Tonight’s episode of Junior MasterChef Australia was all about delicious donuts and daring dreams as we farewelled another two talented chefs from the Junior MasterChef kitchen.
First off, the contestants learnt what it meant to achieve your dreams, when they met guest judge Morgan Hipworth. At the age of 15, and inspired by previous contestants on MasterChef Australia, Morgan started a pop-up donut shop and sold over 10,000 donuts in just eight days.
Now aged 19, he owns his very own successful café in Melbourne, Bistro Morgan Bakehouse.
Inspired by Morgan’s success, the juniors entered a two-round elimination challenge, which would ultimately decide which two cooks would be eliminated from the competition.
In round one, the tiny chefs had just 45 minutes to create a topping and a filling for some donuts that Morgan had prepared earlier. The top three dishes would earn their makers a spot on the gantry, while the others would head into round two.
Georgia, Carter and Vienna impressed the judges with their tropical and classic themed doughnuts, and they joined immunity winners Laura and Ruby on the gantry. While Filo, Ben, Phenix, Salvo, Tiffany and Dev got ready to cook for their place in the competition.
Morgan turned his boyhood dream into a reality, and so for round two, the judges asked the junior cooks to create their dream dish. With just 75 minutes on the clock and an open panty, the contestants had to bring their A-game to avoid elimination.
As time began, Dev decided to bang the immunity gong and avoided elimination, which left the other five fighting to keep their Junior MasterChef Australia dream alive.
Inspired by their respective dreams, Filo, Ben and Tiffany blew the judges away with their creative, heartfelt and flavourful dishes, and were safe from elimination.
Phenix’s dream was to follow in her family’s footsteps and open a feel-good bakery, so she decided to cook her signature coffee cake with a walnut and pistachio crumble. And while the judges enjoyed the overall flavours of her dish, unfortunately the texture of the crumble let her down.
Salvo’s dream was steeped in nostalgia as he recalled holidays in the Amalfi Coast when he was younger, and he decided to cook a tuna and prawn burger reminiscent of the fried seafood he ate on those family holidays. While the judges applauded Salvo for showing them he can cook seafood as well as meat, his prawn and tuna burger didn’t hit the mark.
In the end, the judges announced that it was Salvo and Phenix whose time in the Junior MasterChef kitchen was up, and they received a fond farewell from their fellow cooks.
