This treat is deliciously prepared as outlined here, but sometimes you feel like a nut. Because the flavor of this reminds me so much of a mounds bar, I decided to cut some of the cubes in half and add a layer of almond buttercream to get the flavor of an almond joy bar. For the filling, I simply used 1 cup of my basic buttercream recipe and added ½ teaspoon of almond extract. This is totally optional.
I think you will find this very easy to make and incredibly tasty. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out. I would love to see some pictures. Until Monday…
savour…down under
LAMINGTONS
Before you start:
Do not trouble yourself too much over the shape of your lamingtons. They will be eaten so quickly that nobody will take note.
For the sponge cake batter, be careful to just fold in the flour and the butter. The whipped eggs and sugar have a great deal of air in them. Beating too hard will force the air out and wreck the batter.
I’ll just say it…coating the cubes is a mess. Set up an assembly line of sorts. I use my left hand to hold the cube. With my right hand, I use a rubber spatula to spread the chocolate on. Left (messy) hand puts the cube in the coconut. Right (clean) hand rolls the cube around and moves it to the wire rack. Repeat.
Sponge cake
The ingredients:
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 7 eggs
- 6 tablespoons butter
The method:
- Preheat oven to 350˚F.
- Melt butter on the stove in a small saucepan. Heat just until butter is melted.
- With an electric mixer, whisk together eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. This will take around 10 minutes.
- Carefully fold in the flour.
- Even more carefully, fold in melted butter.
- Line a 13×9 rectangular cake pan with parchment.
- Pour the batter into the pan.
- Bake 30 – 35 minutes.
- Check at 30 minutes by inserting a toothpick or skewer into the center of the cake. It should come out clean.
- Allow cake to cool completely on the cooling rack.
- When cool, remove from pan and cut off all of the edges and crusts.
- Cut into cubes. Use the height of the cake to determine the length and width of the cube.
Coating
The ingredients:
- 2 cups shredded coconut
- 1 ¾ cups confectioner’s sugar
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ½ cup melted butter
- 2/3 – 3/4 cup hot water
The method:
- Further, grind coconut in the food processor to make it a bit smaller.
- Put coconut in a shallow pan or bowl.
- Melt butter on the stove in a small saucepan. Heat just until the butter is melted.
- Whisk together the confectioner’s sugar, cocoa powder, and 2/3 cup hot water in a bowl.
- Add remaining water as necessary to get a thick but smooth consistency.
- Over the bowl of chocolate, spread all sides of the cube with the mixture (I usually leave one side without for easier handling…it becomes the bottom).
- Roll the cube around in the coconut.
- Place on a wire rack to harden.
- Refrigerate to finish hardening.
