Putting herself in the running for the Dessert Masters title marks the third time Emelia Jackson has competed in the kitchen, but this time it is with a singular sweet focus.  

After placing third in her first MasterChef Australia outing in 2014 (season 6), Emelia made baking her day job, launching a cake business designing celebration and wedding cakes and running classes and workshops to share her knowledge.  

Returning older and wiser to MasterChef Australia: Back To Win in 2020 (season 12), she claimed victory over a star-studded field of favourites and won more fans for her quick wit and dry sense of humour, in addition to her incredible skills. 

Now on Dessert Masters, Emelia has set her sights on another big win, but this time she will need to defeat the crème de la crème of her pastry peers to claim a second crown. 

Shaped by her close-knit family, Emelia grew up learning in the kitchen from her mother and her beloved late Macedonian baba. Cooking now comes full circle for Emelia as she creates new traditions with her own two young children, whom she has welcomed in recent years with fiancé Craig. Taking after their mum, both Emelia’s daughter Addie and son Mac love getting involved in the kitchen.  

Despite being in such a busy season of her home life, Emelia has not taken a moment’s rest professionally. She is an accomplished author, with her first cookbook, First, Cream The Butter And Sugar: The Essential Baking Companion published in 2022, and her second cookbook, Some Of My Best Friends Are Cookies having just launched. Emelia also holds the post of Good Food’s regular Better Baking columnist.  

Heralded as the undisputed queen of choux pastry, memories of Emelia’s Paris-Brest and éclairs live rent-free in the minds of MasterChef fans, who no doubt hope that she brings out the big guns once again as she chases another win during Dessert Masters.  

Determined and focused as ever, Emelia is relishing the opportunity to take on a challenge that while solely for her, also stands to show her children the value of hard work and being driven by your passions in life.