Sunday, November 24, saw people around Australia watch on as John Demetrios claimed the 2024 Dessert Masters title.

John was joined in the famous kitchen by pastry chef and artisanal dessert store, GLACÉ, owner Christy Tania, and MasterChef alumna and cookbook author Emelia Jackson.

The trio were tasked with creating two original dishes inspired by the colours of Australia: green and gold.

Judges Melissa Leong and Amaury Guichon were joined for the finale by 2023 contestants Kirsten Tibballs, Adriano Zumbo and season one winner Gareth Whitton.

John drew on his own personal history for his two dishes. For the green dish John said he was inspired by the fig tree that grew in his childhood backyard, and created a fig leaf ice cream with a white chocolate crémeux and lemon myrtle. For the gold dish John turned his attention to the Victorian Goldrush, creating a chocolate cake soaked in whiskey syrup with a cocoa nib crunch disc, a caramel chocolate parfait, and a brown butter emulsion.

Both dishes received warm praise from the judges, landing John with a score of 38 out of 40, including a perfect 10 from Melissa. Emelia came in a close second on 36 points and Christy placed third with 30 points.

Baking Business were lucky enough to catch up with John, Emelia and Christy shortly after the grand finale aired to hear about the experience, and what the future holds for each of them.

Emelia Jackson, Christy Tania and John Demetrios at the 2024 Dessert Masters grand finale

John Demetrios

Can you tell me about the grand finale?  How was it to see yourself win and see Melissa turn that perfect 10 at the end?

Yeah, it was such an amazing experience, and watching it back, you know, I got the Goosebumps as well. It was amazing.

Can you take us back to your thoughts as you were walking into the grand finale and see the green and gold set ups? What is going through your head when that’s happening?

Straight away – green and gold – I just thought of Australia. So I wanted to tell my story a little bit through that, and give a little nod to my hometown. I knew it was going to be my last cook, regardless of what happened. So I tried to be conscious to enjoy the moment as well. Not be too stressed about it.

How is it being in the Dessert Masters kitchen? 

It’s an insane amount of pressure, and it’s so foreign. It’s not like just cooking at work. Nothing can really prepare you for cooking against the clock and things like that. But you know, by that stage of the competition, it was my 10th cook, so I had definitely warmed up and was more comfortable than ever.

Can you tell me a bit about the Desserts Masters experience in itself? How did you decide that this was something you’d like to do, and how do you prepare going into a series like this?

I think the most enticing thing was that it was just such a foreign challenge. I’ve never done anything like it before, being on TV or also cooking in a competition. I think that was the biggest draw card – to just see if I could actually do it. And yeah, I came out on top.

Did you have any particular standout experiences or cooks that you really enjoyed?

I think the biggest challenge was when we had to do one of Amaury’s techniques, mainly because it’s completely new. I haven’t done that before and it could have definitely gone pear-shaped. I chose to do the hardest one, and in the end it was really rewarding, because I won that one.

Why did you decide to do the hardest one? What was it that drew you to that one?

I just thought this is the opportunity to give it a crack. I never would have bit that off in the real world. I was just like, “You know what? Let’s go all in” and it paid off.

What have you been doing for the past few months since filming finished?

I’ve been getting a lot of love from people, which has been great. Old friends are coming out, and everyone’s just given me so much support. I’ve been trying to enjoy this as well, because I know it’s going to be short and sweet. I’m just actually preparing for my next steps. I’ve been doing a lot of planning and I’m planning to open a little bakery now in the new year.

That’s exciting! Whereabouts will the bakery be?

Inner-city Melbourne, and it will be a pastry-focused bakery. Something that’s not intimidating, and it’s for the locals. I just want to build this sort of place where I want to be basically.

What else does the future hold for you? 

That bakery is the main focus for now, but you know I want to keep my fingers in a few pies. I would like to get this project going but who knows what the future will hold. I still love restaurants as well. Anything can happen.

Last year’s winner, Gareth Whitton said nothing can really prepare you for the reality of being in the Dessert Masters kitchen. What advice would you give to someone else considering this, or who’s been given the opportunity?

I think if, if someone’s considering it, definitely put your foot forward. Give it a crack. It’s a super rewarding experience. And for me, personally, it was completely different to any other type of cooking I’ve done, which I underestimated walking in there.

It looks like it was really good cohort of people that you’re working with and filming with.

It was an incredible group of people. We all just got along really well from the start, and we’re all in touch now. So I think we got really lucky in that aspect.

Emelia Jackson

Congratulations making it to the Dessert Masters grand final. Can you share a bit about the experience? 

It was really fun to watch it back. During it, while I was cooking, it was quite chaotic and stressed and frantic in my head. So getting to watch it back in a nice, calm environment with my family was lovely.

How was it walking into the kitchen that last time and seeing the gold and the green set up? 

The anticipation while waiting outside those doors before the grand finale is a feeling unlike any other. It’s quite hard to explain. It’s kind of hard to explain that feeling of anticipation walking in there and knowing that you’re about to spend some gruelling hours working as hard as you possibly can.

Seeing the two green and gold set-ups was amazing, though. It brought the entire feeling to life. It was quite thrilling.

Where did your head go when you were told the theme and what you had to make? Did you have some kind of ideas you knew you’d like to play around with?

I definitely walked in there hoping I would be able to make a Paris-Brest. It’s almost becoming my signature [dish] as I move through the years. And it’s genuinely what I love to make the most out of anything. We all know I love making choux pastry, but there’s something about the Paris-Brest that just has my heart.

So when I saw the gold theme I knew I that that was the one for me. The green I found a little bit more challenging to come up with. I think I said I just wanted to be authentically myself, and so I was kind of trying to draw on inspirations where I could.

