Interview with Johanna Konta

24 March 2020

Can you bake? Rate yourself out of 10.

Ten being professional? Probably a five. I’d say I’m okay.

Who taught you how to bake?

No-one really. When I moved away from home for the first time and moved into my own place, I unleashed myself onto the kitchen. I started trying different things, and that’s when I got into baking.

So was it trial and error at first?

I think it was more just a matter of finding and following recipes that I wanted to make. Finding stuff that tickles my fancy, and then just cracking on and giving it a go.

Do you have a signature dish?

I do like the chocolate cake recipe that I have at home, and there’s also a good seed cake recipe I go back to.

Are you a Bake Off fan?

Oh, very much so. I’ve watched it for the last few years, and I really enjoy it, I think it’s great.

Is it quite difficult to follow? Presumably you’re often away for large chunks of it?

Right now, I’m up-to-date with it. But a lot of times, if I go away, I’ll have a few episodes to catch up on, which is no bad thing.

Does being a fan make you more nervous about appearing on the show?

I think I may be a little more nervous about how harshly my baking’s going to be judged because I know they can be quite tough. But at the same time, we’re not professional bakers, so I think there’s a little element of forgiveness to help us along. But I’ve been so excited about going into the tent, it’s quite surreal!

Who do you want to impress the most? Paul or Prue?

Both, for sure. I can’t single one of them out. It’s just so surreal having stuff judged by them. I was watching the show three days ago, and now I’m in the tent!

Who do you see as your biggest competition?

All of them, to be fair. I think Joel is a dark horse, I suspect he’s been really underplaying his ability. But I think they’re all good, I suspect I’m at the bottom of the pack.

Have you had any baking disasters?

Definitely. Any time I’ve tried to make biscuits, it just hasn’t happened. I also wanted to make fresh cinnamon doughnuts not long ago, because I was really craving them. And the oil was too hot, so it cooked the outside, but the inside was raw, and I literally had a sense of humour failure. I was stroppy for a few hours, because I really wanted fresh cinnamon doughnuts and I couldn’t have them.

What do you think your strength in your baking might be?

I think I’m reasonably methodical, so I can follow a recipe reasonably well – in fact, I’ll re-read it thousands of times while I’m doing it. And I think I’m okay with dealing with a little bit of pressure and needing to get things done. I spend quite of my life being under pressure on court, so I think I’m okay at dealing with that.

Why are you supporting Stand Up to Cancer?

I’m supporting Stand Up To Cancer as I believe it’s great charity that brings awareness to an illness that effects the lives of so many people, either directly or by association. It’s a privilege to be a part of an amazing organisation.

Have you practised your bakes for today?

The first one, the signature, I practised just once. Not the whole thing, but just the type of pastry that we needed to make. It was under-baked. But I’ve never made the filling before. Obviously, you can’t practice for the technical, and I’ve not had an opportunity to practice for the showstopper.

You must be competitive in your line of work. Does that come across to this? Do you want to be star baker?                               

I spend most of my life in a competitive arena, in a competitive mindset, and it probably does transfer to this to a certain extent, but I can’t say I’ve ever competitively baked before. This is good fun, but I want to do well, I don’t want it to be bad. I want to have some success, but I’m also reasonable in my expectations. I’m not the couch warrior that I usually am when I’m watching the unbelievable bakers who are on during the normal show, when I sit there thinking “Yeah, I could do that!” In hindsight, really, I cannot do that!

How do you feel about the technical challenge?

I’m just dreading that they’re going to ask us to make biscuits. If it’s not that, I’ll probably let out a massive sigh of relief, and everyone’s going to wonder what’s going on. Obviously, it’s exciting that we don’t know and it’s fun, but it’s also scary. Especially as they’ll probably only give us really, vague instructions. If they just say “Make a dough” I think I’m going to be scratching my head for the full allotted time.

If you were a baked good, what would you be?

I think I’d be a cinnamon doughnut. Very classic, no frills, what you see is what you get, but it’s good.

Particularly if it’s cooked all the way through.

Yes, particularly if it’s not raw in the middle.

Do any of the other women on the tour bake?

Yeah, there’s definitely some keen chefs and keen bakers. I think there’s a bit of a trend for everybody get in the kitchen and start cooking a little bit, experimenting with different things. I think I’m the most publicly enthusiastic about it, but there are some dark horses on the tour.

Do you have to make all your bakes super healthy?

Oh no. If I bake, I bake proper. I will use the sugar, I will use the butter, I will use the eggs. I haven’t tried any healthy alternatives. I do like my baking to do what it says on the tin.