Original subtitles

ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia...

(CONTESTANTS EXCLAIM)

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God!

..the ooze was their muse...

ANDY: Oh!

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Oh, my God, look at this.

..in a spectacular start to Sweet Week...

ANDY: The goo factor was extraordinary.

..and a pressure test with Poh's perfect pastries...

I have been dreaming of this day forever!

..won a spot on the gantry for Laura. (CHEERING)

And the sparkle of Sweet Week continued for Callum,

when he wrangled those taste test ingredients...

(JUDGES EXCLAIM) Wow!

..all the way to immunity.

SOFIA: I'm blown away. That is crazy.

Crazy cooking.

Tonight, it's an elimination.

Who will be coming up short?

Ready? Yeah.

Let's do this. We're going to kill it.

Get you in the zone.

Elimination day today and, oh, the black apron!

It casts a spell on you.

I think at this point in the competition,

and cooking up against these people that I am,

I need to shine in every cook.

I need to give it 110%.

I'm just keen to see what today's challenge is,

and I'm certainly not ready to go home.

(CONTESTANTS EXCLAIM) Oh, my God.

Oh, they're so cute!

Come down, everyone!

The judges have shrunk.

(LAUGHTER)

Oh, my gosh. We walk in and then there's mini judges.

There's Jean-Christophe, Sofia, Poh and Andy.

Oh, my God!

They look exactly like

the miniature version of our beautiful judges.

Hello!

Oh, my God, that's so cute.

This is crazy.

Morning, gang!

What's so funny?

Looking good, Andy.

Jamie, how do you feel?

I'm feeling really good.

Yeah, absolutely.

Wonderful. Thank you.

Depinder, what's on your mind?

Um, how amazing you guys look today.

I love it.

Andre, ca va?

Hello. Hello.

Alana, how are you?

Very well, thank you, Chef.

This is... This is the best, honestly.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm feeling so fresh today.

I'm feeling fresh too.

Oh, my God, it must be my new skincare routine.

I'm feeling pretty good too.

But I do have one problem.

I'm hungry, so let's crack on.

Oh!

We can do that, yeah.

This may be an elimination, but we have a fantastic day ahead.

(CONTESTANTS CHEER)

And we're expecting unbelievable food. I cannot wait.

Wait, guys, this is a pretty big challenge.

I think we're going to need the big judges.

Please welcome the big judges!

(CHEERING)

Give it up for these legends!

Yes, yes, yes!

Fantastic.

Snez, what's going through your mind?

I have my own mini, you know, mini-me at home,

and this is so emotional for me, I'm loving this, what I see.

It's so, so cute.

Declan, what are you thinking? What's going on?

I can't wait till I can have a little Declan Jr.

(LAUGHTER)

A little clone of myself.

Yeah, but, you know, it's all fun and games,

but someone's going home today.

Um, so... Way to bring the vibe down, bro!

Her face! She's so sad.

AUDRA: The pressure's definitely on today.

Seeing these little mini judges,

I'm trying to figure out what's going on today...

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

..and nothing is entering this mind.

I have no idea what they've got in store for us.

Those kids you just saw are what today's cook is all about.

Mm.

To end Sweet Week in a memorable way,

we want you to create a sweet dish inspired by your childhood.

Ooh. Oh, my goodness.

OK.

I think we all have fond memories of sweets from when we were young,

whether it's a cheeky snack

that we looked forward to eating after school,

or a dessert that we helped Mum make on the weekends.

It's that point in our lives

where we actually start to experience joy through food.

So whatever you make today, have fun and make us feel like kids again.

I think for me - wow, it's a long time ago -

um, on the Thursday we will have maybe creme caramel...

Wow.

..and on Sunday, we will have a tarte.

Oh.

Never forget, as long as I live.

Ah, yeah. Pretty obvious.

No creme caramel or tarte tatin in my joint!

(LAUGHTER) We know that, Andy!

Alright, we're giving you 75 minutes.

You can cook anything you want.

Just make sure your dish is scrummy and packed with nostalgia.

The only limit is your imagination.

Whoever impresses us the least will be going home.

Now, this cook determines who will make it

to the halfway mark of the competition

and who just misses out.

Don't let the pressure get to you.

Your time...

..starts now!

Alright, let's go, guys. Go! Whoo!

DEPINDER: What do I need? I know, that's what I want.

BEAU: Let's go.

I didn't really eat a lot of sweets as a kid.

Maybe, you know, an icy pole here and there.

A little bit of this.

I was more down the hot chips path.

Uh, so for me, I'm gonna have to tap into

some very distant memories and come up with a dish, quick.

THEO: Where's whole cloves?

Oh, it's such a nervous feeling to know

that I'm on the cusp of making it halfway through this competition.

Um...

I am an underdog in this 100%.

Oof! OK.

Back to win.

Run like Donkey Kong.

People have got restaurants, they've got cookbooks,

they've got massive careers in this industry,

and I'm just starting out.

I need to prove myself here and I want to do it today.

This is such a good challenge for me.

So many memories come up

when we're talking about sweet treats

and, you know, growing up in a Greek family,

I had my fair share of sweets.

DECLAN: Muscles!

Oh, my God.

It's all the push-ups. Yeah.

Wrong side of the road! (LAUGHS)

It's literally the exact recipe that my nan used to cook.

CALLUM: Brekkie at Grandma's.

I'm gonna call it "Alana's riff on Nana's golden syrup dumplings."

Ooh, yummy! Nice. Beautiful.

What a gorgeous way to start the day.

How cute were our mini-me's?

I know. Extremely cute. Extremely cute.

My heart was exploding. I know!

I'm really looking forward

to getting that time warp back into our contestants' lives.

Like, I want to hear about their childhoods,

hear their stories... Yeah.

..learn a bit more about where they've come from...

Yeah. ..because your childhood

definitely makes you who you are today.

All of those memories shape us, those food memories.

Yeah, definitely.

And that's what today's all about. Like, tap into that. Yeah.

Bring us a dish that is also fun, a little bit childlike,

but it needs to be elevated.

