My birth parents were Caribbean and I was adopted by a white family in Oxfordshire when I was 18 months old. My adoptive parents then divorced when I was three and I lived with my mother. She became ill when I was about seven so I spent some time in foster homes, which was a mixed experience. The first family I was fostered by were actually friends from school so that was great fun. But the second family I spent time with were deeply religious and I was made to go to church every day which isn't necessarily top of your list when you're eight.
I knew I was adopted from the start. My parents were white and I was black but you don't think of that when you're a child. My mother just told me all the time that I was adopted but I didn't actually know what it meant. People say it must have been odd, but I didn't know any different.
My mother and father had a biological child before me – my brother Jason, who is three years older. By the time I was back with my mother after being fostered, my father had married someone else and had another child so I've also got a half sister. I'm closer to my brother and seem to only speak to my sister on Facebook.
It felt different having a brother who was my parents' blood child. I couldn't say how exactly, but it did feel different. I just remember Jason and I having a normal relationship and arguing like brothers and sisters do. He was older, so I'd follow him around and copy him and he didn't like it – you know, the usual. I don't think we spoke about my adoption, but I have talked extensively to my mother just to get an understanding. She has always been very honest and open, which I think is so important with children. And my mother has always been supportive of whatever I've wanted to do in life.
I'm one of the rare few. I don't feel there's something missing. Some adopted children feel that there's a piece of the puzzle missing. Now there are open adoptions and the childen stay in contact with the family but it wasn't like that for me. I know my birth parents' names. I know I've got three brothers and one sister, I know that some of them are in London but I don't have any desire or need to find them. One family is enough.
I think my mental toughness is genetic. My adoptive parents both gave me great guidance in other areas but as far as inner strength goes, I think it must be from nature.
I got married in my early 20s and then a year or two later had my daughter. I have a very close relationship with Ella, who is 14 now. I'm really happy that I had a child young. It's a nice way of doing it. It's unfortunate that my marriage didn't work out but I suppose getting married very young is a bit of a gamble. I've followed up on my mother's principles of being honest and it's going well. And because of my own start in life, I've tried to make Ella's upbringing as stable as possible. Her father is still involved in her life. He lives in Ireland and she spends time with him, too, so they are very close.
Interview by Nick McGrath
Baking Made Easy is being screened on BBC2 on Mondays at 8.30pm. The eponymous book, published by Harper Collins, is out now