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The very first winner of Zumbo's Just Desserts has just been crowned.

 

The winner of the very first season of of Zumbo’s Just Desserts has been crowned, after the two grand finalists were put to the ultimate test.

At the end of the challenge, it was mum-of-two Kate who claimed victory, receiving $100,000 in prize money for her efforts.

The dessert-challenge-to-end-all-dessert-challenges was laid out by host and dessert guru Adriano Zumbo, who explained to 28-year-old Ali and 37-year-old Kate “there’s no warmup this time.” Oooph.

Tonight's finalists.

He revealed the finalists would cook in two rounds. "You will begin with the Zumbo Test first," he said. "Then the Sweet Sensations task, which will be your creation, second."

Never one to miss a play on words, he warned Ali and Kate, "Sugar and spice may be nice, but not today."

Pun-tastic.

Looking at the layered cake the duo had to cook for the Zumbo Test, Ali reflected "Holy moly. Wow. My heart sinks. It is absolutely magnificent. I'm scared."

And magnificent it was.

The cake for task one in the grand final. Image via Channel 7.
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Kate questioned what was on top of the cake, commenting that it looked like "a piece of art." It seems viewers agreed.

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The women were tasked with creating the chocolate flower and chocolate butterfly that sat on top of the cake as well as baking spiced crunch, honey nougat, a brown sugar sponge pear compote, burnt butter panna cotta and pear mousse.

Essentially, the dessert menu of our dreams.

The drama started straight away, with Ali's attempts at a chocolate flower crumbling within minutes.

Kate, however, struggled with the nougat meringue. Describing her process, she said "I take my nougat meringue mixture out of the mixer and fold through the rest of my ingredients... He is so hard to stir! It does not look right. It is not folding through properly."

"Oh, Christ, this is hard! I can't do anything about this now. I don't have time to remake it, I just have to go with what I've got. It is getting very scary now to assemble anything.'

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When Ali persevered, finishing her chocolate flower first, Kate thought she was in big trouble. And while Kate finished the layered cake before Ali, the judges weren't impressed with the fingerprints she'd left, so awarded the first round to Ali.

For the second round, the finalists were tasked with creating a fairytale-inspired dessert. Ali chose Jack And The Beanstalk as her inspiration, while Kate chose Snow White.

Kate acknowledged her dessert was a risk, with a combination of several different flavours. "I've got raspberries, doughnuts, chocolate, tomatoes. I've got vanilla, Tim Tams. I've got chilli!" she said.

Ultimately, the risk paid off, with the unusual creation winning over the judges.

"I've just won Zumbo's Just Desserts and that is beyond anything that I could ever possibly imagine. I am actually having trouble thinking of words to describe," she said.