You know, you run the risk of cooking

what you had around that dinner table.

Yeah, we want to see an evolution of the idea. Yes, yeah.

I want to feel... Bring us the feeling, bring us the memory,

bring us the fun,

but make sure you execute it in a restaurant setting... Yeah.

..because, at the end of the day,

someone's going to go home off the back of this challenge. Yeah.

I love this. I feel like anything nostalgic

just brings so much emotions from when you're a kid.

Today is a day to just bring something really fun.

LAURA: Toddy, what are you making? A bowl of cereal.

Did she say cereal? Cereal.

Who doesn't love cereal?

I know it's a wacky idea, let alone making my own cereal,

but turning it into a dessert

worthy of the MasterChef kitchen on a black apron day.

I'm trying to make a bowl of cereal

that will save me from elimination today.

It is pretty crazy, but I just hope

that it pulls on some of those nostalgic strings

for the judges as well today.

I've decided to combine two of my childhood memories -

the cookies I made with my mum, and a bowl of cereal.

Growing up, Mum would always make

these incredible cookie jars for everyone.

It was literally

everyone's favourite Christmas present.

Oh, cornflakes, Sarah! I love it.

I've got some chocolate cornflake cookies,

banana ice-cream, a spiced tea milk

to pour over the cereal and then lots of little bites.

I've got some candied walnuts, some charred bananas.

I just want it to be playful.

There's lots of little things going on,

and, I don't know, I just feel like I'm going to have to run today.

There's a lot to get done.

LAURA: Come on, guys. CALLUM: Lovely, Beau.

BEAU: So I grew up in the bush and for me, as a kid,

I remember there was this one dish

at a local cafe which I just fell in love with.

Beau-y! Hi. How are you? I'm good. What are you making?

I'm making dessert version of a spider.

So, a cola with ice-cream.

I love that idea!

So how are you getting cola flavour?

Cola, I'm going with, like,

a mixture of brown sugar and raw sugar.

Nutmeg instead of cola nut, some vanilla.

Citrus - lemon, lime.

More of a citrusy cola vibe.

Yeah, wow!

So you're making your own cola flavour, essentially. Pretty much.

Yeah, yeah. I don't want it to be like, uh, brand cola.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I like

that pine lime acid with the ice-cream.

Yep. I want to bring that, but with a cola vibe.

I guess what we'll be looking for is whether it evokes those memories.

Yeah.

And then just getting the balance right.

Sure, yeah. Alright. Good luck, Beau. Thank you.

I remember the first time I had a spider.

I was maybe seven years old at a local cafe in Castlemaine,

and I just remember that magic

of when you put the ice-cream in and it all fizzes up.

Pot, sugar.

First thing I need to do is to make the cola syrup for the granita.

Sugar.

I've made a cola syrup before,

but it was a long time ago

and I can't remember how the ratios work,

so I'm tasting as I go.

I have to nail the balance of flavour

to make sure it does invoke that nostalgia.

I'm in, um...

I'm actually quite emotional today,

especially seeing kids - I miss my kids,

you know, and thinking of my childhood,

it was actually beautiful, you know?

And there's this one dessert

every Serbian celebration would have.

Hi, Snez. Hi, guys. Snez, how are you?

How are you? I'm actually feeling so good.

Yeah? Growing up, there is this dessert

that I literally chased around people's houses

just to have it.

So it's a honey cake.

It's a similar to Russian honey cake,

but my little twist to it.

Layers. Layers, layers, layers.

I think honey cake is my favourite cake. Wow.

It's my favourite cake in the world.

It's the only sweet that I would love eating.

Doesn't honey cake traditionally take

a LONG time to make?

Um, I'm making super-thin-tin-tin layers,

so it's going to be almost like a biscuit-biscuit base,

so when you kind of put it through the filling,

it's just going to soften up really quickly. OK.

So I'll see how I go. Um...

..but, yeah.

Well, it's a hell of a day to find out if you can.

It's a hell of a day, but you know what?

It's also a day to push yourself, and it's kind of really fun.

Good luck. I will nail it, and it's going to be perfect.

Which is the point. Yes, it's going to be perfect. Good luck.

I mean, it's a lot at stake today. It's a halfway mark.

I want to really go for it,

show them a lot of work and technique to kind of stand out.

I'm starting with my cake biscuit first.

My dough is ready. I'm just about to roll it and cook it.

Love. Sounds delish.

Beautiful, Snez.

Let's finish Sweet Week on a high! You've got 60 minutes to go!

Come on! (WHOOPING)

Let's go, guys. LAURA: Come on, guys!

Right...

Nice, Benny. Nice, Benny.

Alright. Nice, Depinder. Very good.

So today, I'm making a dish that's so personal.

It means so much to me.

It has such a deep connection with my childhood in Australia.

So, I was born and raised in Delhi.

I moved here 23 years ago with my family.

It was just the four of us

and it took us ages to find our feet.

We did not have a single family member

that lived here.

We've left all of our family behind.

It was like starting from, like, base zero.

So I'm feeling really grateful for where I am today.

Depinder. Hello. Hi!

Are you happy about this gorgeous little challenge? Yes, I love it.

I actually really, really,

really, really, really, really, really love it.

What are you making? I'm going to do a lamington.

Ah!

So when I first moved to Australia with my family,

obviously you leave behind, like, your food,

your favourite treats.

And when we came here, the first...

Like, it kills me when I talk about it because...

Does it make you emotional? Yeah.

The first treat that I fell in love with was a lamington.

But it was so special because, like, it just reminds me of,

you know, the first house that I rented.

Um...

How we only had one cup.

I know! This is what food does!

I know, I know, it's crazy. Yeah.

But it's such a special dish for me, like a special little sweet treat.

Um, you know, we would walk to the supermarket with my mum,

and on our way back, we'd have lamingtons.

It's a little ritual. Like your little special treat.

That's what it was, yeah. Yeah.

I just want to say, harness this... Yeah, yeah.

..and... Put it into my food!

