He’s wowed the judges with his flavourful shortbread swirls and perfectly baked drizzle cake, but Jonathon Willow’s success on The Great Kiwi Bake Off is no surprise as the Brit confesses he was raised in his father’s restaurant.
“The story goes that they’d put my cot in the middle of the restaurant, so my babysitters were chefs!” tells the 53-year-old.
“My first memories are playing in the kitchen and cooking.”
Jonathon’s late mum was also an amazing cook and he loved watching as she prepared the family’s Sunday roast every week, and was always delighted when she would let him help decorate the top of the apple pie.
When he left school, Jonathon tried to pursue a career in the kitchen, but he quickly discovered that he much preferred the manufacturing and retail side of the food industry.
“My dad really wanted me to follow in his footsteps, and I tried, but the lifestyle of split shifts and late nights wasn’t for me.”
But he never lost his love for cooking. Now, Jonathon is passing his passion for food on to his 16-year-old daughter Mollie, whom he shares with wife Michelle.
Brits Jonathon and Michelle love the Kiwi lifestyle
During New Zealand’s first lockdown in 2020, the pair were desperate to find something to break up the monotony of working from home. So, every day they would head to the kitchen and whip up loaves of fresh bread and delicious cakes.
“We found that getting together in the kitchen gave us a bit of quality time to decompress from the weird situation that was Covid,” Jonathon tells. “It was our place to connect and listen to each other. I think it did as much to help my mental health as it did hers.”
Passed the taste test! Mollie is her dad’s best critic.
Jonathon, Mollie and Michelle, who works as a NICU nurse, have always been a tight-knit family, but even more so since they moved to New Zealand seven years ago.
Jonathon came here on a work trip and the diving fan immediately fell in love with Aotearoa’s adventurous lifestyle.
He brought the family over and they explored Northland and Milford Sound, and Michelle and Mollie were convinced to make the move.
Mollie was only nine when they left the UK and was understandably upset about leaving behind her friends and family. But Jonathon says they had no reason to worry as she quickly adapted to the Kiwi way of life.
“Within six months, she had a strong Kiwi accent, she was walking around with no shoes on and she was calling sweets lollies. She was so happy,” he enthuses. “A couple of years ago, we sat down as a family to make the decision about whether we were going to apply for citizenship. Mollie, who was only 14 at the time, said, ‘If you go back, I’ll stay here.'”
As he continues to impress on Bake Off, Jonathon says he has grand plans to use his new food knowledge to create a cookbook that encourages dads to get in the kitchen.
“I’ve got a mission to get men cooking with their kids. I know how beneficial it was to help me develop as a parent.”
Lucas Neal
Like many keen bakers, Lucas Neal’s creativity in the kitchen was inspired by his grandmother, Thelma. She made her money creating elaborate cakes for weddings and birthdays, and Lucas says he would spend hours as a child sitting in the kitchen watching her work.
“Every year before my birthday, she’d pull out all her books and I’d get to pick from the hundreds of choices,” tells the 27-year-old. “You knew that whichever cake you picked, it would look exactly like the picture. The first showstopper I made on Bake Off was inspired by the treasure chest cake she made when I was five.”
Sadly, when Lucas was in his early teens and he was starting to experiment with baking, Thelma suffered a stroke and her health never recovered enough for her to return to the kitchen. When she died a few years later, he happily took up the role of chief baker for the family.
Lucas’ gran Thelma was the queen of cake-making.
“She couldn’t really bake any more, so I had to teach myself a lot of stuff,” he recalls. “But I used all of her recipes and she gave me a lot of her supplies as well.
“It definitely felt like she passed on the mantle – it’s become my role in the family now. Every time I go home for Christmas, my mum hands me the list of desserts I need to make.”
Now that his friends know just how talented he is in the kitchen thanks to The Great Kiwi Bake Off, the Wellington-based theatre set designer says his friends are already lining up with requests for their next special occasion. But Lucas explains he’s learned a few tips from his grandmother in that department as well.
“A few years ago, we found her notebook with the notes about each cake she made and we discovered there was no family discount – she would charge everyone full price!”
Watch The Great Kiwi Bake Off on Thursdays at 7.30pm on TVNZ 1.
