Masterchef’s Fond Farewell to a favourite

Masterchef’s Fond Farewell to a favourite
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 29TH 2014;Contestants on Masterchef Series 7 pose for portraits on Saturday the 29th November 2014 at the Masterchef Kitchen Studios in Melbourne Australia. (Photo by Martin Philbey) *** Local Caption ***Masterchef Contestants Portraits

Anna Polyviou of Sydney’s Shangri-La Hotel set a tough pressure test for Fiona, Rose and Jacqui in the MasterChef Australia kitchen last night.

The “punk princess of pastry” revealed their task was to make her award-winning carrot cake, a dish that Anna admitted her staff and herself have struggled to create. With 12 elements, 40 steps and three hours on the clock, it was a mammoth task to complete.

While Fiona and Jacqui got straight on to making their sorbet, Rose pored over the recipe and fell behind the others. Jacqui approached the pressure test in a methodical fashion, while a flustered Fiona’s bench was in chaos. Fiona ran into problems with her cold press juicer and then realised that her scales had been set to ounces instead of grams, forcing her to start again from scratch.

Fiona wasted more time stirring, not whisking, her praline crema element. In her hurry to finish, her cream cheese mix was lumpy and her cake assembly was rushed. All three contestants abandoned the tempered chocolate discs, but pushed hard to add Anna’s important “graffiti” touch.

Rose battled to master her glaze but ran out of time for her cream cheese foam. Handling the pressure well, Jacqui was the front runner but became frustrated with her sticky caramel glaze. During the tasting the judges were impressed by what the contestants had achieved, with Anna saying it was a really good effort.

Rose was praised for her interpretation, particularly her vibrant sorbet and her cake, which the judges liked best. With Rose safe, Jacqui and Fiona faced elimination. Fiona’s cake lacked texture and was not structurally as good as Rose’s cake. There were also problems with the flavours of her cream cheese and her sorbet, which Anna described as a bit “weird”.

Jacqui’s glaze was too sticky but her crema, ice cream, cake, crunch and gel were very good. Ultimately, Fiona was eliminated because her cake lacked definition . Fiona is now working as a marketing consultant for Yarra Valley Dairy and is developing a business plan for her own bed and breakfast.

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