GOD SAVE THE CAKE: March 2015

LAMINGTONS

These cakes are typical Australian cakes. They were named after Lord Lamington, the governor of Queensland from 1896-1901.

There are many different versions of how it came to be. One version tells how a maid accidentally dropped Lord Lamington’s favourite sponge cake into some melted chocolate and, so as to avoid food waste and messy fingers, the cake was dipped in coconut – a maid’s error turned into a delicious success.
Another story suggests that Lord Lamington had unexpected guests and, since there was but a stale sponge cake, the chef (who was French) had to improvise – he coated the cake in chocolate and rolled it in coconut to disguise the staleness. Lord Lamington is thought to have approved of the chef’s creation.

INGREDIENTS :

For the cake :

• 4 eggs
• 200g (1 cup) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 200g (1 ⅓ cups) flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 110g butter, melted and cooled

For the icing :

• 75g butter
• 250 ml (1 cup) milk
• 65g (½ cup) cocoa powder
• 365g icing sugar
To assemble about 250g desiccated coconut

METHOD FOR THE SPONGE CAKE :

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).

2. Grease a pan, lining the base with parchment paper.

3. Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla about 3 minutes.

4. Sift the flour and baking powder over the egg and sugar mixture and combine the dry
ingredients.

5. Add the melted butter about ⅓ at a time.

6. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.

7. Bake for 25 minutes.

8. Turn cake onto a wire rack to cool.

9. Cut cake into pieces about 4 cm.

10. Refrigerate the cake for a few hours because it will be easier to dip in the chocolate icing.

METHOD FOR ICING :

1. Sift the icing sugar and the cocoa powder into 2 different bowls.

2. In a large saucepan, melt the butter, then add the milk and mix.

3. Using a whisk to stir , add the cocoa powder.

4. Once the cocoa powder is dissolved, add the icing sugar whisking constantly to prevent
lumps.

5. With a fork, dip the cake cubes into the chocolate mix and make sure all faces are evenly
coated with chocolate.

6. Drain any excess of chocolate off the cake then drop them in the coconut and roll them
around to coat the whole cube.

7. Set the cake cubes on a cooling rack . You can refrigerate them but then you'll have to bring
them to room temperature before serving.

ENJOY WITH A CUP OF TEA ; )

PEAR COFFEE CAKE

Coffee cakes are not cakes made with coffee ! Coffee cakes are made to be eaten alongside coffee. Therefore they did not appear before the 17th century when coffee was introduced in Europe. The first ones were probably made in Germany or in Northern Europe. There are hundreds of different recipes but most of them have in common to be topped with Streusel (German origin) or icing sugar and can contain fruit and nuts. As often, the immigrants from Europe brought their recipes with them and introduced coffee cakes in America by the mid 19th century.
Nowadays we can find so many different kinds of Coffee Cakes.

INGREDIENTS :

For the streusel :

• 210g flour ( 1 ¾ cup )
• 150g brown sugar ( ¾ cup )
• 170g butter cut into small pieces ( 1 ½ sticks )
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt

For the cake :

• 113g butter, room temperature ( 1 stick )
• 240g self raising flour ( 2 cups )
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 195g sugar ( 1 cup )
• 2 eggs
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 236 ml milk ( 1 cup )
• 3 pears ( 400g )