Lamingtons for Milo

 

The Recipe

Makes: 12 medium lamingtons
Preparation: 30 minutes
Baking Time: 20-30 minutes

Supposedly named after Lord Lamington, the governor of the northern state, Queensland in the late 1800s these little vanilla cakes rolled in chocolate and coconut have become a cake that one either loves or hates.

I don't think that there are many foods that are iconic to Australia. Sure, we have pavlova, meat pies, sausage rolls and hamburgers with egg, canned beetroot, and pineapple, amazing seafood and then we have lamingtons.

Supposedly named after Lord Lamington, the governor of the northern state, Queensland in the late 1800s these little vanilla cakes rolled in chocolate and coconut have become a cake that one either loves or hates.

I remember the lamington drives when I was in primary school. The school would order a massive amount of artificial looking and tasting blocks of stale cake squished together with stark white cream and a small slathering of jam that resembled a little bit of a strawberry flavour. We raised quite a bit of money for these drives; however, the memory of those artificial cakes left a bad taste in my mouth....

Fast forward, to Singapore, in 2012. I was a proud owner of a cafe where I served just as many Australian ex-pats as I did local Singaporeans. It was here I started making my version of lamingtons. using fresh cake, good vanilla, and quality chocolate. Baking a batch at 5am, ensured a sell-out by 10am.

Fast forward, to Mexico, in 2014. A bright young Canadian Mexican graced us with his ever-enthusiastic presence and questioned me... "Do you know how to make lamingtons?", I sure do.

 

INGREDIENTS

CAKE
260g all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
113g butter unsalted (room temperature)
150g caster sugar
100mls milk
2 medium eggs (50g in weight each) @ room temperature
1 tsp good vanilla extract or ½ tsp vanilla bean paste

ICING
454 g icing sugar
30g cocoa (sifted)
42g salted butter
120 mls milk (4oz)
100g desiccated coconut

METHOD

  1. Preheat the Oven to 180’ Celsius and grease and line with baking paper a 20cm square pan.

  2. Beat butter, vanilla & sugar together until smooth and creamy.

  3. In a separate bowl, sift flour & baking powder.

  4. Add eggs to the butter mixture one by one

  5. Add 1/3 of the flour and 1/3 of the milk and mix. Continue doing this until all the ingredients are used up, ending with the flour.\

  6. Spoon into the pan and level off with a spatula.

  7. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-30 minutes. When a skewer is inserted into the centre of the cake it should come out clean.

  8. Allow the cake to cool completely then wrap it in cling film and refrigerate overnight.

  9. Once the cake is set and nice and firm, cut it into even squares.

  10. Over a double boiler on medium heat, mix all ingredients (except the coconut) until melted and combined

  11. Put the coconut in a separate bowl.

  12. Take a square of the vanilla cake and dip it into the chocolate mixture until completely covered. Next roll the square in the coconut.

  13. Place on a cooling rack to set

*The cake can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. If not used right away it can also be frozen and then defrosted (room temperature)

Banana Bread with Pecans

 

The Recipe

Makes: 1 loaf
Preparation: 10 minutes
Baking Time: 50-60 minutes

Despite the tradition of Australians grabbing a coffee and a slice of banana bread - the origins of this simple quick bread (chemically leavened) have its roots in late 18th Century America where pearlash was discovered - and later on, baking powder was used in the mid-19th Century. It is an easy bread to make so please try it!!

Whenever I touch down in Australia - I have to get my hands on a thick slice of banana bread that is well toasted and slathered in good salted butter. No matter how hard I try I can never replicate the giant loaves that are made in the factory that are dense and light all at the same time. But let’s just say this is a gourmet loaf and kills the craving when in need of banana bread while I’m in Singapore.

Despite the tradition of Australians grabbing a coffee and a slice of banana bread - the origins of this simple quick bread (chemical leavened) has it’s roots in late 18th Century America where pearlash was discovered - and later on baking powder was used in the mid 19th Century. It is an easy bread to make so please try it!!

INGREDIENTS

150g plain flour
100g wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
70g white caster sugar
70g brown sugar
½ tsp sea salt
2-3 very ripe bananas (about 280g)
2 medium eggs
50g unsalted butter, melted
100g plain Greek yoghurt

100g pecans, roughly chopped
3 tblsp golden syrup (or honey)
40g salted butter

METHOD

  1. Preheat the oven to 180’C and line a loaf pan with baking paper and butter

  2. Mix all the dry ingredients together

  3. Mash up the bananas and mix in eggs, yoghurt and butter

  4. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix well.

  5. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan and sprinkle over the pecans

  6. Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes. Insert a knife into the centre of the loaf, it should come out clean if it is cooked

  7. While the cake is still hot, melt the golden syrup and butter together then pour over the cake.

  8. Allow the cake to sit for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack

  9. Slice and toast with lashings of butter.