Lamington Fingers

Have you forgotten yet?…

For the world’s events have rumbled on since those gagged days,

Like traffic checked while at the crossing of city-ways:

And the haunted gap in your mind has filled with thoughts that flow

Like clouds in the lit heaven of life; and you’re a man reprieved to go,

Taking your peaceful share of Time, with joy to spare.

But the past is just the same—and War’s a bloody game…

Have you forgotten yet?…
Look down, and swear by the slain of the War that you’ll never forget.

Do you remember the dark months you held the sector at Mametz—

The nights you watched and wired and dug and piled sandbags on parapets?

Do you remember the rats; and the stench

Of corpses rotting in front of the front-line trench—

And dawn coming, dirty-white, and chill with a hopeless rain?

Do you ever stop and ask, ‘Is it all going to happen again?’

Do you remember that hour of din before the attack—

And the anger, the blind compassion that seized and shook you then

As you peered at the doomed and haggard faces of your men?

Do you remember the stretcher-cases lurching back

With dying eyes and lolling heads—those ashen-grey

Masks of the lads who once were keen and kind and gay?

Have you forgotten yet?… 
Look up, and swear by the green of the spring that you’ll never forget.

- Aftermath, Siegfried Sassoon.

Nothing I can say will ever be as beautiful as something written by Sassoon (arguably one of the best war poets to have ever lived). So today I ask you to read them.

In honour of ANZAC Day (the greatest day to be an Australian) I made some lamingtons (using my grandmother's recipe). While I doubt they are of little comfort to the amazing men and women who serve Australia in the Defence Force, to me, they symbolise Australia and what these men and women are trying to protect.

In honour of those who have fought and died for our country, lest we forget.

***

Makes 16 lamington fingers.

What you need:

For the cake:

115 grams sugar

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

115 grams Fielder's cornflour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

115 grams butter (melted)

For the chocolate and coconut coating:

2 cups boiling water

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tbsp butter

4 cups icing sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

2 cups coconut (shredded or flaked, your choice)

What to do:

For the cake:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and liberally grease a brownie pan (or cover the pan with wax paper)

In a large bowl, using a handheld or stand mixer, beat the sugar, salt, eggs and vanilla essence together until stiff. This will take around10 minutes. You want to make a sponge cake, so you need the mixture to be white, thick and stiff. To test, dip your spatula in the mixture and when you remove it, the mixture should slightly stand up in the bowl. It takes a while, but is worth it.

Using a spatula, fold in the cornflour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Make sure it is mixed evenly in the mixture – if you have beaten the eggs and sugar together properly, you will notice to cornflour sticks to the bottom of the bowl a bit; you want to evenly spread it throughout the mixture.

Add the melted butter (when it is hot so only melt it now) to the mixture and also mix well. Ensure the cake mixture is white with no butter streaks.

Pour into a regular size brownie pan (or other small rectangle pan) and bake for 10 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. Lower heat to 180 degrees Celsius and bake for another five minutes. You may not even need this final five minutes. The cake should be browned on top and golden in colour. You do not want to burn it. Watch the edges carefully and lower heat early if needed.

Allow to cool for five minutes in pan and then remove the cake from the pan and cool completely. Cut the cake into 16 fingers.

Freeze for at least on hour before icing cakes, preferably freeze overnight.

Icing:

Mix one cup of the boiling water with the essence and butter in a large bowl, stirring until the butter has melted into the water.

Sift cocoa into boiling water. Add icing sugar. Using a whisk, mix these two ingredients into the boiling water (you can also sift the icing sugar, but it takes a lot of time, and whisking breaks the sugar up in a similar way to sifting). The icing will be thick. If you like this consistency, move on to the next step. If you want to thin the icing a little more, add the remaining boiling water, ¼ cup at a time, until desired consistency is reached.

Set up for the next few steps: remove the fingers from the freezer. Place the bowl of chocolate icing next the cake fingers, and then place the coconut on a plate next to the icing.

Dip each finger individually in the icing, making sure all sides are coated, and then coat in coconut. You can do this by hand (like me) or by using forks/skewers. Place each dipper finger on a plate/oven tray to allow the icing and coconut to set. Repeat for all remaining fingers.

Remember that the coconut will slowly become cocoa coloured from having the fingers dipped in it, so I would recommend only using ½-1 cup of coconut at a time and replacing it frequently so that each lamington finger is coated in white coconut, not brown coconut. You may need more coconut depending on how much you put on each lamington finger. Coat them liberally in it – that’s how we do it!

Allow to set slightly, so that any leftover icing and coconut drips off the fingers, then allow to set properly in the fridge. Store in fridge and serve cold.