lamington bars.

As of late, I've been having difficulty keeping up with blogposts. Everyone is aware of the usual reasons - it's time-consuming, there are many other things going on, school will get busy soon, etc. So instead of proffering a ton of excuses & still continuing to blog extremely minimally, I have decided to find a working medium.

Instead of my usual rambling posts, I'm going to post mainly pictures & recipes. This will keep the the posts shorter, but still allow me to get everything to you.

Speaking of, let's get to these bars.

You've heard of lamingtons, right? They are Australian desserts, consisting of cubes of sponge which have been quickly dipped into chocolate and then coated with coconut. The chocolate is a very thin layer that becomes absorbed into the sponge cake, and the coconut adheres to the stickiness of the cake. Fancier versions are cut in half horizontally and filled with cream or jam (primarily strawberry, I think), and then coated with chocolate & coconut.

I've never eaten a traditional lamington, but was always intrigued by them.

This version is actually a lamington transformed into a bar. The bar is made of sponge cake, and a chocolate mixture (it's not just melted chocolate) is poured over the bar, to be readily absorbed. I also pressed toasted coconut on the top.

These are delicious, more than I imagined. Since the bars are thin, a lot of the chocolate gets absorbed, but I didn't mind it, even though I don't like chocolate cake (yeah yeah, I know it's heinous). Toasting the coconut was a great decision. These are good once chilled thoroughly in the fridge, too. Mmmmm.

Lamington Bars
adapted only slightly from here.

• 1 stick butter (113 gr ; 1/2 cup), softened 
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 all-purpose flour (I subbed 1/4 cup whole wheat with no ill effect)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder 
• pinch salt 
• 1/2 cup milk (whole or 2%)
• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted to a golden brown 

• 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar 
• 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup boiling water 
• 1 Tablespoon butter, melted (I subbed ghee) 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 if using convection settings). Butter an 8x12" baking pan. 
2. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. 
3. Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla, until light and fluffy. 
4. Beat in eggs one at a time. 
5. Add dry mixture to wet mixture. 
6. Stir in milk. 
7. Transfer to prepared pan, and bake about 30 minutes. Skewer in center should come out clean. The cake won't brown too much. Cool cake completely. Cut into squares, but don't remove from pan. 
8. Make icing by mixing all 4 ingredients together. Pour over squares. Top with toasted coconut, and press in slightly, so coconut adheres to cake. Serve! Store extras in the fridge.