Orange flower cake and garden corners in December.

This is a very easy, very delicious, seasonal dessert.

  • 280 g ground almonds
  • 220 g sugar
  • 200 g soft butter
  • 100 g all purpose flour
  • 5 eggs
  • 2 oranges
  • 1 lemon
  • 2 tsp orange flower water
  • 2 tbsp honey
  1. Preheat the oven to 160degr C.
  2. Grease a pan of 35x24cm.
  3. Zest the one orange and lemon . Bueat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the zest.
  4. Add the eggs one by one alternating with the ground almonds.
  5. Add the flour.
  6. Pour the preparation into the greased pan and even out the top.
  7. Bake at 160 degr C for 30 minute or until a skewer comes out clean when piercing the cake.
  8. Prepare the syrup: Mix the juice of the two oranges, the lemon and two tsp of orange flower water and 2 tsp of honey unntil the sugar has completely dissolved. Baste the cake with the syrup until all the syrup is absorbed by the cake.
  9. Zest the an orange and sprinkle over the cake.
  10. Serve with some whipped cream on the side.

How time has flown by. We are at the end of 2019 with a few weeks left before we start the new year. My garden also realizes that we are in December.

A few chicks made their appearance late in the season and now they have to grow fast to outrun the cold coming.

Some garden lantens not yet packed away, a broken pot with water and a forgotten garden bistro chair.

An ever so proud rooster on the garden table.

Seedlings to be covered soon, a wire basket to be filled with butternut from the potager and a garden lamp.

In the potager, late tomatoes , butternuts and rhubarb await action.

The geese are ever present in every corner of the garden.

And the horses are amused by what’s happening around them.

Wood forthe fireplace on the chilly evenings.

Cucumber salad

When the summer days are hot as they are here in late august and we are getting a bit tired of tomatoes, we look around for something different. cucumbers are still in season, so why not alittle salad or salsa if you will.

cucumber salad-3

Some people have problems with digesting cucumber. To fascilitate the digestion, I peel it and remove the seeds. In this case, I leave the peel of one half on simply for the touch of green in the salad, but the whole cucumber can be peeled.

cucumber salad

cucumber salad-2

 

As you can see, it is very easy and very quick, perfect for those days where time and energy are lmited.

Cucumber salad recipe

Pincée de fleur de sel:

  • Peel the whole cucumber for better disgestion.
  • Add chopped chives along with the spring onion and chives for a touch of green.
  • Add a tsp of mild mustard to the vinaigrette for a more pungent salad.

Enjoy!

Sunflowers for the home

sunflowers

 

à bientôt!

Ronell

coq.NEF