We’re getting to the pointy end of the Dessert Masters competition now, and in the semi-final of the season, we had yet another double elimination which saw both Reece Hignell and Jana Lai sent packing.
Chattr spoke with Reece off the back of his tremendous journey to the final stages of the competition, where he shared insights into his Dessert Masters experience, as well as who he thinks will win in 2024!
Reece Hignell and the Dessert Masters journey
When asked about how it has felt to look back at the Dessert Masters journey as a whole, Reece shared, “It’s been really fun, actually. I’ve absolutely loved it.”
While he did feel that the semi-final was his time to head home from the Dessert Masters kitchen, “All in all, I was really proud of what I’d done [throughout] the entire journey,” he told Chattr.
“When I was able to kind of reflect on that and be really happy about what I’ve done, it made the whole ending a bit easier as well, like, in my mind. So, then I could celebrate my three friends who made it to the final rather than being upset.”
Reece continued, explaining that reality cooking shows like Dessert Masters all “have their ups and downs”, but the secret sauce lies in living “on the highs”.
“If you’re going to really be weighed down and defined by your lowest point, then you’re probably taking the opportunity a little bit incorrectly, in my mind,” he said.
“I just live by the highs. You know? I may be a bit delusional, but I just live on the highs!”
And he certainly did experience many highs on the show.
Looking back to the beginning of the Dessert Masters competition, Reece shared that his dessert trolley – the first thing he cooked – was a real point of pride for him.
“It’s something that I do back home in Newcastle; we have a dessert trolley at the QT hotel. It’s just so much fun that I was able to bring that onto the TV and to show people, one: classic cakes are cool. But, two: I can do a lot in a little bit of time, you know? Like, a whole trolley worth of cake, and I love that,” he shared.
While three hours may have felt like a blink to some bakers, for Reece, it was “fabulous, to be honest”.
“I’m coming from MasterChef, where you get one hour! “When they said three hours, I’m like, ‘I’m doing a whole trolley!'”
What did the experience teach Reece?
For some, the experience of stepping into a cooking competition show is a rather stressful one, but Reece shared that, for him, it was an absolute joy.
“Think about your favourite hobby; whatever you love doing the most at home, and that’s cooking for us. And then you’re just given free rein of like, a Willy Wonka factory, and you get to do whatever you want. It’s just so much fun. I miss it so much,” he said.
What the journey taught him, Reece shared, is that the path he is following is the right one for him. And it proved that classic desserts deserve praise and respect, too.
“What it did was it told me what I’m doing is the right thing,” he said.
“I think the fact that I was making my Nan’s sponge cake, and it’s deemed as worthy as, like, Emelia’s choux pastry, or John’s most modern desserts, you know, it’s really showing to me that what I make is at a calibre which is difficult to achieve.”
He continued, explaining that he feels “honoured” to be able to showcase his food on a platform like Dessert Masters.
“There’s a reason why they’re called classics,” he said,
“It’s because they’re not the modern, they’re not the popular, they’re not the mainstream. And my fear is that these cakes will go missing, like they will stop getting made. So, yeah. I’m excited that these cakes can live on and I can keep making them, and I hope that I brought them a little bit more notoriety.”
Who will win the Dessert Masters competition this year?
Speaking of notoriety, who does Reece think will take home the win at the Dessert Masters finale for 2024?
“One hundred per cent, I’m going in guns-blazing for Emelia. She’s my bestie, she’s my cake gal. We obviously were so excited to do this season together. And, you know, I’ll be backing her 100 per cent, no doubt.”
If you’d like to keep up with every tasty project Reece has been cooking up recently, you can check out his work at Cake Boi, Acacia Dining and the QT Hotel in Newcastle, as well as a new cookbook coming out soon.
Dessert Masters 2024 airs on Sundays and Mondays on Channel 10 and 10Play.
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