it before, and because of the time limit, I rushed everything. I made very silly mistakes. But my culinary high is being on Bake Off and getting to the final."
Favourite bake from the show...
"That's a hard one, because I like so many. In dessert week I did a chocolate ball with some choux pastry turtles inside. That's the one people mention to me. I was so nervous about it, because I had to do a melting chocolate ball, which is really hard. Just having it work was a relief.
"It's probably because it's the one other people like, rather than my personal favourite, but it's become a personal favourite because other people like it."
Kim-Joy's worst kitchen disaster has to be...
"There have been many, but I block them out of my brain. I've definitely dropped a lot of stuff. All I can think about is that my kitchen was a mess this morning, so I've been tidying it. I've definitely successfully blocked out any fails from my brain, but there are lots of them!"
Favourite meals she's cooked for other people...
"Probably one Christmas, me and Nabil [her partner] did a big dinner - that was for ourselves. And I did a cake for my mum recently, just a simple chocolate cake for her birthday."
Baking with Kim-Joy (£18.99) and Christmas With Kim-Joy: A Festive Collection Of Edible Cuteness (£15) by Kim-Joy, photography by Ellis Parrinder, are published by Quadrille. Available now.
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