Watermelon ice lollies
Celebration sponge A SHOWSTOPPER CAKE, STREWN WITH BERRIES AND EDIBLE FLOWERS Serves 6–8
225g unsalted butter, room temperature 225g caster sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 5 medium free-range eggs 225g self-raising flour 1 tsp baking powder ¼ tsp salt 1 tbsp fresh milk 200ml fresh double cream 250g strawberries, hulled and halved Handful of fresh raspberries 150g blueberries Fresh lavender flowers Nasturtium flowers
1 Preheat oven to 190C/Fan 170C/Gas 5. Grease and line two round 20cm cake tins. Cube the butter, and cream together with the sugar in a large mixing bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract.
2 In a clean bowl, sieve the flour, add the baking powder and salt. Separately, beat the eggs and then mix in slowly with the butter mix (a spoonful of the sieved flour will stop it curdling). Gently fold dry ingredients into the wet until well combined.
3 Stir in the milk to make the mixture a little more runny and evenly divide between the cake tins. Bake for 25 mins (checking after 20) until the sponges are golden on top and a skewer pressed in to the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave for 5 mins, then turn onto a rack to cool.
4 To decorate the cake, whip the cream in a large, clean bowl until it starts to form peaks. Spread half the cream onto the bottom of one of the cakes and add a layer of halved strawberries (close to the edge, so they will remain visible once sandwiched). Place the second cake on top and cover with the rest of the cream. Place the remaining strawberries, raspberries and blueberries on top and add fresh lavender and nasturtium flowers.
PLAYING PÉTANQUE
Pétanque (or boules) is played in two teams with two sets of differently marked boules. You can play in teams of two (3 boules each); three (2 each) or one against one (3 each).
1 Draw a circle on the ground (or use a coiled rope), 50cm in diameter.
2 A player from team one stands in the circle and throws the jack (the wooden boule) to land 6-10m from the rope, a metre away from any other object. Team one throws a first boule as close as possible to the jack.
3 A player from team two tries to get a boule closer. If successful they ‘have the point’ and play returns to team one. If not, they continue to throw until they do and play passes back.
4 Play continues until one team has played all their boules. The other team then throws the rest of their boules.
5 The team with the closest boule to the jack wins and gets a point for each of their boules closer to the jack than the other team’s nearest boule.
6 The winning team draws a new circle round the jack and throws it to start the next round. Play ends when one team reaches 13 points.