..inject it into your food, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I really hope so, yeah. Yeah.

Today is literally a full life circle for me.

I actually can't believe

I'm making lamingtons for these judges of MasterChef.

I mean, I couldn't be more grateful for how far we've come in our lives.

Think you can be the next MasterChef?

Only one way to find out. Applications are open now.

Head to the link below and apply. We'll see you in the kitchen.

(LAUGHTER)

Oh, man!

LAURA: Amazing, Andre! Amazing!

Oh, no, he's losing it already.

I am having fun today because it's a fun dish.

it reminds me of my childhood,

as I'm having fun just getting messy with it.

Hi, Andre! Hi.

What are you making today?

It's called the Italian mess.

And so it's basically an Italian version of Eton mess.

So you've got a meringue? Yes. So is it going to be crispy?

Crispy shards, yeah. Crispy shards.

And then fresh strawberries?

Fresh strawberries.

I'm making a basil ice-cream with it.

Ah! Nice. Yeah.

Aged balsamic caramel. Yep.

Such a classic Italian combination.

Yeah. And I love, love, love

the savoury elements, like bringing in the herbs.

So, yeah, looking forward to seeing your version.

Thank you. And, honestly,

I thought, black apron, if I'm going to go out...

Yeah. ..I'm going to go out in an Italian mess.

You're kind of already an Italian mess. I know!

That's what I'm saying, man! Good luck, Andre.

Thank you. Thanks, Poh.

All the cooking that I do

is really built on the foundations of my Italian heritage

and those early childhood memories of togetherness

and eating with our big family.

So we were brought up around the big table. Italian family.

Um, this one's a little bit sexier than I remember.

My meringue's in the oven, my ice-cream is churning,

and now it's time for my balsamic caramel.

Let's go.

Mm!

DECLAN: Come on, Deccy. Don't get messy, Deccy.

LAURA: Go on, Declan.

Jamie!

JAMIE: A shot of coffee. Fair.

Papou!

THEO: Yo! What are you making?

Baklava. Baklava!

Yeah. Yum.

This is such a great challenge for me.

My food memories are huge as a kid.

Like, growing up in an ethnic household,

everything revolved around food,

everything revolved around family,

eating together, happy times.

Like, that's what food is all about, and I feel it today.

Theo! Hello.

SOFIA: Kalimera. Kalimera. How did you know?

I've been to Greece. What have you got for us, mate?

Ah, so very, very traditional in our family - baklava.

Right. So, little cigars, like this,

beautiful filling of all those nuts

and the syrup that goes on top of it is,

you know, perfumed with the cloves, aniseed and all these things. Yeah.

Then I've got a thyme ice-cream as well to go with it.

And I'm just so bursting with excitement today.

I can see it! Ooh! I can feel it!

It's so nostalgic to me.

Like, I would always steal some baklava from my yaya or my mum.

My mouth's watering, like, thinking about it.

It's just like such a cool memory. Nice. Like, it's full-on.

Is it a core recipe in your repertoire as well?

Or is it just... Yeah, it is.

So this is something you're so familiar with. Yeah, it really is.

Um, making your own filo?

Yeah, making my own filo. Nice, nice.

Mate, you've got to... I feel like... It's technical.

..dish is there. Yeah.

Technique is there. Memory is there. Yeah.

Mate, I'm gonna hound you on the time.

Yeah. Because I've seen when you get into these,

like, happy places, you feel like you're cooking at home.

Yeah, it's true. This ain't home.

Yeah, yeah. You know?

So you've still got to push on. Thanks, mate.

Yeah, I appreciate it. Good luck. Thank you.

My dough is resting. My ice-cream is made.

I'm just making the filling for my baklava now.

I want this to be traditional.

So the filling is comprised of three different nuts.

You've got almonds, you've got walnuts, pistachios.

OK, so we're gonna roast them in the oven

and then start rolling out this beautiful filo pastry.

There's been a lot of baklava in my time, that's for sure.

I'm hoping that today...

Well, I KNOW that today I'm going to do a great job.

OK, guys, 45 minutes to go!

Please, come on, keep going! LAURA: Whoo! Come on, guys!

45 minutes, guys. Let's go. Hustle, hustle, hustle!

Come on, guys! CALLUM: Go on, guys! Come on! Beautiful.

Oh, Andre. Looks awesome, Andre. Nice, mate.

Malty, malty goodness.

Bit more malty.

I'm doing my take on going to the movie cinema

with Mum and Dad, and getting a choc top and popcorn.

Working hard every day,

but especially today in the black apron.

I can smell the pandan. Ooh. Oh, I know.

So today I'm going to be making

a pandan crepe, inti and mango sorbet.

So the whole recipe is around everything I ate as a child.

Ah!

I'm doing a little riff on my nana's golden syrup dumpling.

You know, golden syrup dumplings

are typically really, like, sweet and stodgy.

I'm going to make them light, a little bit savoury.

I'm going to do a tarragon ice-cream.

Going to have a bit of fun with it.

LAURA: Yeah, nice, Snez! CALLUM: Nice, Snezza!

Beautiful. Yes!

SNEZANA: You're crazy.

Come on, Snez. Gorgeous. Gorgeous.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: That smells lovely, by the way.

Yeah. It's good.

I'm really loving the way my cake biscuit turned out.

It's beautiful - super thin, smells like honey -

it's all you want.

So I'm really happy with that.

But now, I really need to finish the filling.

My cake is different to the traditional honey cake.

It's because instead of the heavy buttercream mixture in between,

I'm using this creme fraiche.

That's going to offset the sweetness and kind of give it

a little bit of zestiness and sourness.

OK, let's get this layering now.

For this cake,

syrup is usually used

to make the biscuit nice and moist overnight.

But what I'm doing today, I'm going to soak it with warm milk.

It's going to make it softer, quicker.

So it can get as soft as possible.

Beautiful, Snez. Thank you.

Make it perfect.

This really needs time to soak in, to absorb all the flavours.

So, I need to put it in the fridge

as soon as possible before I get onto my tuile.

