Malaysian-born, Australia-raised Helen Goh has forged a name for herself as a pastry chef and author in both Melbourne and London. Baking Business caught up with Helen to hear about her remarkable career, which includes balancing dual professions in baking and psychology.

Food has always formed a central part in Helen Goh’s life, so it’s little surprise she has built a career out of it.

During her early childhood years in Malaysia food was woven into the rhythm of daily life – an element that was cemented when Helen’s family moved to Australia.

Helen said it was food that remained as the one familiar constant amid a world that felt entirely new and foreign.

“My mother, feeling both insecure and dislocated, poured her efforts into cooking, treating food as medicine for the family,” Helen said.

“She would shop and cook nearly the whole day, and every evening we gathered around our large round table with the lazy susan in the middle. Conversations about our day were minimal, but we discussed every detail of the food – the snap of the snow peas, the juiciness of chicken thighs, the price of prawns, the level of soy or salt.

“Critiquing the meal wasn’t just allowed, it was welcomed. Looking back it wasn’t about taste or feedback on how Mum could improve on her cooking; it was about being present and engaged at the table as a show of respect for the effort that she had gone to with the cooking.”

Rhubarb, Vanilla and Almond Tesselated Cake

Although there was never an official plan to pursue food as a career, Helen said she had felt a pull towards cooking. That being said, as she was untrained she naturally gravitated towards baking instead because it seemed to have more structure.

Helen said she found it reassuring to measure precise quantities of butter, sugar or flour, and later came to learn how certain things could be tweaked to produce an entirely different result.

“It felt both scientific and creative, and I think this really appealed to me,” she said.

However, it has to be noted baking wasn’t Helen’s first career choice. Straight after high school she completed a Bachelor of Science with the hope of majoring in psychology. However, due to her young age the university faculty advised Helen to take a little time away after she completed her undergraduate degree.

During this time Helen said she fell into a job as a rep for a pharmaceutical company, which saw her travelling door-to-door talking to doctors about new drugs. She quickly realised she could be more time efficient if she instead organised a lunch and invited all the doctors.

“I soon realised I was much more interested in the catering for the lunch than speaking about the drugs, and that realisation coincided with the opportunity to open a café with my boyfriend at the time. I jumped at it.”

With no hospitality experience to speak of under her belt and driven purely by adrenalin and, in her own words ignorance, the duo worked hard. Their major saving grace came in the form of the talented cook named Paula they hired, who could make anything from the flakiest pies to amazing curries. It was from watching her, Helen said, that her culinary education really began.

“After we sold the café I realised how little I knew about cooking and wanted to learn more. I met Dure-Dara, who was at that time very influential in the restaurant and catering association and she offered for me to work/shadow her,” Helen said.

Helen got to work, developing recipes for Nudel Bar, and when Dure-Dara was involved in opening Donovans in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, Helen saw the opportunity to learn from the traditional brigade kitchen.

But, after four years in the kitchen. It was time for Helen to return to university to complete her postgraduate degree part-time – a three-year undertaking – before she took on a role as a trainee psychologist in Melbourne.

At this time Helen’s then-boyfriend was dividing his time between Melbourne and London and, when Helen had her hours and could register as a psychologist, they decided they would settle together in London.

Helen said she also planned on stepping away from cooking and focusing on building a private psychology practice, but red tape blocked the way.

“The alternative was to do a doctorate and I thought that seemed more appealing, but it was a number of months before the course started. So I decided to do a few shifts cooking in the meantime,” she said.

“I dropped my CV into a cute little deli down the road – that was the Ottolenghi store in Notting Hill – and an hour later Yotam called me and suggested we meet that afternoon.”

Following an interview that took place on the pavement outside the café, a partnership was forged that over the years saw Helen move from working within the store to developing recipes at the test kitchen on weekends while she was at university. She and Yotam also collaborated on the cookbook, Sweet, which was released in 2017.

Helen said in the years since then she’d been asked by publishers to write a book that brought together both her professions – baking and psychology – but it wasn’t until 2023 that the penny dropped and the seed for her debut solo cookbook Baking and the Meaning of Life was planted.

“In 2023 a bake sale was organised to raise funds for victims of the earthquake in Syria and Turkey. I got involved… my husband joked that it seemed so inefficient, so many people baking for days in order to sell cakes for £2 per slice. Wouldn’t it have been easier to raise money simply by donating cash?” she said.

“It got me thinking about why we bake. What he hadn’t seen was the energy in the building that day: a bunch of bakers baking with pride and purpose, to contribute to something beyond ourselves. And people coming from all over London in the spirit of community.

“Baking is unique in allowing us to express all of this precisely because, in practical terms, it isn’t necessary for survival – no one really needs cake. So in its creation and sharing there must be something more to it that just the pleasure of eating it.”

Dutch Baby

Drawing from her own personal experience, Helen began creating Baking and The Meaning of Life, creating and resting recipes meticulously for almost two years,  before it was released by Murdoch Books in September.

The end result is a cookbook that not only delivers on tasty bakes, but was also organised oin chapters framed around the psychological concepts Helen had in her mind.

“I had to find a structure that would give the book coherence beyond the recipes,” she said.

When asked what her facourite recipe was, Helen said although she adored the Rhubarb, Vanilla and Almond Tesselated Cake, it was the Dutch baby that she turned to most often.

“Both because it’s quick and easy to make and becuase my kids and all their friends love it when they have a sleepover,” she said.

“Inspiration comes from everywhere and anywhere!”

Helen’s advice on balancing dual careers:

“Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater when making changes. Hang on to your existing, stable career and be prepared to devote your spare time on your new interest until it becomes clear that it’s what you want to do and is a viable option.

“Having a stable job will make you feel less ‘desperate’, which is a stressful state to be in. Pop-ups and markets are great spaces to try out your new products and get real-time feedback from customers.”