The Roasted Dad’s Recipes

I am an entrepreneur based in Cape Town, South Africa. After the Covid-19 lockdown saw my business in financial distress, cooking was the creative outlet that helped to keep me sane. To keep track of my recipes, and encourage friends and families to join me, I started my instagram account The Roasted Dad.

Fast-forward to late 2021 - on a whim I (encouraged by my wife) enter MasterChef South Africa. It is a crazy time of life: running a 200 people business and struggling to keep it profitable, two small children with a third on the way, and about to move into a new house. But when I get selected to be one of the 20 contestants participating in the fourth season of MasterChef South Africa, I decide to go all in. Leaving my 7-month-pregnant wife to look after our then three and one-year-old children, I battled it out and came back home five weeks later with the trophy and a million rand prize money in my pocket.

It all started with an Instagram account, and then entering -and winning- MasterChef. But The Roasted Dad is so much more now. I now host Private Dinner Parties, Restaurant Take-Overs and Pop-Ups and Cook-with-Me Demos, and am a Key Note Speaker at events. I share recipes on my website and regularly post accommodation and restaurant reviews too. This is a glimpse into the wild and wonderful life I lead with my wife Lianne, and our three children Aiden (8), Olivia (6) and Harvey (4).

After winning MasterChef South Africa, I started sharing recipes on this blog. They are easy to produce at home, using basic cooking techniques with ingredients found at your local grocery store.

Recipe Index

Poultry Recipes

Red Meat Recipes

Seafood Recipes

Vegetarian Recipes

Salad Recipes

Dessert Recipes

Outdoor cooking

The Best Authentic Marie Biscuit Fudge Recipe
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The Best Authentic Marie Biscuit Fudge Recipe

Nostalgic sweet treats and my childhood are linked to the church bizaar favourite, Marie Biscuit fudge. I grew up making these for church sales, school bake sales and later I even had my first enterprise selling them for R1 a packet to all the local neighbours. To bring back my awesome memories of my first entrepreneurial endeavours we got Aiden setup at our local market! This Marie biscuit fudge recipe is based on my childhood one, with a few tweaks I made ahead of the market.

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Dutch Apple Pie Recipe
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Dutch Apple Pie Recipe

While it should be no surprise that I am the cook of the Roasted family, few of you will know that The Roasted Mom is the baker. She’s been making this traditional Dutch apple pie for me since we first got together fourteen years ago, and the Cape Town weather this week sure called for a slice of hot Dutch apple pie!

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Olivia’s Chocolate Birthday Cake
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Olivia’s Chocolate Birthday Cake

For Olivia’s Fourth Birthday, we decided to make a chocolate cake. She wanted a Frozen-themed birthday party, but with some blue-tinted icing, and store-bought snowflake decoration that was easily done. Have a look at this recipe to make your own chocolate cake from scratch.

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Pecan Nut Brittle Recipe
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Pecan Nut Brittle Recipe

Make the crunciest Pecan Nut Brittle with this recipe. I first tried out this recipe when I had a Mother’s Day themed cook-with-me demo coming up and I wanted to add a nutty and crunchy element to the flapjack dish, to elevate it and take it to the next level. This peanut brittle was a hit!

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