So much to do.

Oh, who's using passionfruit right now?

That smells delightful.

DEPINDER: Yeah, so much passionfruit.

I'm literally putting my heart and soul into this lamington,

and I'm using some of my favourite flavour combos.

I've got passionfruit, I've got mango, I've got coconut.

It's also got a white-chocolate sponge,

instead of doing a plain sponge.

OK.

For me, the perfect lamington relies completely

on that cake base and that sponge.

It's just something that you really want to execute well.

That texture has to be so seductive and fluffy.

100%.

I 100% agree with you. So, hopefully, I can deliver.

Good luck. I really appreciate it.

I just need to make sure that my dish is well balanced,

each element is really well executed.

I don't want to disappoint Poh.

SARAH: Time's going so quickly!

You would think a bowl of cereal

would take two minutes to put together,

but not this kind of bowl of cereal. (CHUCKLES)

There's 30 minutes to go,

and I grab my chocolate cornflake cookies out of the oven.

They are perfect.

I'm really happy.

My banana ice-cream is in the freezer.

Now I need to make the chai milk anglaise.

Bit sweeter.

When I eat a bowl of cereal,

my favourite part is when I get to the end,

and the milk has soaked up all the flavours from the cereal,

and it's kind of like this infused milk.

So, I want to do a bitter spiced milk

to kind of tie it all together and bring some balance to the dish.

Best bowl of cereal the judges will ever have, hopefully.

It's a totally wacky idea,

and I get that, but I'm just hoping the judges understand it.

Sarah. Hello.

How are you going? Good. How are you?

Fantastic. Today's a good day. Yeah.

Bring back memories? 100%.

And this? This dish?

So I'm having a bit of fun with it, actually.

It's inspired by my mum and the cookies

we used to make together,

but I'm turning it into a bowl of cereal.

Like... Don't look at me like that! Well...

So when you say you're turning it into a bowl of cereal...

Yes. ..what the...?

There's not just going to be cereal with milk poured in?

No. She's doing cereal. OK?

Yeah, cereal. OK.

Yeah, a version. Can't wait to try it.

Thank you. Thanks. Come on, Sarah.

Freaking out.

Andy and Sophia don't quite get it.

OK.

This could go totally wrong.

If this cereal doesn't hit the mark,

I will be going home.

How are you? I'm good, Sarah.

Ah!

You're going to be making us a lovely sweet, yeah? Dessert?

Yes. Yeah.

I'm worried. This could be sending me home.

(LAUGHS)

Like, I'm making a bowl of cereal in MasterChef.

I really want to take the judges on this experience with me

and take them back to being children.

I don't know if it gets better. That age is perfect.

Oh, my God. 10 years old!

So, I have to just power through with this idea and execute it well.

I bloody love these challenges,

where we just tug on the old nostalgia strings a little bit...

Yeah.

..because I can tell that everyone is cooking from the heart.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

There's so much emotion attached to these dishes.

Depinder, she got really emotional, talking about her dish.

Did she?

Yeah, hers is a lamington because they'd have to walk

to the shops to do their shopping after school,

and they always got a lamington treat to walk home with.

How good!

Right. And she's got all her beautiful

tropical flavours going through. Yeah.

But I want that really beautiful, soft, yielding sponge

because that's what that whole lamington experience

is about, don't you think? Yes.

And speaking of cake experience, I'm a little worried about Snez.

She's going to do a honey cake, right?

SNEZ: OK, this will work.

But the thing that that cake needs is time to kind of, like, make it

that beautiful texture, right?

75 minutes - are we going to get that texture? Unbelievable.

Are we going to get crunchy cake? Yeah.

Pushing herself. Yeah. Yeah.

Theo's going full classic Greek. Yeah.

As you might expect. He's making baklava.

And it's something that he makes with his family.

I think it's something that's very familiar to him.

He just has to make the most perfect version of it

that he's ever made for MasterChef. Yeah.

For me, I'm really excited about Beau-y, OK?

He's doing the cola spider.

(LAUGHS) Course he is! How awesome is that?

That's so good.

The only thing, though, is he has to construct

the cola flavour. Yeah. Oh!

So he's using spices and vanilla and a few things.

It's very interesting. Making his own cola from scratch.

Yeah. Whew!

Yes, yes, yes. I'm intrigued.

It could be something which is very, very terrific. Yeah.

Yeah, so I think it's going to be interesting.

I'm really, really excited.

Absolutely. Big time. Yeah.

Let's go.

Pulling the meringue out, I'm feeling great.

It's nice and set and nice and crispy.

Now I need to just give it a little bit of a blowtorch

to get some nice toasty charry-ness into it.

LAURA: Nice, Andre.

My balsamic caramel is coming up a treat,

and my basil ice-cream is in the churner.

It's tasting great - bags of basil flavour.

It has churned. Hallelujah!

Now I need to make the garnishes.

I've got a lot of strawberries and some crushed almonds.

It's a funky mess.

Looks delish, Jamie. Yeah.

I'm making a little ode to my grandmother.

She's passed away, like, literally two weeks ago,

so this is definitely for her.

We've got cookies and corn flakes.

We've got a really dark chocolate cremeux, which is essentially

going to be scraped on the side of the bowl.

So, it's all going to be about, like, fighting

for that last scrape, which is what we did as a kid.

(APPLAUSE)

Nice, Benny.

BEN: Today, I am making a baked apple.

My grandmother used to make baked apple with vanilla ice-cream.

I'm pushing it a bit further.

It's going to have a nice Calvados sauce and a nice shortbread.

I'm gonna make crumble out of that with some lovely nuts as well.

You know, believe or not, my mum used to do something very similar.

Oh, really? Cross country, you see? Coincidence.

Oh! Oh, sorry. Behind you, Benny.

Far out.

There's a lot of running around, eh?

Everyone's in a tizz, flipping out. Elimination.

For my spider,

my vanilla ice-cream is in the churner.

My cola granita is chilling in the blast freezer.

I think I'm hitting the brief today

by having two really solid nostalgia elements.

