The second batch of contestants that entered the MasterChef kitchen this series took on the Invention challenge where they had to choose between two sealed boxes of ingredients – one sweet and one savoury.

The sweet ingredients are popped rice, coffee granules, eggs, pastry, dark chocolate, walnuts, thyme and beetroot, while the savoury box contains pork tenderloin, steak, parma ham, butternut squash, figs, a lettuce, calvados apple brandy and black-eyed beans.

However, before the cooks are let loose with the ingredients, chef John Torode takes on the challenge himself, showing the viewers at home just what is possible with the few ingredients. He opts for the sweet box and serves up a biscuit dessert consisting thyme sables biscuits with a walnut and pop rice praline coffee and chocolate mousse served with chantilly cream.

For the amateur cooks, they are given just one hour to cook a dish good enough to keep them in the competition. The two that produce the least impressive dish as judged by John Torode and Greg Wallace, will see their Masterchef experience cut short as they board the bus home.