At their best, the holidays allow us to slow down and gather with our friends and relatives, which often leads to the making of very happy memories. Unsurprisingly, for this year’s The Great British Baking Show: Holidays contestants, their fondest holiday memories are set in the kitchen.

Traditional British Christmas cakes, typically made with booze-soaked fruit and covered in royal icing, play a prominent role in many of the contestants’ memories. As a child, Rosie Brandreth-Poynter, who first competed on The Great British Baking Show in 2019, always decorated her family’s Christmas cake. Now Rosie has officially taken over baking and icing duties, leaving the Christmas cake decorating to her creative sister, who tends to opt for unusual wintery scenes. “She generally takes inspiration from seasonal David Attenborough, and we have a polar bear eating a seal or similar complete with blood-spattered snow!” Rosie tells Tudum. 

Jamie Finn, who also originally competed in 2019, has vivid holiday baking memories that revolve around Christmas cake as well. He baked the beloved festive treat for the first time when he was 12. “I made a fondant Santa and Sleigh,” Jamie says. “That was the first time I ever used fondant.” A few years later, after watching a Christmas episode of The Great British Baking Show as a teen, he felt compelled to take another crack at the recipe. Once it was finished, he snapped a photo of himself with his cake in front of the TV as it played the special. “I never guessed that two years later I would be on it myself!”

Another traditional British holiday dessert is the star of 2017 contestant James Hillery’s holiday baking memories. “My dad and I always baked together,” James explains. “He was great at pastry, so I have many fond memories of making mince pies with him at Christmas.” Now a father himself, he most enjoys tackling a different holiday baking project with his children. “I love making a chocolate yule log with my boys, which we normally devour on Boxing Day.” 

All of 2019 competitor Henry Bird’s holiday baking memories involve one simple sweet: cinnamon biscuits. He’s been making the same cinnamon biscuits every holiday season since he was about 6. Rahul Mandal, 2018’s winner, developed his holiday baking traditions much more recently. “My earliest baking memories were around making mince pies and ginger biscuits about five or six years ago for my colleagues,” Rahul shares. “I have religiously made them every year since then.”

While Ruby Bhogal, who initially participated in The Great British Baking Show in 2018, has many holiday memories in the kitchen, surprisingly, most of them don’t involve baking. “Having grown up as part of an Indian family, baking has never been high on the priority list,” Ruby shares. “My mum is a fantastic cook, but I think she would also admit she is dreadful at baking! Instead of baking, I definitely spent a lot of time over the festive period in the kitchen with my mum. Official potato peeler was my role.” Since childhood though, her role has changed, especially in recent years. Now she likes to switch things up and bake a traditional treat with a twist. “A Black Forest cake is always being knocked up in some shape or form. Last year, I made it but decorated it as a Christmas pudding, which was pretty fun and delicious to eat.” All these recollections sound tasty enough to make us want to whip up our very own holiday baking memories.