Christmas baking with Bake Off winner Frances Quinn "I'm not very good at sticking to the brief," she admits, "and I hadn't practised this so I wasn't sure it would come together. I was inspired by the idea of a midnight feast; the wreath is like a clock face, counting down the 12 hours until Christmas, with the owl nestled in the centre. I wanted to capture the excitement of Christmas Eve, of flickering candles in the windows, nocturnal happenings and snow falling outside. Since winning the Bake Off, Quinn has had a lot more time to dedicate to such things. Though she still has a job with Joules, the fashion brand, as a children's clothing designer, they have been "very understanding" in letting her pursue baking projects. In the past few weeks, Quinn has made a giant fondant fancy for the illustrator Quentin Blake ("I bought some Mr Kipling ones to model it on and I was worried someone would spot me and think I was cheating"), 10 batches of cauliflower cheese scones at the BBC Good Food show and a mammoth sculpture out of millionaire's shortbread for the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield. "It's been insane," she gasps. I'm absolutely knackered but I can't complain. I'm having so much fun and I've got so many plans and ideas. One of which is her first book, due out next year, which Quinn insists will be "very different to your average baking book," containing drawings and pages made from greaseproof paper. She's also talking about a product range, edible greetings cards and a career in TV or radio. Whatever I do, it won't be run of the mill. There is no mill in my head; well, there is a flour mill, and I suppose I'm running - but not in a straight line. For now, Quinn is focusing on Christmas. As the youngest of five siblings, it's a busy time of year - and one during which she lets her creative streak loose. "Anything goes at Christmas," she says. One year my sister and I sprayed tea bags silver and gold, wrapped tartan ribbon around them and hung them on the tree. People kept staring at it, going "Are those what I think they are?" Only at the Quinns would you get away with teabags on the tree. Food-wise, Christmas means "mincemeat on everything. On toast, in a sandwich, on a biscuit - everything. I had a friend who put a Quality Street green triangle in her porridge once. Quinn loves baking at this time of year, with flavours such as cinnamon, ginger, chocolate and orange. "I'm a foodie gannet," she says. I love delving into bowls filled with crisps and nuts, trying festive lattes and mulled wine, and gazing at the shop window displays. It all goes into my bakes. Quinn has agreed to let me help put the finishing touches to her Twelve Days of Christmas creation. The first challenge is distinguishing between the edible bits and their real-life inspirations: the marzipan candles and chocolate almond pine cones are so realistic I nearly dismiss them as decoration. Quinn shows me how to use the chocolate ganache as a paste to "glue" biscuits to the cake - and the leftovers go into making the trees, owls and stars. Soon I've got edible glitter up my nose and we're coughing in clouds of icing sugar after some over-zealous sprinkling. Does she seriously expect people to recreate this at home? "Yes," she says, firmly. I hope they'll try. This whole cake came about from something going wrong. The top bits got stuck in the tin and when I took it out it looked like the base of a wreath with lots of mini Christmas trees. That's the thing: in baking, you can eat your mistakes. Nothing is meant to be completely perfect. I'm using broken biscuits and squished cranberries. The joy is in the fact that each bake is unique. Since her Bake Off win, Quinn has shared lots of her kitchen secrets with fans. "The hardest part is when they start crying," she says, shaking her head. "I can feel them trembling when we get photographs taken, and I want to say, "I'm just a normal person." I've had teenage girls and guys from the City running up to me for autographs. It's amazing how many people like baking. What she gets told most, though, is not food-related. "Everyone is shocked by how tall I am," smiles Quinn, who is 6ft1. "It's not, "Wow, I love your cakes," but "God, you're massive."" She is still in touch with many of the Bake Off contestants, particularly fellow finalists Ruby Tandoh and Kimberley Wilson, and has met judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood a few times since October. "It's weird seeing them outside the tent," she admits. They're definitely less scary. Last time I saw them they said, "You're one of us now, Fran." That takes some getting used to. This Christmas will be the first time Quinn and all her siblings have been together in over 10 years - her sister lives in Vancouver and her middle brother is in San Francisco, but they'll be spending the big day at her parents" house in Market Harborough. "We have certain traditions - turkey, a trifle and a Christmas cake, which Mum makes and I decorate," she says. I can't wait to see everyone. Most of all, I'm looking forward to a day off. As for the future, Quinn's Telegraph cake isn't the last we'll be seeing of her amazing bakes. Next year, she hopes to collaborate with the department store Liberty and create something for the 50th anniversary of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She promises to take her cake stand off the ironing board, too. "People say there's a shelf life to careers like this, but I don't want it to end," she says, wistfully. I wanted to do something like this way before Bake Off. I plan to build loads and loads of shelves. For the full recipes for Frances's "Twelve Days of Christmas" creation, see the link above. To see more of her baking, visit francesquinn.co.uk or follow @frances_quinn on Twitter