For this marathon MasterChef pressure test, chocolate is the culinary equivalent of an S&M encounter, especially when the crackling praline and refined sugary goodness has to be whipped together eight different ways.

Lydia, TK and Wade couldn't even make a round of sandwiches on Sunday so it only seems reasonable they should now face off against Sydney's Chef of the Year and tackle his famous eight texture chocolate cake served at Quay Restaurant.

To recap in this recap, he's the chef who created the dish in series two that sounded like a metaphor for contraband – the snow egg.

Fast forward to 2012 and forget fluffy protein – Gilmore is back with chocolate so hard core it should come with a side serving of insulin.

The challenge out law student, mother-of-two and fork lift driver now face includes seven layers of mousse, cream and a meringue of sorts topped with a hot chocolate ganache that "magically" melts away when poured over the cake.

"Think you're up for a challenge?" Gary asks as TK explains "my stomach is so numb and so is everything from my neck down", while Lydia describes her pressure test game plan to Matt who doesn't quite know whether the "hum in her belly" is a sign she’s ready "to go into fighting mode" or is just fighting a bout of gastro.

Wade, who admits to never learning the basics like beating eggs and knowing what soft peaks are, thankfully knows the word "Michelin" attached to Gilmore's name is related to the three hats he's earned, not the type of car tyres he has on his sports car.

They have three hours and 30 minutes to get through the four page recipe and construct the eight layered dessert.

When they time starts Lydia looks to the heavens, reminds herself to "focus" and wipes her hands on her apron.

TK starts an electric mixer and waxes lyrical about how she hates law (even though she’s not technically a lawyer) but loves cooking and is concerned she'll never ever see her friends in the MasterChef house again.

Wade decides to argue with Gilmore about the amount of chocolate in his first batch of mousse.

"You don't have enough chocolate in there," he points out.

"I know my mousse. I do," Wade or Wadox (a moniker bestowed on him by Beau) replies.

Clearly the forklift operator has forgotten that while he may be good at manicuring brows better than Brooke Shields in the ‘80s, Pete has been earning (and cooking) enough crust that his wallet needs to be lifted by a forklift.

Thirty minutes down and they’ve only completed the first element.

TK decides to ditch the recipe as she’s got this "under control" and tells us that tempering chocolate correctly is a fundamental skill every law student/reality star/cook needs.

Meanwhile "Wadox" holds his eggs over his head to make sure they are the right consistency, Lydia thanks her dad's background as a brickie for helping prepare her chocolate bases and TK over whips her chocolate butter.

While she runs around the kitchen seeking out more double cream which she measures with her "tastebuds as I'm no good at maths", Gilmore refrains from telling her to stick to torts instead of tortes.

Lydia discovers she too has over whipped her butter when George cries out "eight layers and 10 minutes of pressure left" before the magical MasterChef clock crumbles like the cake under the molten chocolate.

With two minutes remaining Wadox returns his dish to the fridge to set. As the final 30 seconds tick down he heads back to retrieve it, experiences a range of emotions only seen in a 42 minute episode of Gossip Girl and plates up with enough time left to look up at the peanut gallery up on the balcony and explain his disappointment.

Time and 'reality' align once again as the judges and Chef Gilmore sit down to sample and salivate over the sweets.

Wadox is first and we discover that his mousse is too wet and Pete has a loud nose whistle.

TK says she probably should've followed the recipe. Kudos to the editors who did a great job here of cutting out the part where Mensa called, interrupted filming and invited her to join.

Lydia's lukewarm ganache steals the show when she has to "bang the living sh.. out of the plate" to get the dish to perform.

While her overworked cream appears to go down like lumpy cement, Preston is impressed with her crunchy praline.

Then they assemble for the first pressure test panel.

As they sit, hands clasped, shoulders back – like princesses in waiting, Lydia is the first to crack open the water works as she is scolded for her "creams which started to seize", while Wadox is praised for his tempering abilities and TK blinks to show off her snazzy Winehouse inspired eyeliner and pretty cherry lip gloss.

Even though she could easily land a cosmetics campaign or head back to the land of law school – TK is the first to continue on her cooking crusade, next is Wadox whose eyebrows look more surprised than when they first found out they’d made the top 24.

As Lydia's time in the kitchen ends and she heads home to Perth, audition footage of her making rosettes out of prosciutto flash on screen while her husband pours her a celebratory sparkling wine into a "I went on MasterChef and all I got was this ceramic coffee mug" chalice.

She's apparently now working on a cookbook titled - Lydia’s Bucket List: 100 Recipes To Share With You Before I Get Eliminated.

It may include a polenta dish.