Boom. So that... Let's go.

But now I need to make this more restaurant-worthy.

To elevate my spider today, it's not going to be a glass of cola

with a scoop of ice-cream in it.

It's going to be a more sophisticated dessert,

so it'll look pretty.

It will have some more adult flavours, like some rum,

a couple of roasted macadamias, some sour cherries.

Gonna thaw out a bit.

I'm gonna stew some cherries to go with that kind of cherry cola vibe.

And because there's a lot of soft kind of stuff,

I'm gonna roast some macadamia nuts

and crush those up for some texture,

but also bring that sundae vibe.

CALLUM: What's Beau doing? LAURA: I'm very confused.

I just don't know if it's gonna taste like a spider.

I love Beau's idea.

I think recreating a spider is so cool because it's something

that's so nostalgic to many of us.

But I just hope that he doesn't kind of lose the fun aspect of it.

And if he makes it too modern

and too, like, sophisticated as a dessert, he might sort of lose

the very essence of what makes a spider cool.

It's a cool thing, it's called a spider is that it does something.

Exactly.

It's like a volcano. Exactly. It erupts everywhere.

It could have been an interactive thing, but it just...

I feel like it misses the nostalgia a little bit.

Oh, I can smell that coconut, Depinder, and the passionfruit.

Mmm!

DEPINDER: I'm really happy with how all my elements are coming together.

I've got my passionfruit curd made.

My mango-passionfruit compote is done.

And I'm about to take my white-chocolate sponge cake out.

It's looking really good.

There's a lot at stake, and I need

to make sure this lamington is perfect.

It needs to have this beautiful, airy sponge.

But white chocolate can sometimes

make the sponge super dense and flat.

I'm trusting my instincts on this one.

I don't have a plan B.

Oh, my God!

It's so spongy. Like, look at it.

I'm really happy.

I don't think I can get it more spongy than that.

I'm so relieved.

Good work, Deps.

I quickly cut this into uniform squares.

I'm going to put it in the fridge to chill,

and move on to my cream-cheese filling.

I don't want to be in the bottom at all today.

Like, I think, top 12, like, I need to be there.

Give us a dish that's too cool for school!

15 minutes to go!

CALLUM: Let's go, guys. Come on.

I'm wearing a black apron,

and that means someone is going home.

I have to be perfect in every single step I make.

So, I've just finished my spiced syrup,

my ice-cream's churning.

I need to check the baklava.

Oh, it's kind of just not caramelling.

I don't like the way they look.

It needs to be golden brown on top.

It won't cook in time.

You've only got two elements, right?

Baklava and ice-cream. And the...and the syrup, yeah.

Yeah. Everything needs to be perfect.

This is the thing with those classic dishes.

Yeah.

Like, they need to be perfect. Yeah. Thanks, mate.

Come on, mate.

Yeah, I don't know. I'm gonna have to go to plan B.

What can I do?

I need to get these crispy, really fast.

I can make a new, fresh batch,

and I'm going to do them in the fryer.

You know, it's not the traditional way.

I just hope the flavours are there.

(SIGHS) OK.

Um, is your ice-cream done, yeah? Mine is.

Yeah, I popped mine.

I'm looking at my ice-cream churner...

Oh, no!

And it's, like, a soupy mess.

What is going on?

You alright? No.

All the wheels are falling off now. Everything's going wrong.

Oh, man.

I don't know how to come back from this.

This is not where I want to be.

LAURA: Theo? What's wrong?

LAURA: Come on, Theo.

Theo, you good? Uh, don't know.

What's wrong?

My ice-cream's not setting.

Less than 10 minutes to go.

I'm freaking out now. This is elimination.

My baklava is not finished yet.

My ice-cream is a pool of mess here.

I don't know what to do.

Bit worried, to be honest.

No. How do I...?

It's not working. The ice-cream's not...

I don't know.

I might have to go over there.

My only option now is to remove this ice-cream

and try to get it together with the liquid nitrogen.

Nice, Papou. Papou!

Nice. Alright.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Theo's got to make an ice-cream at the last minute.

CALLUM: Is it good?

Good. Nice one, Theo.

It works! It's come together!

Amazing! Oh, wow. Wow.

I need to get back to everything else, though.

Good hustling.

Make your inner child proud.

Five minutes to go!

Choux craquelin's cooked perfectly.

The top dipped in tempered chocolate

so you get that crack that'll recreate, like, a choc-top.

I've got some really delicious salty popcorn,

and I'm putting my adult spin on it with a whisky cream on top.

AUDRA: So, right now, I'm actually finishing off the inti,

which is the coconut and gula melaka mix,

that's going to go half for the inside

and half for the crumble.

I've made my little dumplings here.

I've got my golden syrup sauce on the stove here, at the moment.

So, I've got the little crumb in the oven.

It's a fun cook today,

but, you know, at the end of the day, someone is going home.

I'm just going to make sure it's not me.

LAURA: Snez, you're all good? Yeah. I'm good.

I just need to cut it. Come on, let's go.

Three minutes to go. Everything is coming together.

Whew!

I'm finishing this beautiful, crispy tuile to go on top.

CALLUM: Nice, Snezza! Beautiful. Yes!

Now I need to make sure the layers are nice and soft.

If it's not soft enough, it might break when I cut it.

Wow. Oh, Snez!

Nicely done. Beautiful.

It's soft and luscious and very fragrant.

I'm happy, I'm happy.

I'm feeling really confident with my dish.

I might survive Sweet Week,

thanks to this bad guy.

Come on, guys.

Depinder, get it on the plate!

DEPINDER: So time's running out, and I'm assembling the lamington.

Come on, Deps.

Ice that cake. (LAUGHS)

So sticky. Oh, my gosh.

I'm being really gentle because I don't want

to lose the integrity of this beautiful shape that I've achieved.

OK.

Not bad, not bad.

My childhood is definitely inside that lamington.

I've got lots of flavours, so it's very nostalgic.

Hopefully, the judges like it.

Nice, Depinder. Very good.

