It's time to discover a wonderfully indulgent world of chocolate with Katelyn Williams' latest irresistible cookbook simply titled, Chocolate.
The 31-year-old food stylist, photographer and recipe developer has over ten years of experience in television and magazines.
Her baking and dessert blog, The Kate Tin has won Best Food Blog in South Africa for the last three years.
Williams completed her studies as a professional pastry chef at the Institute of Culinary Arts in Stellenbosch, and worked in different restaurants and hotels before joining Top Billing as food editor.
She says good food has been an important part of her life which naturally meant she wanted a career in it.
"I was given a mini baking set for Christmas when I was six-years-old with little measuring spoons and cookie cutters and since then I would put on my very own baking shows in my mother's kitchen. After years of working in the magazine and television industry, I took the plunge last year to do The Kate Tin full time. It was probably the scariest thing I've ever done, but I love every minute of working for myself. I do food styling and food photography for local and international print magazines as well as recipe developing, food writing, social media management and food consulting," Williams says.
She says she received a Facebook message from her publisher one Friday which read: 'Hi, my name is Annake and I want to do a cookbook with you' and thought it was spam but replied anyway.
A week later the contract was signed and she started writing Chocolate.
That was over a year and a half ago and that it took them ten days to shoot the entire book which was a real marathon.
Williams says they went through 25kg of chocolate, 18kg of sugar and 10kg of butter.
"I wanted to create a book where every single image is drool worthy and show-stopping. Almost a cross between a coffee table book and recipe book, and I think we achieved that. There is something for everyone in this book - from recipes that can be made in the microwave with a handful of ingredients, to more complex bakes that require a little more effort. Chocolate has been central to each significant moment of the last 27 years – a life's worth of memories flavoured with my favourite ingredient. I think that's something we can all relate to, she says.
"A taste of chocolate can transport you back to that first box of chocolates you received from a secret admirer on Valentine’s Day. It can remind us of Easter Egg hunts in the garden or the tin of Quality Streets at Christmas time. A taste of chocolate cake can remind us of our childhood birthday cakes. These are the kinds of memories that I based this book around. But as much as this book is dedicated to chocolate, it's also about cravings because the two go hand in hand," she says.
The book is available at all good bookshops and online for R380.