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.

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,
..

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

..preparing gazpacho..

..Some British Pimms..

..the apero table..

..Serrano ham from Spain o,narustic shabby chic ham board..

..chilling..

..friends starting arriving..

..I want to sabre my own champagne!..

..1, 2, 3 et voilà!..

..oh dear…a little too much muscle!..

..joghurt marinated legs of lamb..

.. chickens basted with apricot puree..

..preparing the buffet table..

..fire and food..

..salmon fillet..

..old fashioned coke..

..always a fire..

..night falls..

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

..eating...

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!