I work with a charity called the Wren Bakery, which is local to me in Leeds, and in a way that is also an inspiration for the comic because it’s a charity and a cafe working with women who face a lot of disadvantages, and gives them opportunities towards employment, gives them baking skills and barista skills. They can work in the cafe and get psychotherapy at the same time. I think therapy is so daunting, to go into a therapy session and start talking about yourself, it’s a bit weird. So baking is such a nice intermediary thing. You can talk or you can just bake, it’s nice to have an activity that you’re centered on. That’s another inspiration, looking at how baking and mental health are so interlinked. There have been quite a few graphic novel cookbooks to come out in recent years, and it’s such a good way to bring you through a recipe and show you what you need to do without either a million photographs or trying to parse a really dense paragraph of writing. You’ve mentioned in a couple interviews that you really started making friends through baking. Did you have your own baking club? What were the experiences you were thinking about when you wrote Yan? I was chatting to Chip [Mosher] when he used to be at ComiXology, and my partner Nabil has his games and comic book shops, so it’s always something I’ve been surrounded with. I think a visual medium tells a story really well, and Alti [Firmansyah] did an amazing job. There’s also the recipe sections, because I love Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Art of Tidying Up, and how there’s these little segments on how to tidy things up. So I interject a bit of that, but baking rather than tidying. You’ve obviously become known for a lot of your cute bakes, but it’s also clear from all your recipes that these require a lot of technique and skill. I’m curious, do you ever worry that people maybe miss the skill because they’re like, “Oh this pigfiterole is so cute”?

Biscoff spread (this is added to a third of the buttercream; omit this if making the recipe gluten-free) All the characters are lonely in their own way, and all experience their own issues, but it’s the baking that brings them together. So it’s about learning that just because you might seem okay on the outside, it doesn’t reflect your inside. I hope it’s a comfort to people who do experience anxiety, social anxiety or any kind of mental illness or mental health issues, or anyone who feels different and doesn’t quite fit in as well. Eater: You’ve already published cookbooks, you’ve already written about yourself in other places. What made you want to expand into fiction? On a similar theme, forthcoming fictional graphic novel, Turtle Bread, tells the tale of a bunch of friends who meet at a baking club.Are there any novels or graphic novels or anything else that you were reading that really inspired you here? self-raising flour (to make gluten-free, substitute with a gluten-free self-raising flour blend, plus ¾ tsp xanthan gum) Plus, offering a batch of brownies or a homemade cake to a loved one can be its own reward: “It makes you confident as you’re learning new skills and also being able to bring happiness to other people.” Chill the cake in the fridge for at least one hour, or in the freezer for 10 minutes until the buttercream is chilled and firm. Then cover the whole cake in another layer of vanilla buttercream to cover most of the crumbs. Use a palette knife (heating it under hot water for a smoother finish) to smooth the buttercream around the sides, then smooth the buttercream on the top, smoothing it in from the edges and towards the centre. (Make sure there is a little vanilla buttercream left for the decorations). Scatter sprinkles all along the bottom of the cake, then chill in the fridge for at least one hour again, or in the freezer for 10 minutes until the buttercream is firm.

The first time I really met people who were into baking was actually when I went on Bake Off. I loved baking because you could make something and give it to somebody and it makes you feel productive and useful, you bring a smile to people’s faces, and it’s such a great thing for your confidence. I was in a board game club where I met Nabil, and I brought him a bake. I think that brought us together. I realised that instead of piping the meringue into neat cat shapes, I could show how you can make ‘scruffy’ cats by dolloping meringue onto baking paper, swirling through jam/chocolate/curd, sprinkling on freeze-dried fruit, and then just using fingers to pinch out the cat ear shapes and using edible eyes or food dye to create a little face. What are the components of a fantastic meal for you? Add the milk and white wine vinegar to a large bowl and whisk together. Add the treacle, oil, salt and vanilla, then whisk again until combined.I find a lot of people look at the cookbooks and say, “Oh that’s too hard.” Even though I write bits with ways to adapt recipes to make it easier. And in my newest cookbook I’ve put little pauses to indicate difficulties to try and get everyone to bake stuff. I don’t want it to be just people who are good at baking. I consider myself a bit of an experimental baker and I like to make mistakes along the way and see what happens. I think we should just bake, and if it doesn’t work out in the end, it’s fine. It’s a process. Turtle Bread, written by Kim-Joy and illustrated by Alti Firmansyah, will be published in e-book format on May 2, with a print edition published in the fall. The story follows Yan, a shy woman who joins a baking club, and slowly begins to, well, come out of her shell. “Turtle bread is a metaphor throughout the story,” says Kim-Joy; it symbolizes the good that can come out of being vulnerable. And it’s filled with illustrated recipes for Kim-Joy’s favorite bakes, like Victoria sponge, “pigfiteroles,” and of course melonpan buns, aka turtle bread. My social anxiety has gotten a lot better and it’s partly been through saying yes to the things that terrify me the most. So I went to university and I was like, “I’ve just got to try and make friends, going to go out and do this and do that and join this board game club and keep trying to push myself.” I think Bake Off was basically the next extreme step.