Happy Australia Day with Lemon Myrtle Lamingtons!

Wishing all the Aussies a very Happy Australia Day! To celebrate I decided after seeing some of Zumbos creations online for some unusual aussie treats, that I would combine my love of lamingtons with my BIG love of an Aussie Herb Lemon Myrtle! I could smell the essence of those leaves all day looong!

Lemon Myrtle Lamingtons

Cake

190g Butter - room temp & cubed
1/2 cup Castor Sugar
3 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Essence or Extract
1/2 tsp Lor Ann Coconut Emulsion (optional)
1 cup Milk
2 1/2 cups Self Raising Flour

Coating

4 Egg Yolks
90ml Lemon Juice
3/4 cup Castor Sugar
8 Lemon Myrtle Leaves - ripped & bruised
100g Butter - cubed & cold
2 cups Shredded Coconut

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees.  Grease and flour a standard lamington tin.

Place butter and sugar into the mixer and cream together.  Then add in one egg at a time to the mix, beating each addition well.

Add in the vanilla and as an option some Lor Ann Coconut Emulsion, I love this stuff!

Measure out the flour and the milk and then add alternatively in 2-3 batches.  Only beat lightly at the end so as not to bruise the flour.  Once ready and you will know because it will be a nice light creamy mixture with no lumps.

Pour your mixture into the prepared tin and place it in the oven for approximately 40 minutes.

Remove and let cake go completely cold, refridgerate if you have to, I left mine overnight and glad wrapped it once cold.

Place sugar and bruised split lemon myrtle leaves in a jar to infuse (I left mine overnight).

Then sift them out and put the sugar in a medium saucepan with egg yolks, lemon juice and salt and whisk on a medium heat until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. About 10 minutes. Do not stop stirring and do not allow the mixture to boil or it will become lumpy. Then remove from heat and whisk one cube of butter at a time.  Set aside and allow it to cool.

Once curd is cool, line up your process line of :
1. Cut up cake (slice off the baked edges)
2. Curd
3. Shredded Coconut
4. Empty Plate

One piece at a time, take cake cube, turn it through the curd coating all sides.  Then roll the coated cake cube through the shredded coconut.

Place the lamington piece onto the plate, I recommend the cubes to not touch so the air in the fridge gets to all sides for the coating and coconut to set.

Coat and Crumb all pieces of your cake, I got exactly 12 pieces.

Place the plate of lamingtons in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to set.

DEVOUR!!!

Challenge No 6 - Pink Ombre Cake with Raspberries & Lemon Curd

Month 6 - June
Blog 6 - Sockerrus www.sockerrus.se
Recipe 6 - Ombre Cake http://sockerrus.se/2011/07/20/blue-rainbow-cake/

 

Now this is a cake that has been on my hit list for about a year, I originally saw it on a Swedish Website which is the Sockerrus Blog where you can see some fantastic cakes designs, ideas and recipes.  You just need to hit "Translate to English" up on the right hand side.

The funny part is I had my heart set on making this for sooooo long, and I have now made the cake itself three times in total in under 2 months, and everyone constantly comments how delicious the cake is. Its a White Velvet Cake, which I had never actually heard of, but it is a very fine compact crumb. Therefore the texture is really lovely to eat, and soft and can make a decent cake even when thin layers are required.

I doubled the cake batter, so feel free the halve this recipe for a small cake.  Also I thought I would put cream in centre layer, I felt it ruined the look a bit and I have to take it by car to my brother's (about a 15 minute drive) and the cream layer cause the top layers above the cream to slip off. Definitely keep it to just the lemon curd and save the cream for the top. So forgive me the the final cake doesn't look as good as it should, it slipped apart in my car....

Here is the cake (which as mentioned I doubled)

White Velvet Cake

135g Egg Whites
250g Milk
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence
300g Castor Sugar
300g Plain Flour
1 1/3 Baking Powder
1/4 Salt
170g Butter - room temp

Food Colourings - used Americolor Electric Pink and Rose
Punnet Raspberries
300ml Whipping Cream
Tbsp Sugar
300-600g Lemon Curd

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.

Grease and flour at least 2 x 8 inch tins.

Whisk together the egg whites, milk and vanilla in a small bowl, and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour, castor sugar, baking powder and salt.  Add in the softened butter and mix in gently.  Add a third of the egg milk mixture, repeat twice until mixed in completely.

Your batter is now ready, so divide it evenly into 5 bowls, i recommend you use 5 bowls of the same kind and size so you can measure consistently.  Once divided into 5 bowls, leave first bowl as natural, add one drop/tiny blog to 2nd bowl and stir, add a larger amount to the 3rd bowl, change to darker colour and add small amount to ensure it darker than 3rd bowl, finally add a larger amount of colour to the 5th bowl.

