DARLING Downs Christian School students rose to the challenge of impressing a Masterchef finalist.

Popular 2011 Masterchef finalist Ellie Paxton-Hall was the guest judge of a cooking competition and cake decorating challenge at the DDCS open day on Sunday.

Eight-year-old Daniel Stanfield's creative entry won the cake decorating title, while Abouc Mawien, Patrick Bolt and Jesse Higgins took out the cooking competition.

Miss Paxton-Hall, now teaching children to cook in Melbourne, said she was impressed with the young talent.

"It's so fantastic to see the school encouraging children to cook and prepare food," Miss Paxton-Hall said.

"I think it's really important that kids know where their food comes from and how to make real, unprocessed meals - especially with the levels of obesity at the moment."