‘MasterChef Australia’ 2016 recap and spoilers: Matt unwisely takes a back seat and lets Elena lead; their chocolate dessert leaves a bitter taste in judges’ mouths

It’s all about chocolate on the third pop-up restaurant challenge for the Heston Blumenthal week. In episode 43 of “MasterChef Australia” Season 8, which aired on June 28, eight contestants cooked their hearts out to pay homage to what is dubbed as the food of the gods.

Taking the cue from Heston, the home cooks had to be adventurous in using chocolate in their respective dishes to impress him, as well as judges Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston. In what could be his most crucial mistake in the season so far, Matt Sinclair decided to let Elena Duggan take the reins and it ended up in a complete disaster. The two found themselves on the chopping block, which means they have to battle it out with the other contestants to stay in the competition. It’s quite disheartening for them to lose the chance to cook at the last Heston pop-up, and consequently, fail to make history in the upcoming challenge.

Spoiler Alert! This article contains "MasterChef Australia" Season 8 spoilers. Read only if you want to know more about it.

Network Ten posted a sneak peek of Wednesday’s episode, which centres on the fourth and final pop-up restaurant. The remaining contenders for Heston week are thrown back in time, as they try to decipher and make sense of recipes made as early as 1940.

Unlike the previous pop-up challenges, Elise Franciskovic, Harry Foster, Mimi Baines and Theresa Visintin are going to compete individually. Each home cook will take inspiration from the past as they fight for their future in “MasterChef Australia.” There’s still one spot left in the upcoming pressure test, and it would be exciting to know who will cook their way to safety and who will be one step closer to going home.

“MasterChef Australia” Season 8 recap

At the beginning of the cook, the six contenders in the running found themselves at the University of Melbourne, where they faced Heston, Gary and Matt. Judge George Calombaris was not present in that episode. The judges told the “MasterChef Australia” hopefuls what they’re up against that day: chocolate. They were told that they’d be working in three teams to prepare a three-course dessert for 30 competition winners.

The contestants were then paired off and assigned with a type of chocolate and their order of service. Elise and Theresa made up the red team to serve the first course, which is an all-white chocolate dish. Following suit was the blue team composed of Matt and Elena, who were tasked to use milk chocolate. Mimi and Harry became the yellow team to plate up the last course, with dark chocolate as the hero ingredient.

They were then ushered in to the exact location of their pop-up restaurant: an underground car park. Elise and Theresa immediately began planning their dish, and ideas flew all over. When Heston came over, he advised the two ladies not to get too ambitious. However, they said they wanted to take the risk.

The red team soon found out that they got too much on their plate. Theresa started to regret some elements of their dish, which consumed much time and effort. Their original concept started to crumble, and with time running out, they decided to let go of some of their ideas. For one, they wanted to do ice cream to provide relief from the white chocolate’s sweetness. However, when they tried to freeze it with liquid nitrogen, it became a lumpy mess.

Elise and Theresa also ran into trouble in terms of their plating. When it was time for service, they still hadn’t completed including all the elements on their dishes. Elise even had to run after the waiters to put more stuff. In the end, however, Heston’s plate missed a raspberry. They knew they were in big trouble.

Their dish, called Life is Like a Box of Chocolates, was still well-received by the judges. Composed of caramelised white chocolate crumb, lemon and chocolate crème, coconut with white chocolate and a few chocolate surprises, the dessert earned fair reviews. The chocolate crumb and crème were commended, however, there was nothing in the plate that toned the sweetness down.

Over on the blue team, Elena had a clear vision in her mind about their dessert. She worked smoothly with Matt and they were confident with their dish. However, when they served their dish, the judges questioned their presentation. It seemed that Gary had a different visualization of what their dish – Japanese Garden Pond – was going to be. The judges and guests tasted the dessert made of green tea jelly, milk chocolate rocks, sesame crumb, dehydrated raspberry and matcha. The judges thought the raspberry was great, as well as the sesame crunch and the rocks, which were oozy and fresh. On the other hand, the Heston, Matt and Gary didn’t like the jelly’s weird texture and bitter taste.

Mirroring the blue team’s confidence and teamwork, Harry and Mimi worked efficiently on their bench. Their dish, called Black Forest Floor, was Harry’s brainchild. His decision to take time and pay attention to details paid off in a big way. The judges absolutely loved all the elements in their plate, including the dark chocolate mousse, tempered dark chocolate logs, cherry coulis, choc earth and fresh berries. It was deemed as a “proper chocolate dessert,” and was unanimously voted as the best dish of the night.

After announcing the winning dessert, the judges moved on to the losing team. They said that they simply can’t overlook the flawed elements of one pair’s dish. For their plating mess, Matt and Elena were informed they would join the other four contestants in the upcoming elimination challenge.

Find out what happens next on “MasterChef Australia,” and stay tuned for episode spoilers. “MasterChef Australia” Season 8 airs every Sunday to Thursday at 7.30pm on Ten.