SARAH: I've really leant into that wacky idea

of a bowl of cereal.

I've added my bananas,

and my caramelised walnuts into the bowl.

I've popped the cookie and cornflake biscuits into a bag.

I've got my chai milk into my milk jug

to pour over the cereal,

and I've got my spoon dunked in the dulce de leche

to give that kid-like energy to the dish.

So I'm hoping that I just haven't taken it too far.

One minute to go! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CALLUM: Go, guys!

LAURA: Come on!

Final touches. Final touches.

BEAU: I'm happy with how my dish is coming together.

I want it to kind of look a little bit like a sundae.

So I want to have those nice bright-red cherries in the bottom

with the roasted macadamia crumb.

Then I'm going to have a couple of balls of ice-cream,

and then a heap of the granita over the top.

I really want to make sure I can invoke that nostalgia of a spider.

Hopefully, this works.

So I'm thinking to kind of go down the path of it looking

like a drink, maybe,

just to have a little tuile straw on top.

Come on, Beau, let's go.

How's it going, Papou? THEO: Yep. She good.

Don't know what happened today. Yeah, I did two types of baklava.

I was trying to bake it in the end.

And the fried one is so much better, so much crispier.

So that's the way I'm going to present it.

But I only did one for the judges.

It's pretty chunky, to be honest. so, yeah,

I'm hoping that it's enough.

We want a blast from your past in 10...

JUDGES: Nine,

eight,

seven,

six,

five, four,

three, two, one!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

ANDY: Well done! CALLUM: Well done, everyone.

SOFIA: Wow.

Well done. You got your ice-cream, right?

(THEO SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)

Yeah. But it's OK.

You could definitely feel the fight in that cook.

I reckon everyone is gunning to stay in this competition.

And when there's challenges like that,

I don't know about you guys, but I just felt like

that was an amazing cook from each and every one of them.

It was huge emotion. SOFIA AND POH: Yeah.

And it leads to incredible dishes,

which makes this tasting very exciting.

SOFIA: Mm.

AUDRA: Good luck, Sarah. Thank you.

I've brought so much nostalgia to this dish,

but my biggest concern is the concept.

Hi. Hi, Sarah.

I just hope that really connects with the judges...

..otherwise, I could be going home.

Sarah, what's your dessert?

My dessert is Sarah's Cereal.

So, crunchy biscuits...

..you can kind of eat straight out of the packet or into your bowl.

(LAUGHS) Ah, that's so good!

POH: So fun!

And then, with that milk that's kind of just

been soaking up in all those flavours.

So, when you get to the end of your cereal,

you can just slurp down the milk and...

(CHUCKLES)

Cool.

And then, a little dunk of your spoon in the caramel jar,

and just resonates with all those things of being a kid.

Oh, how fun! JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Fabulous.

OK, I get the story now.

I get it. (LAUGHTER)

It's very clear now what you were trying to communicate.

It looks great. SARAH: Thanks.

Sarah, we are so excited by the memory,

and we can't wait to taste it.

Thank you. Enjoy. Thanks, Sarah.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Thank you so much. Thank you.

Wow, look at that.

Um, shotty, licking the spoon.

Ooh.

Do you want one?

Thank you.

They smell lovely.

Oh!

Mmm. Totally feel like a little kiddo.

Mm-hm.

Mmm.

I couldn't have felt more childlike.

Mm. It brought back so many memories.

Like, banana - such a childhood, like, fruit.

I know!

It would be the thing that would, like, never leave my lunch box

and just go so brown. (OTHERS LAUGH)

And if that wasn't enough,

that little kind of spiced-tea number that she poured over

just tempered the sweetness on it ever so slightly.

I think she's done such a good job.

To me, it's how the cookie crumbles.

Hey!

So, these little nuggets, when you bite into them,

they're really loose.

Like a cereal should behave in your mouth.

So much nostalgia there.

I love this cook. Hmm.

What is interesting is I would have expected

so much condensed sugar into this dish.

And it's not.

It's light, it's unctuous, it's faultless.

Yeah.

Good luck, Snezzie. Good luck, Snez.

Good luck.

Precious cargo.

I'm looking at my dessert and I'm so proud.

I pushed it really hard.

I made a big risk making a honey cake in 75 minutes.

Hello. Hi.

I'm just hoping the layers are soft

and luscious enough to keep me safe today.

She's cute! (CHUCKLES) What is this cute one?

So, this is my honey cake.

How come this dish, on a day like today?

When it comes to sweets,

when I think of sweets in my childhood,

this is the only one I would chase

and go to other people's houses to eat it.

So, my Auntie Dushka, she's, like, the best at it.

And she's professional and she makes the best one.

Well, Snez, these layers look so alluring.

We can't wait to dive in. Thank you. Enjoy.

Thank you. Thank you.

Wow.

I feel like I want to fly over there.

Like a bee? Bzz! Yeah.

Oh, my God.

Oh, wow.

This cake was such a brave move in 75 minutes.

I thought she was mad when I saw her start.

And to get eight layers, she's done a fantastic job.

There's so much work in 75 minutes.

Obviously the layers are perfect,

and this fantastic mix of sourness

to balance, again, with these lovely honey flavours.

And I loved up to the details -

this little tuile, which is very well done, by the way.

Cooked and all kept together.

She is fantastic. Yeah.

It's a good honey cake.

I've had my fair share of them, and I really, really do love them.

She's nailed the actual cake layer.

It's got those beautiful, warming, fragrant honey flavours in it.

It's got the right texture -

that little bit of chew without being soggy.

And then there's her genius-at-home move

of creme fraiche instead of going hard on the buttercream.

Creme fraiche on the inside, that is a game-changer for me,

because you're just tick-tacking

between a little touch of sourness, sweetness.

And I reckon she's absolutely crushed it.

Deckers. Hello.

Hi, Declan.

Today I've done Declan's choc top choux buns.

(TAPPING)

It's giving choc top vibes. Definitely.

SOFIA: It does have nostalgic flavours.