You should end up with 5 layers of graduating colour in separate cakes.

Bake each layer/tin separately on the middle shelf in the oven, for 15-20 mins, check the cake springs bake touching the centre of it to check it is cooked enough. It should be firm and spongy.

Remove cake tin, allow to cool for 15 minutes and then turn cake out of the tin onto a cooling rack.

Make the lemon curd and place into the fridge to cool.

I recommend freezing your cake layers for just a couple of hours to get them firm and cold before cutting, trimming and layering them as you will get a much better result.

Finally layer up your cake, putting lemon curd between each layer, and finally top it with cream and raspberries. Edible glitter compulsory!

Here is what this delicious number looked like on the inside!!!! Delightful!!

ENJOY!

Challenge No 3 – Pavlova and Lemon Curd Push Pops

Month 3 - March
Blog 3 - Bubble & Sweet - http://bubbleandsweet.blogspot.com.au/
Recipe 3 - Pavlova and Lemon Curd Push Pops - http://bubbleandsweet.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/individual-pavlova-with-passion-fruit.html

The month of March arrived and in the very first week I had organised a High Tea Event.  And at the centre of my High Tea was going to be these gorgeous Push Pops that I got from Bubble and Sweet the Push Pop Pavlovas.  Note that Linda used Passionfruit Curd but since we have a glut of lemons and Mum is constantly telling me she needs to not waste the lemons and needs me to make curd..... well guess what I was making???

Be sure to pop over to Bubble and Sweet Blog because Linda has some beautiful sweets on her site, I get very inspired by her work and then usually tweak it for my own needs and tastes.

The main things you will need are :

Push Pop Containers (or shot glasses or glass jars)

Cutter something that cuts the meringue the exact size of your containers

A stand or box – pre plan what you are going to stand them in, as they fall easily

Electric Mixer

Saucepan

Oven + Stovetop

Recipe

Meringue

8 Egg Whites

2 ½ cups Castor Sugar

2 tsp white vinegar

Lemon Curd

8 Egg Yolks (left from your meringue)

180ml Lemon Juice

250g Castor Sugar

120g Butter – cubed (8 peices)

4 tsp Lemon Zest – finely grated

Assembly

12 fresh Raspberries

300ml Thickened Cream (light option is acceptable)

2 Tbsp Castor Sugar

Meringue Method :

Preheat oven to 140 C degrees.

Place Egg Whites in the electric mixer and whip on high for at least 10 minutes, until they are white and foamy, add in the castor sugar a tablespoon at a time and mix in before adding next spoonful. Finally add in the vinegar and finish whipping when mixture is thick and white and stiff (doesn’t fall or drip off beater). Test checking if you have a “beak” of meringue when you lift up the beater. The process will take over 15 minutes in total.

Line a baking tray with foil and then line with baking paper.

Spread the baking paper with the meringue, ensure that it is evenly spread. Place tray of meringue in the oven, and bake for 25 minutes (do not allow it to brown), then turn off oven and leave it in the oven for a further 45 minutes, this process will make your meringue harden.

Lemon Curd Method :

Take egg yolks left over from the meringue (you can do this with only 4 as curd can be made in half this but I love leftover lemon curd), and place them into a medium heavy based saucepan, add in the castor sugar, lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Turn the heat on medium and whisk constantly, scraping the sides continually of the saucepan. Keep up the whisking until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (this will take approximately 8 minutes). Do not let the mixture boil as this will make it go lumpy.

Once thick enough, remove the saucepan from the heat, whisk in one piece of butter at a time, until smooth. Strain the curd through a sieve into a bowl. Then stir in the lemon zest and cover with plastic wrap(glad wrap), pressing it down directly onto the curd, this is necessary to ensure that a skin doesn’t form. Place into a fridge, and chill for at least 1 hour, best made a day before required.

Assembly :

Take your sheet of meringue, using your cutter that fits perfectly to your serving choice, cut at least 2 circles per serving required (I made 12 Push Pops so I cut out at least 24 circles).

Pour your thickened cream into the mixer with the whipping beater and whip on high for 5 minutes, gradually add in the castor sugar. Put cream to the side in bowl as you will be placing a spoon of this on the top of each serving.

Step 1 – Put a spoonful of curd into each container/glass

Step 2 – Place a meringue on top

Step 3 – Place a 2^nd spoonful of curd

Step 4 – Place a 2^nd meringue

Step 5 – Another spoon of lemon curd is optional *

Step 6 – Spoon a large amount of luscious cream on the top

Step 7 – Top with a fresh raspberry

VOILA!!!!!

Pavlova and Lemon Curd Push Pops are served!!! Amoungst the High Tea spread!