I've Landed My Dream Job... Working With Chocolate!

She loves a kitchen shortcut and never says no to a slice of cake. Essentials’ dessert guru Katelyn Williams is a woman after our own hearts.

Katelyn, 29, has been baking since her rough-and-tumble days while growing up on her parents’ farm in George. After qualifying from the Institute of Culinary Arts in Stellenbosch, she worked in a range of professional kitchens, most notably under the late Chef Frank Zlomke at the Grande Roche Hotel in Paarl. From cheffing, she then ventured into the media side of food, working her way up from an intern position to being food editor at Top Billing magazine, and on to co-heading the food department of SABC 3’s Expresso show, with Chef Zola Nene. In 2006, she launched The Kate Tin (thekatetin.com), which took the prize for Best Food & Wine Blog at the 2014 and 2015 South African Blog Awards. Katelyn is a regular contributer to Essentials’ food section (you’ll find her latest recipe on p85) and works as a food stylist and photographer. She lives in Pinelands with her fiancé, Italian chocolate-maker Antonino Allegra, 40.

Starting my first job in a professional kitchen was eye-opening. At the time, Grande Roche had the best restaurant in Africa, and Chef Frank was a legend to train under. But it was tough. You’re on your feet for 16 hours a day with a 30-strong brigade around you, mostly Michelin-star chefs from Europe. I split my time between pastry and the hot kitchen. We had five restaurants and 24-hour room service, so you’d be cooking beautiful fine dining food one minute, and making a toasted sarmie for delivery the next!