Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen

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.

Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen

Chocolate pan cake… and a 30th birthday.

Turning 30 is a big occasion. Our eldest turned 30 this month and she had her friends from Toulouse come to Coin Perdu to celebrate. She wanted this chocolate cake which we have been baking for years in our home. Really a deliciously decadent cake and so easy and quick. I found it years ago in Annette Human’s Winning recipes 3. It is from Renie Conradie who got it from her husbands stepmother, grandma Polly. Well,  there you go.. a recipe that withstood generations of baking and is still going strong.

chocolate pan cake 25-02-2014 20-36-10chocolate pan cake 25-02-2014 20-56-57chocolate pancake recipe

Pincée de fleur de sel:

  • Baking the cake at 170 °C will prevent the cake from cracking and rising to a point in the middle.
  • Gently hit the the bottom of the cake pan on the table surface to get rid of air bubbles.
  • Add 1 tsp extra cacao to the cake mixture for a darker cake.
  • Serve with whipped cream or ice cream or créme fraìche.
  • The cake becomes tastier the longer it stands.

In his speech mon chéri said he remembered the day he turned 30 years ago.. He thought he was old then. With our first daughter turning 30, he wondered how he should feel now. the nice thing about having children turning 30, is that we felt 30 again too, being in the company of all the “20’s-going-on-30’s” and all the “30-something’s” for a whole weekend,
..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 05-07-002

Preparations were done on Saturday by everyone for a rustic-shabby-chic evening, which lasted until Sunday morning at 4. I was just about to call the police to complain about the “kids” keeping me awake, when the last one crawled into the barn and a faintly familiar silence fell over Coin Perdu. It lasted only few hours before the first morning coffee announced the next chapter of busyness

Marinell 30 and, Dimanche 23-02-2014 23-02-41

..preparing gazpacho.. Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 00-24-41

..Some British Pimms..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 02-58-58

..the apero table..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 02-59-58..Serrano ham from Spain o,narustic shabby chic ham board..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 03-14-34..chilling..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 03-09-03

..friends starting arriving..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 03-17-44..I want to sabre my own champagne!..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 05-11-38

..1, 2, 3 et voilà!..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 05-11-41

..oh dear…a little too much muscle!..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 05-11-56

..joghurt marinated legs of lamb..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 05-35-50.. chickens basted with apricot puree..Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 06-57-36

..preparing the buffet table..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 06-59-03

..fire and food..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 06-59-13

..salmon fillet..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 07-00-23

..old fashioned coke..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 07-01-08

..always a fire..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 07-50-39

..night falls..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 07-52-41

..a chandelier in the walnut tree for some romance..

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 07-56-05

..eating...

Marinell 30 ans 23-02-2014 08-21-16

The day after the night before always starts in slow motion. Crawling out of tents, coffee with brioche, and a shower finally opens up heavy eyelids. so much so that a rugby ball can be thrown about by the brave, others go for walks and pick wildflowers(which would find their way onto my dressing table, since it was mother’s day), some just hang around in a deep chair, and the real brave ones get onto a horse. Finally everyone gathers to fill stomachs on leftovers, tent pens are pulled out, cars wave goodbye and the sun sets on a 30th birthday. Long may she live to remember this year!

Marinell 30eme-001