Mayfield's Reece Hignell is returning to our television screens to compete in season two of Dessert Masters.
The MasterChef Australia fan favourite, author, television personality and founder of Cakeboi at Hamilton will be, he says with a laugh, "whisking it all" by baking off against some of the best pastry chefs, chocolatiers and dessert wizards in the country.
He'll also be in the running to win $100,000 in prize money.
Dessert Masters, which is a spin-off of MasterChef Australia, will be hosted by Melissa Leong and Amaury Guichon and premiere on Network 10 in the second half of 2024.
Hignell will be competing against fellow MasterChef alumni Emelia Jackson, Darren Purchese and Katherine Sabbath, with more contestants still to be announced.
He found fame on season 10 of MasterChef Australia's in 2018 and finished in fifth place on the 2020 MasterChef Australia: Back to Win season.
Hignell opened his bakery, Cakeboi, in Hamilton in 2021. In 2022 he released cookbook Cakeboi: A Collection of Classic Bakes and earlier this year he opened a restaurant, Acacia Dining, in Maitland with childhood friend and chef Tori Tokpah.
In April he worked with Jana Restaurant executive chef Shayne Mansfield to curate a high tea offering with a difference, QTea X Cakeboi, at QT Newcastle.
"I'm really excited about Dessert Masters. For someone from Newy to be able to do this three times is pretty epic, in my opinion," he told the Newcastle Herald.
"Emelia and I filmed MasterChef together before and we're really close friends ... she actually won Back to Win.
"Darren is, of course, the pressure test king. When he walked in we were like 'Oh, great ...'. And then there's Katherine Sabbath. In the cake world she is really big news and has been for a very long time. Her stuff is just next level, I mean, she just collaborated with Bluey."
Each Dessert Masters challenge is, he said, more like a MasterChef "pressure test".
"We're not just going in and making dessert, we're making dishes that would feature as a pressure test in every single cook.
"The skill level is so high, we get more time, we have more creative control. It's just amazing what we are actually able to create.
"There were a lot of challenges which needed a large skill set from me but, hey, baking is my vibe. I'm standing proud in that line-up!"
