Mini Lamingtons

I first tried these delicious mini cakes when I lived in Hong Kong and it seemed that a lot of the coffee shops there sold them.  They are very addictive and it's been a couple of years since I last had one.  Lamingtons are named after Charles Cochrane-Baille, 2nd Baron Lamington, who served as Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901.  It was the Lamington's chef, Armand Gallad, who was called upon at short notice to provide something to feed unexpected guests. According to the Melbourne Age newspaper, Gallad cut up some left over French vanilla sponge cake baked the day before, dipped the slices in chocolate and set them in coconut (an ingredient not widely used in European cooking at that time). Lady Lamington's guests then asked for the recipe.  Ironically, Lord Lamington was believed to have hated the dessert that had been named in his honor, referring to them as "those bloody poofy woolly biscuits".  He obviously didn't have a sweet tooth!

Makes 16
recipe from Australian Good Taste
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300g (2 cups) plain flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
125g butter, at room temperature
155g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
2 eggs
125ml (1/2 cup) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
170g (2 cups) moist coconut flakes

Chocolate Icing:
230g (1 1/2 cups) icing sugar, sifted
35g (1/3 cup) cocoa powder, sifted
10g butter
60-80ml (1/4 - 1/3 cup) boiling water

Preheat oven to 180c (350f).  Brush a square 20cm (8") cake pan with melted butter and line with non-stick baking paper.  Sift together the flour and baking powder.  Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy.   Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add the flour mixture and milk to the egg mixture, in alternate batches, and fold to combine.  Fold in the vanilla.

Spoon into the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Set aside to cool.  Cut into pieces.  To make the chocolate icing, in a medium bowl combine the icing sugar, cocoa powder, butter and enough water to make a runny consistency.  Dip the cake in the chocolate icing making sure to coat all sides and then dip in the coconut.  Set aside until set.

The Culinary Chase's Note:  A bit messy when dipping into the chocolate and then coconut but worth every bit of sticky effort.  Delectable!