An elaborate “chocolate ethereal” dessert may have robbed young South Australian Laura Cassai of the 2014 MasterChef crown, but she has secured an opportunity to work in the kitchen of Adelaide chef Jock Zonfrillo.

At 19, the health science student was the youngest-ever grand finalist on the Australian cooking show.

She lost last night’s cook-off by just three points after stumbling at the final pressure test – a complex chocolate dessert devised by Sydney’s Quay Restaurant executive chef Peter Gilmore – but said she was happy to come second to “worthy winner” Brent Owens, of Victoria.

Cassai (pictured right), who receives $20,000 for coming runner-up on the Network 10 show, said she was also excited about her future opportunities.

“I want to publish my own home-style Italian cook book and I plan to do some volunteering with kids to teach them about food.

“I also have the incredible opportunity to work with Jock Zonfrillo as a junior chef at Orana in Adelaide.”

Owens, a 24-year-old former bobcat driver, received $250,000, a book deal and a car.

“I’ve got so many plans,” he said. “Ultimately, I want my own café and a line of food products.

“I’m very keen to give back to the community; I’ve already started working with disadvantaged youth and will be using food to make a difference in their lives, as it has in mine.”

Last night’s episode of MasterChef topped the television ratings with about 1.703 million people tuning in to watch the winner’s announcement, while 1.654 million saw the rest of the episode, OzTAM’s overnight figures show.

The result for Network Ten was well up on last year’s grand finale, when commentators were saying the show was cooked when just 1.057 million people watched Emma Dean win the series, AAP reports.

But despite the improvement, it still is nowhere near the 3.7 million people who tuned in to watch Julie Goodwin win the first series in 2009.

South Australia has a strong track record on the cooking show, with previous contestants who have gone on to build successful careers in the food industry including Adam Liaw, Callum Hann, Poh Ling Yeow, Andre Ursini and Marion Grasby.