Dessert Masters star speaks out about 'illegal' ingredient used on the show

Dessert Masters fans were left shocked during this year’s season of the cooking competition when contestant Adriano Zumbo admitted to using an “illegal” ingredient on the show.

The pastry chef had included tonka bean in his chocolate dessert, which has a sweet, spicy flavour similar to vanilla bean with notes of almonds, cinnamon, cloves, caramel and tobacco. While the South American legume is available to purchase in Australia, it’s been declared illegal in the US as it contains a chemical compound called coumarin which is toxic when consumed in large quantities.

Fellow Dessert Masters star Kirsten Tibballs, who is often referred to as ‘The Chocolate Queen’, has now weighed in on the controversy and shared her thoughts on tonka bean.

The TV personality and cookbook author tells Yahoo Lifestyle that although she keeps the ingredient in her pantry at home, it’s not something she regularly bakes with.

“I don't use a lot of tonka bean because my desserts are all about people being able to recreate them, and it's not an ingredient that's readily available,” she explains. “So I like to use ingredients that people can have in their pantry or it's really easy to find.”

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Kirsten adds that she was hesitant to use the ingredient on Dessert Masters because she preferred to work with flavours she was more familiar with.

“I would’ve been scared to use something that I'm not working with regularly,” she continues.

“I just stuck to flavours that I like to eat. Classic flavours, combinations of fruits and spices and chocolate and nuts. I incorporated passionfruit and raspberry and rose, just balancing and harmonising flavour.”

Kirsten's Christmas special

Following her appearance on Dessert Masters, Kirsten has filmed a special Christmas episode of her cooking show The Chocolate Queen which is set to air on Foxtel on December 20.

The festive special will feature a buffet of Christmas-themed sweets and guest appearances from some of Kirsten’s Dessert Masters co-stars, including Jess Liemantara, Morgan Hipworth and winner Gareth Whitton.

“I love Christmas, it’s my favourite time of year,” Kirsten remarks. “This special is all about quick and easy Christmas treats that you can place on the table, some traditional and some little twists on the traditional classic desserts.

“There’s everything from a chocolate-coated yule log to a mango pavlova and Christmas spiced macarons. There are chocolate wreaths you can hang on your tree, chocolate tarts, summer chocolate pudding which is a frozen parfait - all with plenty of time to make for Christmas, which I think is the key.”

Kirsten's number one rule on Christmas

When it comes to planning a menu for her own Christmas lunch, Kirsten says she has an important rule in her household.

“I don't do snacking on Christmas Day for anyone, I do Christmas lunch and then we go straight into the dessert,” she shares.

“I've found that if you do a beautiful cheese board or some prawns or oysters, by the time it gets to dessert people are like, ‘Wow, that looks amazing but I just couldn't possibly have any’. So I hold back at the start of the meal and by the time they’ve had lunch, they’ve got plenty of space for dessert which is really the highlight for me.

“I have that many desserts at Christmas time I'm surprised people don't come out the other side of Christmas diabetic,” she adds with a laugh.

The Chocolate Queen Christmas Special airs Wednesday the 20th of December at 7:30pm on Foxtel

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