The Australian Supper Table

Try putting on a pair of Dame Edna's famous glasses and have a look at the world through her eyes. Write using her voice.

More from an Australian Supper Table

Lemon Slice and Chocolate Hedgehog

Lamingtons

Dame Edna Everidge bought Lamingtons into the spotlight during her irreverent performances all over the world. This famous Australian cake was a favourite at supper time at the dances in the Mechanics Hall in Maffra when I was growing up in the 1950's.

Dancing stopped while everyone went to the supper room and chose from a spread that included sandwich sponges four-inches high with cream, sponge rolls, custard slices, meringues, sponge kisses and lamingtons. A lamington is a cube of sponge cake coated in chocolate and dried coconut. It was named after Baron Lamington, Govenor of Queensland(1890-1901)

Begin by making a Sponge Cake

Sponge Cake
350 g SR Flour
150g butter or margarine
250g sugar
3 eggs
half a cup of milk
few drops of lemon essence

Method
Set the oven at 180C
Grease and line a shallow lamington cake tin 30 - 25cm
Beat butter and sugar until creamy
Add eggs and beat well
Gradually add milk, essence and flour and mix well
Pour cake into prepared tin
Bake for 30-45 minutes
Loosen sides of cake and turn out onto a cake rack
Leave until quite cold

Icing
1 cup of very hot water
2 tablespoons of cocoa
50 gram of butter
350 gram of icing sugar
few drops of vanilla essence

Method
Dissolve cocoa with hot water in basin
Melt butter and add to cocoa mixture
Add icing sugar and essence and mix well
Let the icing cool

Icing the Lamingtons
Method
Cut the cake into 24-30 cubes
Put 250gram of desiccated coconut in a paper bag
Use a metal skewer to dip cubes of cake into the icing
Drop icing-covered cake into a bag of coconut and shake gently
Remove the cake from the bag and dry on foil or grease proof paper
Repeat process with other cubes of cake