“Time stood still”— The Great American Baking Show contestant Kim Goldfeder recalls being announced as the winner

The latest season of The Great American Baking Show aired on April 11, 2025, on the Roku Channel. It saw Oceanside resident, Kim Goldfeder Clarke, take home the win after defeating seven other home bakers. In an interview with Newsday published on April 16, 2025, Kim recalled the time when her win was announced by judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith, and hosts Casey Wilson and Zach Cherry.

"It was like time stood still. I'd honestly thought I did have a good chance to win, but being neurotic," she said.

Kim studied theatre in college and started her career as a theatre actor, after which she also got into advertising. Her love for baking, however, always prevailed, as she had gotten it from her childhood from her grandmother and her mother.

The Great American Baking Show is the American version of the coveted The Great British Baking Show, and was shot with an all-American cast. The judges, though, came from the original UK version.

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What The Great American Baking Show contestant Kim Goldfeder said about her win

She told the Newsday interviewer that when her name was announced as the winner, it was like those Hitchcock films where the camera zooms out but pulls in. She added that she didn't want to jinx herself during the final showdown.

She recalled that the judges and the hosts weren't looking at her, nor were they making any eye contact, and shared that she didn't want to conclude that they weren't looking at her because she lost the season.

"I don't know if you noticed but Casey does this swoop thing with her head as if she's going to call somebody else, and then she swoops in my direction and says my name," Kim recalled.

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What Kim recalled about her time on The Great American Baking Show

The Great American Baking Show was shot in July and August at Pinewood Studios, which is located just outside London. Reflecting on her time there, Kim said that she celebrated her 55th birthday while she was shooting, as she was there from July 7 to August 2.

She added that they shot six episodes one after the other. Before taking off for England, they were practicing their dishes for six weeks in the US. She said that the technical challenges were the only ones that they didn't know anything about, and added that it became the reason for added excitement.

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The Great American Baking Show winner Kim's career and personal life

Kim went to the Elmont Memorial High School and graduated in 1987. She then got a bachelor's degree in arts from Binghamton University where she studied theatre and even gave performances. She also won a local scholarship to do the two year American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Manhattan.

Kim then worked as an actor in theatre, regionally and on tour. She also appeared as an extra on movies such as Party Girl and shows such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and The Americans. She then married the now retired NYPD police officer Gerald Clarke, in 2002.

Talking about what got her cooking, Kim said:

"I used to watch my grandmother and my mom bake all the time. I love to cook but my first love is baking."

She said it started with her mom and grandmother asking her to play with a piece of dough in the corner as a child. Eventually they taught her how to weave pastry dough and how to make rugelach and apple pie. She added that some of her fondest memories were watching PBS cooking shows with her grandmother.

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For more updates on Kim Goldfeder's life, The Great American Baking Show fans can follow her on her official Instagram, @ya_moms_in_the_kitchen.