Lamingtons

INGREDIENTS
115 g butter
150 g white sugar
5 ml vanilla extract
2 eggs
250 g all-purpose flour
20 g baking powder
0.8 g salt
120 ml milk
480 g confectioners' sugar
30 g unsweetened cocoa powder
30 g butter, melted
120 ml milk
452 g flaked coconut

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8x12 inch rectangular pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup butter, 3/4 cup sugar and the vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well.
3. Pour the batter into the 8x12 inch pan. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Store overnight to give the cake a chance to firm up before Icing.
4. To make the Icing: In a large bowl, combine confectioners' sugar and cocoa. In a saucepan, heat milk and 2 teaspoons butter until the butter is melted. Add the milk to the sugar mixture and mix well to create a fluid, but not too runny, Icing.
5. Procedure: Cut the cake into 24 squares. Place coconut in a shallow container. Using a fork, dip each square into the icing, then roll it in the coconut. Place onto rack to dry. Continue for each piece. The Icing will drip, so place a sheet of parchment paper under the rack to catch the drips.

The Lamingtons that Aunty Sue taught me are slightly different. We didn't cut the cake into small squares. But, we made many small cup cakes. It tasted good. The chocolate icing was not sweet and just nice.

We made this for our dessert with Uncle Barry, Aunty Sue, Gran (Aunty Sue's mom), Silvia, Silvia's mom and Jason. At the end of the dinner, Aunty Sue asked me whether I wanted to take some Lamingtons back to share with my colleague. I told her "I want it for myself".

I personally like it a lot. I will rate it as 7/10.

What Aunty Sue told me is "My memory (as a child, is a cake (like our pink/jelly ones we did) in a cake shop in Blenheim NZ - the bakers were Dutch, and the pink cakes were in little towers (about the size of a tall muffin) and called Madelines. I really loved them. The traditional recipes for lamington (which I think could be Australian in origin) - is square butter sponge with the chocolate icing and coconut as in the email you sent me. So our chocolate ones were a MINI version of my Madelines - but chocolate (because Sylvia & Gran likes them) : )"

Basic Cinnamon Apple Muffins

Ingredients
Melted butter or margarine (optional), for greasing
300g (2 cups) plain flour
1 tbs baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
150g (3/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
2 medium (about 375g) Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled, chopped
125g (3/4 cup) seedless raisins
125g butter or margarine, melted, cooled
2 eggs, lightly whisked
185mls (3/4 cup) milk

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Prepare your ingredients. You will need 12 medium (125mls/ 1/2 cup) muffin pans. They are available in trays of either 6 or 12. Non-stick muffin pans are wonderful to use as they don't need greasing. If you aren't using non-stick pans, brush the pans with the melted butter or margarine to lightly grease. Alternatively, line the pans with paper muffin cases.
Sift the plain flour, baking powder and cinnamon together into a large bowl. The baking powder acts as a raising agent and will help give the muffins a light texture. Stir in the brown sugar, apples and raisins until well combined.
Whisk together the butter or margarine, eggs and milk until well combined. Blending the wet ingredients before adding them to the flour mixture makes it easier to evenly combine the two.
Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a large metal spoon until just combined. It is important that the ingredients are only just combined. If the mixture is over-mixed, the cooked muffins will have a tough texture.
Spoon the mixture evenly into the muffin pans.
Bake the muffins in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through. To test if they are cooked, insert a skewer into the centre of one - if it comes out clean, it is ready If not, cook for a little longer before testing again. When cooked, remove from oven and stand for 2-3 minutes before turning onto a wire rack. Letting them stand makes them easier to remove from the pans. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 day.

"I like this muffin as it is very soft and not too sweet. The cinnamon and apple just match perfectly. I will rate it as 7/10.

I hope I can repeat this recepi when I get back to Malaysia and share with my love one."