Rainbow Lamingtons a la Fondue…..

This is my entry for Mr P’s re-invent the Lamington challenge and in celebration of Australia Day today.

Now before Jan. 2010, if you had asked me what a Lamington was, I suspect I  may have corrected you, saying there’s nothing like a Lamington. I might have added even more – ‘It’s a place near Brighton in the UK…or some city in the American SW’.  I would never have suspected for one minute what they were, or that they were from the land of my dreams – Oz. As in Australia.

Can you imagine being asked the the port of entry – ‘Lady, what do you know about Autralia? Do you know what a Lamington is?’ And I may have said with confidence, ‘Is it cousin to the Kangaroo and Koala?’ At which point I may have been refused entry and denied my dream of dining with Nick Perry/meeting Kylie Kwong!!!!!

Anyhow, thanks to Mowie, I’ve been knocked out of the land of ignorant bliss, into the world of craving Lammies and desiring them night and day. As have my kids, who are becoming blog watchers, checking out who’s posted what. Its no wonder I try to avoid blogging in the day…..lest they steal all my friends J and let the world know how I don’t let them bake cakes everyday….and all the rest.

I must confess that I have recipes that I hold on to for years…and others I see that are instant makes, like this and this. And of course, seeing the simplicity of Lamingtons, I knew what category they fell in. Easy bake…quick to make!

So for those of you, who were like me in Dec 2009, not knowing what Lamington’s were…here’s the deal – Lamingtons are little squares/rectangles of cream cake, covered in melted chocolate and rolled in dessicated coconut. Typically, they are then refrigerated so the chocolate sets and hardens and then they are eaten…by the mouthful…..

Or if you can’t wait, then you can eat them straight away, but that would be rather unlamingtonesque of you. Plus you miss the effect of the chocolate, soaking through the cake…but why not have both – some now, some later and then everything is nicely balanced.

As God would have it, the same week we saw this, I bought a chocolate fondue set……so the idea of making Lamingtons a la fondue was born.

Now while I loved the idea of making the special Lamington sponge, I have to raise the 3 kids card….and say I didn’t. Instead I made my favourite and quick yogurt cream cake, ready in 25 minutes (from start to finish).

Then also, instead of  going the normal Lammie chocolate route, I adjusted the fondue chocolate recipe, adding some icing sugar and milk to thin it a bit and the bit I enjoyed the most was making some of the rainbow colours for the crust!

All that involved was putting a few drops of food colouring into the dessicated coconut and rubbing the colours through and leaving this mixture out to dry overnight.

The next morning, I laid out bits of fruit, marshmallows and cake and the Lamington fondue began. We had Strawberry Lamingtons…..

They tasted mighty good!

And Marshmallow ones too.

But secretly, I had a plan…..

To make both a cherry kiss (thanks to Mr P’s inspiration). It worked but I couldn’t quite capture that on ‘film’.

My cheese and apple jelly filled lamington didn’t quite make it to production, mainly because the final pre-choc product was too large for me to comfortably hold and roll in chocolate so…I just ate it like that!

But the others worked….rather beautifully too and my children are forever enamoured, if their constant cries this weekend past for ‘fondue’ are anything to go by!

You’ll also see that I’m not very patient, cutting through my Lamingtons before they’d had time to set. What can I say?

I also made rose and chocolate Lamingtons. They were ok but next time, I will add some rose water to the cake batter and make/find some rose jelly/Turkish delight as filling in the centre to lift the ‘rose’ flavours. As it is, the rose flavour is light, gently…and may even be missed, overcome by the strength and character of cocoa and choco……I’m glad I tried. I may even attempt the true Lam cake and the chocolate process to see if there’s a signigficant difference.

I don’t think so but it’ll give me another opportunity to make more…..

And do you know now that in future, kids birthday parties will have Lamingtons as an essential. As for Easter pressies and Christmas boxes, I suspect I’m saying move over Truffles…..here we come……unless I discover something else before then.

Thanks Mowie and Mr P….Suffice it to say I now totally ♥ Lamingtons!

And I’d like to invite you back on Thursday for a very special happening – a giveaway, my first ever….Honest it is going to be so much fun – Pr♥mise!

[wpurp-searchable-recipe]Rainbow Lamingtons a la Fondue….. – – – [/wpurp-searchable-recipe]