We love Lamingtons

One of my all time favourite treats as a little girl was tea and cake with the grown-ups. And when it came to lamingtons, this was an extra special occasion. A lamington is a sponge cake square first coated in chocolate and then dessicated coconut - hugely popular in South Africa and Australia.

You can either bake your own vanilla cake or buy a ready made one (if you buy a ready made cake, skip to the Dipping Sauce step). I use the cake recipe below which is extremely light and airy.

Hot Milk Sponge Cake:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (a little lower in a fan oven).

Prepare a square cake tin (butter and line the tin with baking paper). Note: The cake can be difficult to remove because it is so soft, so make sure you let it cool completely before removing from the tin!

Ingredients:

4 eggs

pinch of slt

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 heaped cup sugar

57g butter

3/4 cup milk

1 1/2 cups sifted plain flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

Beat the eggs with the salt, vanilla essence and sugar. Beat extremely well - about twice as long as you think  you need to, until the mixture is practically white.

Melt the butter in the milk. While the butter is melting, add the flour and baking powder to the egg mixture. Fold in very lightly and do not over mix.

Next, pour in the melted butter and milk mixture. Blend only just enough to mix everything together, then pour into tin.

Move quickly at this stage and get the cake into the oven as quickly as possible while the mixture is still warm.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until a tester comes out clean. Allow to cool completely and do not remove while still hot - the cake will break (I can vouch for this...)!

Once cool, cut cake into squares.

Dipping Sauce:

3 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 tablespoon butter

Bring to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes. Allow to cool slightly. Dip cake blocks to coat with sauce and then roll in coconut.

Enjoy!

What to wear: A statement necklace

Statement necklaces by abigilbertgreen featuring collar jewelry

Photo a day challenge - August

It's the first day of August and not only does it mean we're heavily into the Olympics in London and we are over half way through 'summer' of 2012 - it also means a new monthly photo challenge from Australian blogger Chantelle of Fat Mum Slim. Both of us in the PT team have been doing the challenge for a few months now and it is totally addictive. One of us is definitely better than the other -no names mentioned (Nicky) but as she says to me on a monthly basis: 'There are no hard and fast rules. It's just for fun, if you miss a day, just catch up or go to the next'. 

So once again I am dusting off my iphone lens and getting ready for an epic month of happy snapping! Hopefully this time I can complete the circuit and win the gold (sorry shameful but obligatory Olympic puns!) and finish the month without missing a day. 

If you're keen to take part, all you have to do is save the photo list below and get snapping. You can keep your photos to yourself or if you want to share to twitter or facebook remember to use the hashtag #photoadayaug. Let us know if you've done the challenge before as we'd love to see how you've done so far.  

To find out about how the photo challenge will change your life pop over to Chantelle's site. You can also follow her on Twitter @fatmumslim and Instagram and see how she does her thing - it might inspire you.

Nicky's #photoadayjuly 

Silent Sunday - Today we are...

Loving the Olympics fever in London
Wondering where the sunshine has disappeared to
Making Jamie's strawberry and halloumi salad
Drinking Pimms
Eating strawberries and cream (we can't get enough!)
Going for gold with Stella McCartney

Are you watching the Olympics? What did you get up to today?

What to eat tonight - Chilled Cucumber Soup

I have learnt over the years that chilled soup is a little bit like marmite. It’s something that you either love or hate. I still very clearly remember on a hot summer's evening a few years ago, cooking a 'fancy' dinner party for a group of friends and serving this little number as a starter.

I presented it with pride in a beautiful silver soup dish, sprinkled it with parsley and mint, chuffed as nuts that my guests were going to love the gorgeous creamy crispy chilled cucumber yumminess that awaited them. The oohs and aaahs were swiftly followed by confusion, which, I must admit, I was oblivious to at the time! So at the end of the evening and after a few glasses of vino blanco, one of my guests came over to me and in a 'Come dine with me' tone that was hideously embarrassing for me (rather than for him) whispered … ‘It was really great and all, but the only thing is... it was a bit cold...’

Needless to say, despite selling the concept to the best of my ability, he wasn't at all convinced by soup on the rocks and this is the thing with chilled soup - it’s an opinion divider.  Like marmite, you love it or you hate it! I have, however, learnt my lesson and only make it if I know I will have happy guests at the end of the evening.

Personally, I love soup - it's generally (if you avoid the stilton, creamy ones) low in fat, full of the good stuff and it fills you up - what's not to love?!

So do as the Italians do and enjoy yours cold! Here is my recipe for the perfect chilled cucumber soup just as my mama made it. It is a very relaxed, simple recipe and the amount of milk/cream you add is up to how thick or light you prefer your soup. Hope you like it!

Chilled Cucumber Soup

• 2 Cucumber - grated or roughly chopped 
• 1 cup of yoghurt 
• 2 Tablespoons White Wine Vinegar 
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil 
• Cream/milk depending on texture 
• Half a clove of garlic grated 
• Salt and pepper to taste 
• Small bunch of parsley/mint to garnish 

Whizz altogether gently so you still have the bite of the cucumber.

Keep in the fridge until ready to serve

Serve chilled.

Do you have a favourite cold soup? We’d love to know which one you like. Or if it’s not your thing – we’re happy to hear what you love eating on a hot summers evening instead.

Silent Sunday - Today we are...

Sunning ourselves in the garden

Eating fresh berries and reading the Sunday papers

Painting our nails Tropical Breeze with L.A. Colors Color Craze

Being thankful for blue skies

Making Thomasina Miers' Three-Tomato Salad

Going for a lazy afternoon stroll

How are you celebrating your Sunday?

A secret you'll want to share

We are always on the hunt for something different, creative and not available on the highstreet.

So, this week we are really excited to introduce you to Secrets Unearthed - a gorgeous range of handcrafted Jewellery from sunny Cape Town designer Gina Prins. 

To give you an idea of why we are loving this girl's style, take a peek at her beautiful vintage tea party shoot, which shows off the new collection perfectly in the ultimate girly setting.

Vintage tea party with Secrets Unearthed

Vintage tea party with Secrets Unearthed

As you can see, Secrets Unearthed oozes vintage style. Gina gets inspiration from old stamps, coins and broken up pieces of porcelain, which she combines with fine silver and resin to create unique shapes and one off designs that have their own story. Using a mix of sterling silver and semi-precious gemstone pieces, she brings together different elements of nature such as wood and mother of pearl.

If you love her style as much as we do (and we really do) get in touch and see what she has to suit you. Her customised style is perfect for bridesmaids gifts too.

We are:

• Wearing the Rustic Silver Textured Bow ring 
• Ordering the Birds in Flight necklace  
• Lusting after her new Vintage Collection! 

Contact Gina directly - she can deliver her designs all over the world, do let us know what you choose and spread the word – we think she’s fab!

To see more of Gina’s collection you can visit her Facebook page or follow her on Tumblr.

Happy shopping x