August Firsts

After creating my own blog and my intoductory post, my busy schedule just didn't give me the chance to come back here and continue what I started. There's just so much to do on top of my full time job that at the end of the day, I just want to sink in the tub and just drift off to la-la land while listening to some jazz music. But I'm not going to lie that I still manage to cook a little something on the side (well, we gotta eat to live ha ha ha ha ha...) and this month, I made two interesting food creations- the first one, an Australian delicacy called "lamingtons".


Lamingtons are rectangular slices or cubes of sponge cake dipped in dark chocolate ganache then rolled in coconut flakes. The recipe indicates that I should trim all edges to make each slice even but I didn't want to waste a crumb of this yummy delicacy. I didn't have courveture chocolate that pastry chefs use but I have some good dark chocolate on hand and it was a good alternative. I must say my first try is successful because my lamingtons came out good. The cake was spongy and soft and the chocolate ganache went well with the coconut flakes which I felt I should have pulsed in my food processor to make them finer and smaller. Here's the recipe which was given by kawaiichik (thanks a lot).


Lamingtons

Ingredients (serves 15)
* Melted butter, to grease
* 75g (1/2 cup) self-raising flour
* 75g (1/2 cup) plain flour
* 70g (1/2 cup) cornflour
* 6 eggs, at room temperature
* 215g (1 cup) caster sugar
* 1 tbs boiling water
* 170g (2 cups) desiccated coconut

Chocolate Ganache Icing
* 400ml (1 ¾ cups) cream
* 250g (1 cup) couverture chocolate
Place 400ml cream in a saucepan over high heat and bring just to a boil, then remove the pan from the heat. Meanwhile, chop chocolate into small pieces, then add chopped chocolate to the cream, whilst mixing vigorously until the chocolate and cream are thoroughly mixed. The mixture will slightly solidify as it cools.
Method
1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Brush a 19 x 29cm (base measurement) lamington pan with melted butter to lightly grease. Line the base and sides with non-stick baking paper, allowing it to overhang slightly.
2. Sift the combined flours together into a large bowl. Repeat twice.
3. Use an electric beater to whisk the eggs in a large clean, dry bowl until thick and pale. Gradually add the sugar, 1 tbs at a time, whisking well after each addition until mixture is thick and sugar dissolves.
4. Sift the combined flours over the egg mixture. Pour the boiling water down the side of the bowl. Use a large metal spoon to gently fold until just combined. Pour mixture into the prepared pan and use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn cake onto a wire rack, cover with a clean tea towel and set aside overnight to cool.
5. Trim the edges of the cake and cut into 15 squares. Spread the coconut over a plate.
6. Use 2 forks to dip 1 cake square into the warm icing to evenly coat. Allow any excess icing to drip off. Use your fingers to roll the cake in the coconut to evenly coat, then place on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining cake squares, icing and coconut. Set aside for 1 hour or until icing sets.