Chef Kate

16/04/2026

05/04/2026

Happy Easter everyone! 🐣

We had a beautiful lunch today…

My husband fired up the Weber and we had slow roasted smoked pork with super crisp crackling.
We popped some parcooked potatoes and some green olives into the drip tray below the pork and those smoked away while the pork was cooking which was NEXT LEVEL.

We had this with a simple salad and of course some of my homemade focaccia with a tricolor dip (Sundried tomatoes, basil pesto and cream cheese).

Dessert was a light chocolate sponge roll filled to the brim with chocolate mousse and topped with melted chocolate, Easter eggs, hazelnuts and raspberries.

I made my own Easter eggs this year filled with pistachio and smoked salt ganache. Holy smokes these were sooo good. Make sure you watch the video of my cute mom unveiling hers 😁

14/02/2026

Sometimes you just need a chocolate-coated, heart-shaped brownie with pistachio and white chocolate drizzle and dehydrated raspberries in your life 🤷🏼‍♀️
Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone… if you have no one to make you a heart-shaped brownie then treat yo damn self! I’m sure you deserve it 😘

My go-to brownie recipe is below if you want to try them. Instead of baking them in a pan I grabbed some heart-shaped silicone moulds from Kmart.
I drizzled melted chocolate over the brownies once cooled and then decorated with a mixture of melted white chocolate and pure pistachio paste and dehydrated raspberries.
They were delightful! 😋

Chocolate brownies:

Salted butter x 250g
Brown sugar x 2 cups
Vanilla essence x 1 tsp
Eggs x 4
Flour x 1 1/2 cups (I use gluten free flour)
Cocoa x 1 cup

Extras if desired:
1 bag of choc chips
2 cups frozen raspberries
1 small bag nuts

Preheat one to 180°c and line a 20 x 30cm tray with baking paper.
Place sugar and butter together in a heat proof bowl and microwave until the butter has melted... about 2 minutes. Whisk together for a minute and then add the vanilla essence.
Beat in one egg at a time and then add the sifted flour and cocoa.
If you’d like to add any extras now is the time to do it (for example raspberries, nuts, chocolate etc).
Pour into your prepared baking tray and bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until just cooked through. Take out of the oven and cut into pieces.

26/12/2025

Happy Christmas to everyone! 🎄
I hope you had a fabulous day yesterday whatever it entailed.
I had my South African family for lunch which was lovely. We had:

•Yellow peach burrata with homemade focaccia
•Marinated olives

•Cedar plank salmon with sundried tomatoes, basil and feta
•Fennel and citrus salad
•Caprese salad
•Roast potatoes
•Pork chipolatas

•Italian chocolate trifle

What a feast! The slow cooked peaches were a standout for me and paired so well with the homemade focaccia and creamy burrata.
My husband hot smoked the cedar plank salmon on the Weber which was amazing!! So smoky and delicious and tender.
We all kept a bit of room for the trifle or zuppa inglese which consisted of Frangelico laced savoiardi biscuits, rich chocolate custard and mascarpone cream with a shed load of raspberries. 100% recommend 😁

Thank you for any and all support through 2025… especially my clients, I appreciate you!
Now for 2026 🥳

25/10/2025

When your friend asks you to her disco garden party you say yes and you bring a cake along to match the theme. I don’t want to to toot my own trumpet but I think I nailed it 😄

The flavour was chocolate with rich chocolate ganache between the layers and covered with a passionfruit buttercream, it was 🤌🏼

Happy birthday Erica! We love you 🫶🏼
Pic of the delighted birthday girl 🥳

22/06/2025

A 70th birthday cake for a lucky lady 🎂
A light but chocolatey chocolate layer cake with vanilla buttercream. I garnished the cake with pistachio, cranberry, marshmallow and Turkish delight rocky road and edible flowers 🌺

🙋🏼‍♀️

10/06/2025

I had a rare day off today so thought I'd do some baking.
We have an abundance of huge, juicy lemons from a couple of trees in our garden that were just begging to be used so I decided to try a lemon drizzle cake using a recipe.
I substituted the flour with gluten free flour and it still turned out really well. It didn't rise as much with the gluten free flour but it still had a good crumb and is so lemony and tasty. Not quite sure how I'm going to stay away from it 😆
If you'd like to make this ridiculously delish cake then you can find it in the link on under Lemon pound cake.

11/05/2025

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there... what would we do without your love and care ❤️

Today I spoilt my mom with:

•Crumbed goats cheese with fresh berries, prosciutto, walnuts, mixed leaves and honey dressing
•Creamy prawn and dill pies with steamed buttery veg and mini baked potatoes
•Strawberries and cream pavlova

Safe to say my mom loved it 😁

Thanks to cousin for the beautiful wine from a winery in Constantia, Cape Town. It was worth the wait.
And to Jake and Riikka for coming all the way from Finland. We love you 😘

07/04/2025

After having so much rain on the Gold Coast lately, the last few days have been magic! That absolute sweet spot that occurs in autumn where you have those perfect windless, warm days and cooler evenings. My favourite time of the year and then so soon it'll be sweater weather.

I had friends over for lunch on Sunday. We had:

•Feta stuffed olives and peppers
•The smokiest baba ganoush you could ever imagine with crackers
•Spinach and feta spanakopita
•Garden salad
•Rose-scented Greek yoghurt panna cotta with macerated berries and pistachios

Yum!

02/02/2025

Last night I had an Italian themed dinner in my kitchen. We had:

•Truffle and mozzarella arancini balls on basil pesto with aioli
•Slowly cooked lamb ragu with olives and pasta, finely grated Parmesan on the side
•Pear and parmesan rocket salad with fig balsamic dressing
•Garlic bread
•Torta caprese with vanilla ice cream and raspberries and a glass of Frangelico

29/12/2024

Another year almost done and dusted and I realised I've only posted about 5 times on Instagram this year 😂
I thought I'd pop up a few food pics I took during the year.

Lazy day snacking... blue cheese, caramelised figs in syrup, smoked mussels and olives in my thrifted olive container
Roasted red grapes in honey and thyme with creamy Burrata and bread
A creamy potato bake with lots of melty cheese
Slow roasted mustard lamb, asparagus and cherry tomatoes, lemony roast potatoes with olives
A mammoth strawberries and cream trifle
Slow cooked beef and mushroom pie with not enough chips 😆
Cauliflower purée, prawns and chermoula
Halloumi chicken Parmesan with za'atar, roast potatoes, green beans
My French inspired brunch
Moules frites
Birthday cake for my mom... almond and berry with toasted Italian meringue
Thai noodle salad with coconut prawns
Oysters with gin and cucumber vinaigrette
Prawn brioche buns with salad and truffle crisps
Chocolate basque cheesecake
Melon, prosciutto, mozzarella and smoked almond salad
Passionfruit meringue tarts for Christmas
This years rocky road which was sold out before I could advertise it! PBJ flavored 🤤
Current mood

A heartfelt thank you to all my clients that have supported me through 2024 and to anyone who has liked or commented on any of my posts, I appreciate it 🫶🏼

Here's to 2025... 🥂

27/10/2024

I threw a Halloween dinner party last night which was so much fun 👻

For dinner we had:

•Beetroot cured salmon, balsamic poached beetroot with blood orange, caviar, roasted hazelnuts, blue cheese mousse and dill.
•Garlic and rosemary grilled lamb cutlets with red wine and mulberry jus, leek and cheese potato cake and green bean and asparagus almondine.
•Chocolate panna cotta with blackberry and white chocolate ganache, fresh blackberries and edible flowers

party