Despite a melting parfait, 41-year-old Hackney chef Caroline Meyer Kerber has kept her cool and is now through to the final four of MasterChef: The Professionals.
Brazilian-born Caroline – who has wowed judges with dishes in tribute to her dad and husband – says the entire MasterChef team have all been “super supportive”.
“People had been telling me for years ‘you should try going on MasterChef’ and I had been pushing the idea away, but this just seemed a good time to put that into action,” she said.
“After the first day you start getting used to the camera and the whole team are so nice – they know it’s hard, but they’re really good at making you feel at ease and the judges are super supportive with their feedback.
“They all have such unique approaches but you feel they want you to succeed.”
After moving to London in 2008, Caroline took a professional cooking course at Westminster Kingsway College before landing her first chef’s job at The Albion pub in Islington.
She went on to work at venues such as Kensington Place and Launceston Place before setting up a private catering firm with her chef husband Guilherme.
They run Preama from their flat near the East Reservoir – where Guilherme helped her to prepare for the series.
“At home I tried to practice cooking my signature dish and he came in asking questions and telling me how much time I had left which helped,” she said.
She paid back his support by dedicating a dish – featuring langoustine, crab, and mascarpone – to him.
In her first episode Caroline impressed the judges with her signature dessert of honey custard with poached apricot and elderflower gel and a honey tuile.
“It’s close to my heart because it’s a tribute to my dad. It looks like a sunflower and that’s his favourite flower.”
Caroline thanks her grandmother for her love of food – describing her as “a great cook who passed her skills onto my mum”.
Her own cooking draws influences from her native Brazil, Portugal where she lived for two years, and classic French cooking.
“My background is fine dining and I really love the elegance, trying to keep my flavours clean and make a dish that’s beautiful to look at and also tastes very good.
“I try to incorporate a little bit from my background in the food – you collect inspiration everywhere you go.”
Her attention to detail has stood her in good stead with challenges such as cooking for two Michelin Star chef Mark Donald at The Glenturret Lalique Restaurant in Thursday’s episode.
“It was such a wonderful opportunity, you have to learn in a day what the team has been doing for weeks and get it how chef Mark wants – but it went very well and I learned so much,” she said.
“We have such a great team of contestants we have all become friends – we all have the same passion for cooking and they push you up when something goes wrong.”
That happened when her parfait failed to freeze to the desired minus 30 degrees which meant she couldn’t spray it with white chocolate.
“It was tough! It was meant to be a beautiful showstopper but I had temperature issues and it melted.
“My heart was broken, but luckily the flavours were ok. I have since remade it at home and made my peace with it now.”
Caroline, who dreams of writing her own cookbook one day, will go forward to the last four with three episodes scheduled next week.
“I cook from the heart, you take your life experience, go deep into all your places and people and put it into your dish.”
MasterChef: The Professionals 2026 continues on BBC One and can also be seen on BBC iPlayer.
