If I stop to think about what being Australian means to me, despite all the highfalutin chef stuff in my life now, my suburban upbringing rises up. I can picture mum's biscuit tins filled with cornflake cookies, coconut slices and chocolate date squares. So for this Australia Day all I want is what I'm baking for you here: a fresh homemade lamington made with soft, golden cake covered in rich chocolate and coconut. When the Guardian launches its digital Australian edition later this year, we'll need an extra big batch to celebrate.
Makes 16 medium-size lamingtons
125g unsalted butter, melted
300g caster sugar
250g sour cream
3 tsp vanilla extract
50ml sunflower oil
5 medium eggs
300g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
For the chocolate syrup coating
300g dark chocolate
30g cocoa
300g caster sugar
200ml milk
1 or 2 x 250g bags desiccated coconut
1 Take a 25cm square cake tin and line the base and sides with non-stick baking paper. Heat the oven to 170C/150C fan/325F/gas mark 3.
2 Pour the melted butter into a mixing bowl with the sugar, sour cream, vanilla extract and oil, beat for a minute or so until smooth, then add the eggs, one at a time, and beat each one in well before adding the next.
3 Sift in the flour and baking powder, and stir well. Spoon the batter into the tin, cover the top with a lid of foil and then bake for about an hour (remove the foil after 40 minutes) until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Cool the cake in the tin, covering the top with clingfilm or foil as it cools, to keep it moist.
4 Next, make the coating. Finely chop the chocolate, set aside, then whisk the cocoa, sugar and milk in a pan and bring to the boil. Remove it from the heat, stir in the chocolate and leave until just warm before using.
5 Slice the cake into squares, pour the warm syrup into a bowl deep enough to submerge the cake squares in it, and have a tray ready with coconut thickly spread across it. Using a pair of forks or just your fingers, dip the lamingtons into the syrup, then roll them in the coconut.
6 Allow the chocolate to set for a few hours before eating. They will keep well if you store them in an airtight container.
Now try this .... Macadamia ginger cake with lamington icing