I mean, with the salty popcorn and the malt ice-cream

and that tempered chocolate on top,

it does give you all the flavours of the cinema.

Hello! Hello.

Hey, Audra. So, today I've made pandan crepes.

Yeah, this is exactly the type of street snack

that I grew up with - the kuih dadar.

And I love that Audra has translated it into a plated dessert.

It's given that pandan perfume

with a really sort of proper, authentic flavour.

Alana!

ALANA: I've made my riff on Nana's golden syrup dumplings.

Mmm.

I frickin' loved this version of golden syrup dumplings.

The use of tarragon has just changed

the whole dimension of what this dish normally is.

She's not only hit the brief,

she has upgraded the golden syrup dumplings

to a place where I didn't even think it could go.

Good luck, Beau. Good luck, Beau-Beau.

Taking my dish up to the judges, uh...

Here he is.

..I can see I've ended up

with, like, a spider sundae.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Wow.

I don't know how that's going to play together.

So, I'm a little bit worried

that I haven't hit that nostalgic brief.

ANNOUNCER: In the mood to cook?

Grab your aprons and try these delicious

MasterChef-approved recipes on 10Play.

Beau, what did you make?

I made a spider splice.

So, when did you used to have spiders?

Uh, like, cafe...

I can remember my first one.

I was, like, mind-blown by the relationship

between cola and ice-cream.

The alchemy. It just works.

Yeah. Yeah.

What's driving you to stay here,

now that today we'll be at the halfway mark?

Uh, it's the fun.

Like, for me, the cooking part and trying to push myself is...

That challenge is fun.

Serving you guys food that you like is fun.

So, all of those things are keeping me here.

Thanks so much, Beau. We're going to taste it.

Thank you. JUDGES: Thank you.

Thank you.

POH: Hmm...

I'm a little bit...

..confused with the dish.

When you get that wonderful ice-cream,

vanilla ice-cream,

and you start mixing it with everything else...

..I wonder if it's a good match.

To be honest, the joy of the spider does come out of those bubbles.

And it didn't have to, like, be some chemical reaction for me,

but even a sherbet

or something fizzy... Sherbet, yeah.

I was wondering that. ..would have gave that sensation.

That's what I love about spiders,

and I just didn't get really anywhere close to that

in Beau's dessert.

The absolute clanger for me, though, are those roasted macadamias.

It just interrupted that daydream of being pulled back into childhood.

Yeah. What that memory was about,

it definitely is not about anything nutty.

It's all about icy against cream. And he had that.

Had he made that edit,

I think it would have been a great dish.

For me, this plate of flavour combinations,

it leaves Beau vulnerable a little bit.

Mm-hm.

(CONTESTANTS MURMUR ENCOURAGEMENT) Thanks, guys.

Lamingtons are very special to me.

I think my version of a lamington would make

11-year-old myself really proud.

Wow. Yeah!

Hi, Depinder. Tell us what you've made.

I've made a tropical lamington.

When I moved from India to Australia,

like, it was the first...

..kind of like a sweet cake kind of thing

that I really got into.

And it became a really, like, almost like a ritual.

We'd... Had to walk if we had to get groceries

during the day 'cause my dad worked crazy hours,

and on the way back, we'd be, like, eating lamingtons.

Yeah.

Oh, my gosh. I'm getting really emotional.

It was really hard.

Like, we had no family in Australia. Like, not a single person.

So, like, we used to walk to our swimming classes,

we used to walk to Coles, we did everything.

Like, when I'm talking to you

about having lamingtons on our way back from Coles,

I'm like, literally visualising myself

walking there with my brother.

It's really, like, vivid, the memory.

Yeah, 'cause we still live in the same area.

Wow!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just crazy.

Thanks, Depinder, we're going to taste it.

JUDGES: Thank you. Thanks, guys.

SOFIA: I need to know what it looks like inside.

Me too.

Ooh, oozy mango bits.

Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. Mm-hm.

Mm-hm.

(JEAN-CHRISTOPHE CHUCKLES)

Mm-hm! Mmm-mmm-mmm.

Totally agree.

Wow.

Um, you know what I loved about it so much

but now I'm kind of regretting

is the fact that, like, I ate it and I wasn't even

kind of comprehending what was happening

in terms of trying to break it down and critique it.

I was just enjoying it.

The joy shovel. Yeah!

It was literally like I was a kid

and I found something for the first time

that I really loved, and it just disappeared.

That sponge is phenomenal.

I had so many doubts about the white chocolate.

Every time someone talks about folding chocolate through a sponge,

it makes me so nervous

'cause it feels counterintuitive. Yeah.

But she's managed to just make it super light, springy.

To me, that is a perfect lamington.

I love the mango - that jammy mango in the middle.

It's like a bit of a tease, a bit of a flirt.

I find myself trying to go in

and kind of scoop the middle out of it,

which is exactly what I did with lamingtons growing up.

But the whole thing together is just divine.

It is an amazing assemblage of goodies.

And it's amazing how food gets you away from sadness.

This definitely delivered a story and also a beautiful result.

G'day, Andre.

Wow, look at that.

ANDRE: Today, I've made

Pav-Smashed Eton Mess, Italian-style.

What I like the most is, in fact, it's everything.

What was excellent is how subtle

the basil and the balsamic was introduced

to such a traditional dish.

That basil ice-cream needs to be in a tub, stat!

Hello, mate.

JAMIE: I've made cookies and corn flakes.

You've got wooden spoons, because that was what you fought for

when Nan was baking.

Mmm.

Jamie's absolutely been able to elevate different memories

from his childhood and from his grandmother

into something that's actually quite sophisticated.

But it's still got a lot of fun to it.

Hello, Ben. Hi, Ben.

BEN: I have made a baked apple with vanilla ice-cream.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Wow, look at that.

Um, I think he just got caught up in that memory so much,

like, you know, he could have done a million other things

to make a baked apple be on this plate.

But when that thing comes to the table,

it's a bit of an eyesore.

Yeah.

(CONTESTANTS MURMUR ENCOURAGEMENT) Thank you.

