Afternoon Lunch

Today my good friend from college days and her husband stopped
in for lunch. It is that same Carpenters singing friend, from my
trip to Japan, years ago! They live in Kagoshima and I rarely have
the opportunity to see them. I took some nice photos of the
food I had prepared, before they arrived, with the intention of taking
more through the afternoon. The conversations flew and before I
knew it, they were on the road again, and I had failed to take more
pictures. Oh well. Anyway, it was a lovely visit with lunch on the patio.
I served ham and mushroom quiche, salad and Mary's
(Across the Pond) Le Gateau Piege for dessert. In case you missed
it, here is the recipe again. Thanks, Mary, it was moist and delectable.
Modgirl, this would be an easy starter cake from scratch...one layer
and no icing...easy, peasy!

Le Gateau Piege

For the pan:
1 fat pat of butter
1 heaping tablespoon sugar
For the batter:
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, really softened
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1 medium orange (about 7 oz.)
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
A good pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter bottom and sides of a 9 or 10
inch round cake pan (I use a 9" silicone pan) with the pat of butter.
Sprinkle with the heaping tablespoon of sugar, then shake and tilt and
swoosh the pan around to coat.

Cream together the softened butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a
time and mix until thoroughly combined. Grate all the zest from the
orange over the bowl. Juice the orange and add 1/2 cup of the juice
to the batter, mix until smooth. (At this point it looks a bit odd,
like it's curdled but it's fine).

In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk the
flour mixture into the batter and mix until just combined. Pour into
prepared pan and bake 20 mins. until cake is golden and starts to
pull away from sides of pan. Let cool on rack for 10 mins.
(no more or the caramel on the crust will harden and stick to pan),
then flip onto a serving plate. Let cool completely before serving.