Lamingtons

Something happens to me at this time of the year, apart from hayfever, that is.  I experience feelings of Aussie-ness.   It happens when I hear the national anthem sung at the AFL Grand Final.  There's something about the national anthem at a big sporting event that makes me go a bit Aussie. And by Aussie, I don't mean I get a sudden urge to eat a meat pie, shout 'oi oi oi' from the rooftops, and think about changing my name to Kylie.  It is a feeling of being involved in a shared national experience and, in the case of AFL, watching a uniquely Australian game.  As the AFL Grand Final was yesterday, there is only one thing I can bake today - lamingtons! 

Lamingtons are one of the few "Australian" cakes, apparently originating from Queensland.  They are squares of sponge cake covered in chocolate and coconut.  Interestingly, lamingtons are one of the few cakes my mother never made.  We only ate them once a year when my primary school had its annual lamington drive. The school hall became a hive of activity for an entire day.  Huge slabs of sponges would be brought in from a commercial bakery, and a production line of volunteer Mums would cut, ice, roll and pack. Finished  batches would be ferried in washing baskets to classrooms for orders to be handed out.  It was a big day. Another big day is 21 July, which apparently is national Lamington Day.  Who knew?

Making lamingtons is a two day process as you need to make the sponge a day in advance.  This is important as the sponge needs a day to dry out, otherwise it is too soft to dip in the chocolate.  Bits drop off, believe me.

Lamington Recipe

250g unsalted butter, softened
330g caster sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
370g plain flour
5 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
250g dessicated coconut

For the icing:

500g icing sugar
50g cocoa powder
40g unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
150-250ml boiling water

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees celcius.  Grease a square tin and line the base with baking paper.  I use a 24cm by 24cm tin.

Beat the butter until light and creamy, then add the caster sugar in batches.  Beat thoroughly after each addition to ensure that the sugar dissolves.  Add the eggs one at a time and mix well.  Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined.  Sift the flour and the baking power, and add to the bowl, mixing until just combined.  Add the milk, and mix until smooth. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, and spread evenly.  Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.  Like all sponges, rest the cake in the tin for about 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.  When cool, wrap in cling film.

On the following day, cut the sponge into evenly sized squares.  As it is rare for a cake to come out of the oven with a completely even top, none of the squares will be perfect.

Make the icing by sifting the flour and cocoa into a large bowl.  Add the butter, vanilla essence and 150ml of the water.  Mix until smooth.  You may need to add a bit more water to get the right consistency, which needs to be somewhere between pouring cream and thickened cream.  If the icing is too thick, it won't drip off easily and lumps of the icing will slide off when you roll the squares in the coconut.  You will need to keep adding a little boiling water to the icing throughout the process to maintain the right consistency.

Set up a little production line with the squares, chocolate icing and coconut.  Using a skewer or fork, dip a sponge square into the icing, allowing any excess to drip off.

Then cover with coconut.

Place the squares on a wire rack to dry, which usually takes about 2 hours.

I use dessicated coconut but for a more shagadelic look, use shredded coconut.

There are several ways to serve lamingtons.  As is, or filled with whipped cream and/or strawberry jam.  Classic Australian.

Gooey Chocolate Brownies

My cat Piaf likes fillet steak.  It is entirely my fault this situation has arisen.

It happened after I gave her a few trimmings of some fillet steak I was preparing.  Now every time I give her minced beef, she looks up at me with a "what the hell is this?" expression on her face, and no longer eats it with the same gusto she used to.  It is the same with chocolate.  Once you've had the good stuff, it's really hard to go back to milk chocolate. 

When cooking with chocolate, it is important to use a good quality dark chocolate.  And by that, I mean chocolate which has a high percentage of cocoa (cocoa butter and cocoa solids).  There is a lot of choice available now, and my supermarket sells chocolate with percentages up to 85 percent.  The percentage you choose to bake with depends on whether you want a bittersweet, semi-sweet or really sweet result.  Chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa is like a blank canvas.  It has less sugar so provides a rich, deep chocolate flavour, and allows you to play around with the amount of sugar required. Chocolate with a lower percentage has more additives like sugar, vanilla and lecithin (an emulsifier), so you are already dealing with a sweet ingredient, and may need to alter the sugar quantities in the recipe to get the balance right.  Basically, if you want a really sweet result, use dark chocolate with a lower cocoa content.

One chocolate recipe that needs a lot of sweetness is the good, old fashioned brownie. If you like a brownie with a high goo factor, this recipe is for you.  It uses dark chocolate with 50% cocoa, to which a lot of brown sugar is added.   The end result is rich, sweet, fudgy brownie, which I can highly recommend.

Gooey Chocolate Brownies

150g unsalted butter, chopped
440g dark chocolate, with 50% cocoa
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup walnuts

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.  Grease and line a brownie tin.  I always use a 24 x 24 cm deep square tin. 

Chop 300g of the chocolate roughly, put in a bowl and melt over a saucepan of gently simmering water.  Add the butter and take the saucepan off the heat.  Stir the butter with the chocolate until smooth. 

Chop the remaining chocolate into small pieces. 

Add the brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, and, sour cream to the melted chocolate and stir until smooth.  Add the chocolate pieces and the walnuts and stir until evenly distributed. 

Pour the mixture into the tin, and spread evenly.

Bake for 40 minutes initally, cover with foil and then bake for another 20 minutes.  Leave to cool in the pan.  Turn out and cut into evenly sized portions.