Evrybody’s favourite nonna, Gina Ottaway has been eliminated from MasterChef Australia after stumbling recreating an incredible birthday cake pressure test set by Katherine Sabbath.
Following Sunday night’s Croquembouche 2.0 invention test, Gina along with Jess, Sashi and Sarah battled it out making Katherine’s six-layered sweet treat featuring Swiss merengue buttercream and tempered white chocolate shards.
As soon as time started Gina was out of her comfort zone. Timing and precision was key in a recipe like this, but she planned to push herself and hoped to scrape through. Jess started on her Swiss merengue buttercream knowing it would need time to chill in the fridge. She dissolved sugar into egg whites before whipping them until they were light and fluffy. Gina was at the same step, and when the merengue was at stiff peaks she started adding softened butter.
The recipe called for freeze dried raspberries to be mixed into the pink buttercream and while Sarah and Jess mastered it, Gina forgot the step and was forced to go back and re-do it, but in her haste she forgot to split the pink buttercream in two, and leave half as it is. Instead she added raspberries to it all, leaving no plain pink buttercream to cover the outside of the cake. When she realised what she had done she was devastated, knowing it would change the cake so greatly from the original.
Ready to temper the chocolate for the shards to sit atop her cake, Gina started by melting her white chocolate in the microwave. She was motoring on but her heart sank when she looked down and realised she had failed to set a timer for the cakes in the oven, now forced to go off feel and intuition.
With an hour to go she wasn’t sure about her cakes and whether they would be cooked but she needed to give them time to cool so pulled them out. Slicing one lengthwise she was gutted to see there was a hole in the middle, it needed more time in the oven. Knowing a pressure test also comes down to flavours, Gina was committed to putting up a version to keep her safe, even though she knew it wouldn’t look like Katherine’s.
When she assembled her cake, her shiny beautiful chocolate shards were wedged into the top, and she was happy with the snap to her tempered chocolate.
When they tasted the judges were happy with Sarah’s cake, it was bouncy, moist and cooked through. Jess’ presentation was near perfect but Gina’s was off – the batter was uncooked and the cake did not resemble Katherine’s, forcing her out of the competition.
Since leaving the MasterChef Australia kitchen, Gina has worked at Rick Steins at Bannisters. She is talking with other nonnas about their own recipes, with plans for a cookbook.
