True Blue Oz Day Morning Tea

Happy Australia Day everyone! As promised, I'm sharing my true blue Aussie morning tea today.

Since posting my Giant Lamington yesterday, I discovered that my love of making stupidly massive, or ridiculously tiny food is not an affliction I suffer alone. Before we go any further, you have to check out this giant vegemite scroll from Not Quite Nigella and this giant iced vovo from Raspberri Cupcakes. Love!

I actually got to thinking this afternoon that it's really not that unusual for an Aussie to enjoy an oversized object. Actually, that sounds dirty but it's not!

I'm talking about the Big Banana, the Big Pineapple, the Big Potato. They're beloved attractions. Along with the Big Prawn, the Big Merino and um, the Great Barrier Reef! So, I've decided that it must be in my DNA to make comically large stuff, including food. (I was actually going to say its in my DNA to blow things up, but being of Irish descent, that would mean something entirely different!)

Photo: www.motelaquajet.com 

Photo: www.amazingaustralia.com.au

When I started to think about blogging something for Oz Day this year, I loved the Giant Lamington idea but I wondered what other Aussie delights would go with it?  I had plenty of ideas, which you'll agree with me was hilarious when I tell you this story.

When I was in about year 8, I took Home Science at school. No idea what they call it or teach now, but in those days it was straight up cooking with some sort of life lesson thrown in. Anyway, around Australia Day, we had to make up and bring in something which represented an Australian national dish, with much debate going on as to whether we actually had a national dish or not.

Now, you won't believe this, but I wasn't exactly the diligent, studious type at school and the night before it was due, I still hadn't shopped for the dish, cooked it or written up my essay on why it was so Aussie. So, and I swear this is a true story - I made a muffin mix and threw in some dried fruit that my Mum had in the cupboard left over from the Christmas pudding. Then I wrote a (probably long and ranting) diatribe on how the dried fruit comes together to make a better, delicious dish, just like how the many cultures in Australia come together!

Good Lord!!

Flag and sunnies from Woolies, windmill and heart cake toppers from Hot Dollar.

Not only did I get away with these shenanigans, I got the top mark in the class and, as the leftovers were donated to the teacher's lunchroom, I had people telling me all day how much they loved the muffins! The take away from this story is that my powers of BS were obviously developed early - and accordingly, I was destined to join the legal profession. And/or start blogging!

Anyway, you'll be glad to notice that my view of the Aussie national dish has improved greatly since I was 13 and this morning tea looks so much better than a dried fruit muffin! So, let me explain why this is a true blue Australia Day celebration.

First, you simply cannot go past a pie and sauce to celebrate Australia Day. If you hate pies you are un-Australian. Why? Because Warnie loved a pie when he was the real Warnie, and he's a Top Aussie. No further explanation necessary. And to be a really Top Aussie, you have a have a Pie and Sauce Tower made out of frozen pies and tomato sauce out of a bottle. You just do!

Secondly, you just did not have a real Aussie childhood if you didn't have Honey Joys and Fairy Bread, especially at your school friends parties' or the school fete. Actually, come to think of it, that's the only time we had them! So, as a throwback to our dinky di childhoods, you have to have some on Australia Day.

Honey Joys are incredibly easy to make - and therefore they are Top Aussies. The Kelloggs recipe is here, and they are amazing just by themselves. However, I also made some with dried cranberries and almonds because um, this represents how as Australians, we are extremely cosmopolitan and open to trying new things. I know, I just can't stay away from the dried fruit and nuts!

Honey Joys are Top Aussies by themselves, but add in some dried fruit and nuts and they become super Top Aussies!

 

Even easier to make and tops fun is Fairy Bread. I've made this one green and gold and call it Wattle Fairy Bread. Because it looks like wattle and I like to think there is such a thing as a Wattle Fairy that eats bread, butter and sprinkles! There is nothing bad about fairy bread, it's fun to make and eat and when you press it into your face, you get a hundreds and thousands tattoo on your cheek! Told you it was a Top Aussie.

 

So, what are your thoughts on Australia's national dish? What do you plan to have on Australia Day? Something comically massive or some dried fruit muffins?! Tell me below or comment at P11's Facebook Page here.

Being Aussie is Tops with a Giant Lamington Cake

This weekend it's Australia Day, where we all sit around and think about how tops Australia is. Because it is. And when we all enjoy eating fair dinkum Aussie food - mainly because we eat almost every other country's food every other day of the year!

So tomorrow I'll be sharing an Aussie morning tea with you all, but I thought I'd help you get really organised and share what will be the centrepiece of the whole shenanigans now - a Giant Lamington Cake.

When I first had the idea for this cake, I thought it would be really easy - 10 minutes max. Of course, that didn't happen. But I promise it wasn't much longer and, since you'll have the benefit of my experience, you'll nix it in no time if you want to try it out. Let me tell you how it's done.

I started with a ready made, two layer, sponge cake from Woolies. This one in fact. You could of course make your own sponge or butter cake - just don't tell me, you'll make me feel bad!

Next, make the cream filling by whipping 1/2 cup thickened cream, 1 cup of icing sugar and a drizzle of vanilla extract with an electric mixer until soft peaks form.

Place one of the sponges on a plate and spread with strawberry jam or conserve, then the cream mixture. Here comes the benefit of that experience I was talking about - you'll want to leave about 1/2 cm around the edges for the filling to spread when you apply the top layer of the sponge. Also, before applying the top layer, place the lower layer of the cake with the jam and filling in the fridge for at least 5 minutes. This will also prevent the filling from spreading too much.

  

While the cake is in the fridge, make the chocolate icing mixture by beating 1 1/2 cups of icing sugar, 1 tablespoon of cocoa and 2 tablespoons of milk. I used my electric mixer here again, thinking I would get a thicker mixture which would be easier to apply to the sides. And I was right!

 



 

Remove the cake from the fridge and, working quickly, apply the top layer and spread the icing mixture over the cake with a knife. Now, here's where I went wrong. Can you see that there is a skin on the top layer of the sponge in the photo above? Yeah, well I should have removed it or turned the cake upside down. Should have. It wasn't a disaster, but it wasn't convenient. Use my experience again, upside down I tell you!

As you can see from the photo below, this is not where the cake was at it's prettiest. The icing is pretty runny, but not unmanageable. All you need to do is scoop up any runoff and reapply it to fill up any holes that appear. Anyway, this is the way a real lamington is made, so if you want authenticity, you'll have to put up with a bit of unattractiveness.

And yes, this is a photo of the cake inside my fridge. It's just something I do when I'm decorating a cake to get another perspective on it. You can go a bit cross eyed when icing for the fifth hour! Usually they look a bit better than this one though.

After applying the icing, place the cake back into the fridge for 2-3 more minutes to set the icing a little bit. Remove the cake and fix any bare spots that have appeared. Then, cover the whole thing in dessicated coconut. You'll need about 2 cups to make sure it's all covered. The sides are a bit tricky, but I found that holding a handful of coconut at a 45 degree angle to the cake and sprinkling it through your fingers worked best. Ok yes, you are basically throwing coconut at the cake, but it works!!

And voila - or to use an Aussie phrase - Strewth! A giant lamington cake. In my humble opinion, another reason why being Aussie is tops!