In the kitchen
Growing up, Shanay Roelfse loved hanging around the kitchen while her mother was cooking or baking, because she was always asked to taste the different elements of the meal – best of all, licking clean the remnants of a bowl of chocolate icing.
Following matric, Roelfse decided a career in cooking was what she wanted to do fulltime, so in 2015 she enrolled at Capsicum Culinary Studio’s Cape Town campus for a two-year combination course of Professional Cookery, Patisserie and Sugar Craft.
In Greece!
Her very busy career has taken her through years at the famous Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town where she was promoted to Demi Chef de Partie and years spent at sea working on Virgin cruise ships. Roelfse worked for the company for five years, rising to the position of Senior Chef De Partie in Pastry and working on board all three of the ships in the fleet, during which time she literally saw the world – visiting Dubai, the US, the Bahamas, Honduras, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, the UK and many more countries.
Now, unbelievably only 27, after recently returning home and getting engaged, Roelfse has had time to reflect on her career and has decided to take a break from life onboard ships and in hotel kitchens and refocus on her future.
Here’s her recipe for delicious Buttermilk Rusks (Yield: 66 pieces)
Ingredients
1.5kg cake flour
20g baking powder
10g bicarbonate of soda
300g sugar
3 XL eggs
500ml buttermilk
50ml milk
500g butter (melted)
5g salt
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Prepare two large oven trays. Sift all the dry ingredients together. Whisk together the eggs and buttermilk then add the melted butter and stir to incorporate. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir, but do not overmix. Stir in the milk. Divide the mixture between the two trays. Bake for 30- 45 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, before portioning. Lower oven to 50°C with the base element on and dry the rusks out for 2-3 hours. Remove and allow to cool before storing in an airtight container.