Today, the wheels fell off big time.

I am super worried.

I will be devastated

if I'm sent home on something that I love so dearly,

something that's part of my family.

Theo. Hello.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Theo. Hi, Theo.

I just hope that there's enough flavours

in that one baklava to save me.

OK, mate, what's the dish?

This is my baklava

with thyme and honey ice-cream.

This is, like, going back

to memories of my yaya, my mum, everyone making baklava.

And the way I used to eat it was with a bowl of ice-cream,

and I would break it all on top,

and I would eat it all together with the syrup as well.

So I want you to be transported back to that.

A lot of good cooking today. Yeah.

Like, your cook didn't go to plan.

You had troubles with your ice-cream, and we've only got one.

What happens if they're, like, the minor flaws

that could send you home?

Yeah. I don't know what happened.

I pressed the wrong button or something.

Like, 15 minutes to go and I was freaking out.

I was like, "Oh, no, this is elimination."

Like, "I want..."

You know, and this is so emotional for me, this cook.

Like, I don't want this to be the one where...

..I leave the competition on.

So, luckily I didn't give up.

And the ice-cream, I think, is saved.

And this is super crispy. And that's the way I liked it.

Yeah. We can't wait to taste.

Thank you.

Thanks, Theo. JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Thank you, Theo.

(CRUNCHING) Huh.

That's the crunch I was waiting for. It's definitely crunchy.

(POH LAUGHS)

The texture is remarkable.

What is inside the cigar,

which is that element of nuts which are roasted.

And also there is a bit of seasoning to the nuts.

It's perfect and it's just enough.

And what is amazing is that ice-cream.

When you think, as a balance,

as an addition to what he has,

I think the conception of that dish is immaculate.

Theo has succeeded in what he set out to do.

You know, when I started to eat this,

I was like, "I could definitely be sitting in front of the TV

"aimlessly smashing this."

You know, the pastry is lovely. It's beautiful golden brown.

I actually liked how it was all a bit gnarly

and, like, splayed out on the plate.

But when that's what you want to achieve on a day like today

when the cooking is so high,

you leave yourself exposed to being out-cooked.

And that's what I'm worried about with Theo today.

It is not what I expected from a regular baklava.

I do love those filo layers.

Um, so it's sort of more like a cannoli sort of a shell.

I think I did miss that syrup soak through the layers,

and I know that that's the very reason

why he used this method - because he doesn't enjoy that.

I still... I still did enjoy it, I have to say.

I did enjoy it,

on the level that he envisaged, which is sitting on the couch.

But what worries me is that, today, there are people

that have taken an idea like that but taken it to a level

where it can be served in a restaurant,

so that's what he's competing against.

And, for that reason, I'm not sure if Theo has done enough.

There's no better way to wrap up Sweet Week

than with the sweetest challenge.

I'm still not over the cuteness of those mini judges.

(ALL CHUCKLE)

They were cute. Yeah.

All your childhood treats had us grinning from ear to ear.

Three of you delighted both our hearts and our tastebuds.

Sarah, you gave us a bowl of pure joy.

So, so nostalgic and straight up yum!

Congratulations. Thank you.

Depinder...

..that was the ultimate sponge, the perfect lamington.

Thank you.

Snez...

..an eight-layer cake that good in 75 minutes?!

You are unstoppable.

Well done, all of you. You're safe.

Right. Deep breath, everyone.

If I call your name, step forward.

You're in danger of going home.

Beau.

And Theo.

Oh, my goodness.

Both of your dishes, they were enjoyable to eat...

..but one just really missed the mark on recreating that childhood joy

that we were after.

So, I'm sorry to say...

..Beau, mate, you're going home.

Thanks, mate. I'm sorry.

Damn.

Oh, Beau.

Beau, you really have come leaps and bounds since day one.

And we hope that confidence continues to grow back home.

How have you surprised yourself in this competition?

Probably, like, not getting booted off first.

(ALL LAUGH)

Yeah, like I'm actually shocked I made it this far, so...

It's been really good.

The best bit's just hanging out with these guys.

Yeah.

Declan, going to miss your mate?

Yeah, gonna miss my mate Beau, for sure.

I think we really clicked from day one,

and, um, he's been an awesome mate to hang out.

But I know he'll be going home and working on cookbook volume two.

(ALL LAUGH)

As long as I get a feature in the next one.

Oh, my God!

Well, for now, Beau, it's time to say goodbye.

Well done, mate. Thanks, mate.

See you later.

I'm absolutely proud of myself.

It was wild competing on MasterChef again.

I didn't think that would ever happen.

Hey! Thanks, mate.

See you. I'll see you later.

You were amazing.

To have this opportunity was really special,

to learn again and to grow

and to just get passionate about food again.

Give it up for Beau, everybody!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

ANNOUNCER: Still to come this season...

Welcome to Doha!

(JOYFUL SCREAMS)

..it's a blockbuster of a culinary adventure.

We want to be as in awe of your dishes

as we are of this city.

Plus...

Maggie Beer!

Hugh Allen!

Philip Khoury!

Nornie Bero!

Julie Goodwin and Nat Thaipun!

The action at home...

He's back! (CHEERING)

Let's go!

..is inspirational...

It's an awesome idea.

LAURA: It's something magical.

This is a dream come true.

..as they celebrate...

Oh, my God!

..the pure joy...

Look at that. Ah!

Whoo! Good job!

..that comes from incredible food.

Yeah!

POH: That is delicious. An absolute ripper.

Your dish is epic. I am flabbergasted.

ANDY: Dishes like this don't just win immunity,

they win the competition.

But... Argh!

Keep going, Theo.

..it will also challenge them...

Oh, God. Come on, mate, don't give up.

..to the limit.

One small thing can send you home.

Oh, my God. What's happened?

It's OK. It's OK. Shake it off.

You're incredible. Doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter.

You've got this, you've got this.

Thank you. You've got this.

And with every cook,

they get one step closer

to the trophy

they're all back to win.

Captions by Red Bee Media