All our hearts were in our mouths when you’re presenting the dish to the judges and you were worried your entremets was frozen in the middle. How did it feel to put that in front of the judges and have them say it was perfect?

Well, they didn’t say that in front of me. I didn’t know. My entremets mould was almost like a doughnut shape. When I was trying to get them up to temperature, I was kind of sticking a finger in that little hole so I could feel the centre. It still felt too chilled for me.

Leading into the second dish I was so down on myself. I just was really upset leading into our second dish. I wish someone could have just told me, “snap out of it. It’s totally fine”. I didn’t know what it was going to be like and I kind of let the panic get to me.

You’ve been in the MasterChef kitchen multiple times now. What is it that you love so much about the kitchen, the show and the process?

It’s just such an incredible place for creativity. It’s a really unique experience – one that I really struggle to say no to it. It’s amazing how that little kitchen can bond a bunch of strangers in the way that it does. It’s a magical place.

John also mentioned your cohort was just incredible and that everyone was friends. 

I don’t know if it’s rare or not, but to me it feels rare when literally everyone in the competition is just so happy with the winner. I felt so – and I still feel so – honored and grateful to be able to even have competed in the same place as John. He is such an incredible pastry chef. We all just became such great friends and there’s just something magical about the MasterChef experience. It’s so unique and just bonds people for life.

How have the past few months been since you’ve finished filming? You have recently launched a new cookbook – congratulations.

Thank you.

What have the last few months been like for you?

It’s been chaotic for me. The release of a cookbook, there’s so much sort of behind the scenes that goes into it. It’s been two years of work to get to the point of it being on shelves, so that’s been my main focus, and definitely spending time with my son. So I’ve been juggling quite a few different projects, which has been fun.

Where can we see you for the next few months?

I don’t do so well with downtime. So in the next couple of weeks I am going to be at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival’s Christmas markets.  The following week I will be doing a hands-on Christmas baking course in Northcote, and then next year, I am going to be amping up my hands-on classes. We’ll be offering them more frequently, which is available online. And I will be working on my third cookbook.

Incredible. That’s very exciting.

That will be the main project for the year. That’s what I love to do.

Christy Tania

Congratulations on making it to the Dessert Masters grand final. How was it watching  with the rest of us?

To be honest, I was really interested in hearing what the judges had to say, because we didn’t know what they were saying. So it was good to see that.

There were so many things that maybe I had forgotten the details of, and I could see it again last night. I didn’t know, also, what Emelia or John presented, so it was my first time also seeing their dishes, so that was really good.

How was it walking into the kitchen and hearing about the final challenge?

Well, to be honest, for myself I was sort of prepared to make multiple dishes, based off last year’s grand finale, and at the end of the day it is grand finale. During the on the semi-final we made three, so we were like OK that’s fine.

Of course the game is higher, you know? You need to make it a lot more refined. I think the three of us came in there very ready and in the right mindset to fight for it.

Was there anything that you wanted to particularly make in the grand finale? Or a few concepts that you knew that you’d like to put in place?

I very much wanted to showcase quite a lot of skills that I can put on a plate. That’s what I really wanted to showcase. And then also, the theme being green and gold, which is obviously Australian colours, so I was trying to put as much “Australia” in it, both from the flavours and the produce, you know? Just to pay homage to this country that has embraced me so well.

I guess that’s what I tried to put on a plate, you know, to do justice for the great experience that I’ve got ever since I landed here in Australia.

How was the process joining Dessert Masters? What was your initial thought when you were approached, and what made you decide to actually join?

Most people know I’d checked out of the industry for a year. When my son was born, I decided – because he might be the only one – that I wanted to devote my life to this kid, because I wanted to be there for his foundational years. Hospitality in general is really struggling, so I was like, “You know what? I just want to see. I can always find my footing again. I can check out for a little bit. What is my priority right now?”. And at that time it was my son, so I checked out for 12 months.

Then, just when I was thinking it’s time to go back in – he had just turned one – and I got a phone call asking if I wanted to join [Dessert Masters]. I remember talking to the executive producer saying that I hadn’t been in the kitchen for so long, and I said “I just hope I don’t get eliminated first”. That’s where I was at because I didn’t think I still had it in me. It’s like muscle memory, you have to keep using it all the time.

Part of the decision to join was about me trying to see if I’ve still got it, and part of it was also to see if I should stay in this industry or not.

I’d forgotten how it feels to have the thrill and to let the creativity go wild because of so many factors that is just limiting of what I could create. Of course, there is the cost factor, but there is also what the market actually wants and whether I am filling that need of the market. But the thought of being able to create whatever I want to create at no expense… when I’m making a chocolate sculpture, which is like five kilos of chocolate, that’s a privilege. It’s something that not many pastry chefs could do. I think that’s was one of the biggest factors about why I said let’s do it.

You also said during the grand finale that you kind of found your way back to pastry through this. Did it reignite your passion, or your interest in the industry a little?

Definitely. It was something that I thought I’m going to totally miss out on. I was ready to give it up, simply put. I was thinking whether it’s worth it for me to fight for it. But when I was there, I was like, “I love it. I still really, really love it so let’s just fight till the end”, which is basically the motto I carried through each episode.

What do the next few months hold for you?

A lot! Coming into November, December we do a lot of wholesale, so a lot of events and things like that. So that’s going to be really busy for us. And we have just launched a masterclass. One of the best things about the people that I met during Dessert Masters is the friendships, and then the admiration I have for their skills. They’re all different, but they’re all very skillful in their field.  And a book! I’ve got a few things. And next year I may launch a dessert degustation night, because this has really reignited my passion and creativity.