Friday, January 15, 2010

Reinventing the Lamington cake: LAMBington cake "pops"... PART TWO!

Finally after much smoke and messy chocolate, the LAMBingtons photos & recipe is here!



Introducing...

Mortimer - the Traditionalist:




Clementine - The Sweet One:



Hubert - The... One That Got a Little Too Close to the Photo Lights and Got Melty:



As I mentioned yesterday, I had a little fire while taking pictures of these little guys, so I had to delay my REAL post until now.  So here they are, and if I must say so myself, they are rather adorable!  Thanks to Mr. P for creating a brilliant challenge over at Delicious Delicious Delicious He asked everyone to reinvent the lamington cake - the famous Australian dessert.  I thought, well, Australia has lots of lambs, right?  And "lamington" sure is close to LAMB...ington... soooooo....

I decided to model these little babies after the one and only Bakerella basic recipe for cake pops.  Those adorable, one-of-a-kind masterpieces that you don't even have to like cake to enjoy looking at for hours.  After making these, I searched her site and found that she even had some little sheep pops already!  They're very different from my guys, but I have a feeling if you put them all together in a room with some cocktails, they'd get along really well.  Obviously my sheep are not actually "pops" as they have legs... made out of plain Pocky sticks!  But the cake ball recipe is Bakerella's.  It was Jason's idea to add the chocolate eyes, by the way, and I'm so glad.  I really think they make these little guys.  He's brilliant!


Have you ever been the black sheep in the family?  This guy knows your pain!

So without further ado, here's my version of the lamington cake... I'm probably going to come back to this post to add more instructional photos and some better lit lamb photos once my new light arrives - yes, did I tell you?  I bought a new light to replace my burned light box.  It is, incidentally, the same one Bakerella uses *proud smile*.  Until then, I'll be feeling a little *ahem* SHEEPish about my sadly lit photos...

Recipe: The LAMBington Cake




What you need to get...

1 box of lemon or vanilla cake mix (plus ingredients on the back of the box per baking instructions)
1 can of vanilla frosting (16 oz)
1 package of white chocolate baking/melting chips (11 oz)
1 package of milk chocolate baking/melting chips (11 oz)
1 jar of good jam or preserves (I used quince)
1 bar of milk chocolate, shaved (you can use chocolate sprinkles instead)
1 cup shredded/dessicated coconut
1 box of plain Pocky - such as "Rost" variety OR small unsalted thin pretzel sticks
1 tablespoon Garam Masala (optional)
1 cup raw almonds
1 cup blanched/skinless almonds

Special equipment: 13 x 9 cake pan, large bowl, wax paper, a toothpick

What to do with it all...

  • For the cake oval bodies, bake your box cake according to directions for a 13 x 9 cake, adding the tablespoon of Garam Masala if desired  (also see Bakerella basic recipe)
  • Allow cake to cool and crumble into a large bowl, and add your vanilla frosting by large spoonfuls and combine by hand until you achieve a consistency sort of like meatloaf - easy to form ovals
  • Using a walnut-sized amount of cake mixture, form an oval shape, then cut the oval in half lengthwise and spread a small amount of jam in between - reassemble like a sandwich and reshape to an oval
  • Cut the ends off of Pocky sticks in one-inch pieces (you want the end pieces as they will form the feet), OR if you are using thin pretzel sticks, cut them in half
  • Melt your white and milk chocolate chips in small bowls according to package directions
  • Dip your cut ends of the Pocky or pretzle sticks into the chocolate (some in milk, some in white as you wish the final colors of the lambs to be), just a scant centimeter or so and then stick into your oval, repeat 3 x until you have "legs" (the chocolate acts as a glue of sorts) - make sure your legs are at even lengths so that when you set them down later, they'll stand properly
  • Place your lambs on their "backs" on a plate or small tray under a piece of wax paper and place into the freezer for at least 10 minutes
  • During this time you can arrange your "wooling" station by spreading shredded coconut on one plate, chocolate shavings or sprinkles on another, and rewarming your milk and white chocolate for dipping
  • Remove lambs from freezer and carefully dip one by one into the chocolate color to match the legs - make sure to cover the sides and front & tail
  • Quickly move your dipped lamb from the chocolate to the coconut or shavings and coat - chocolate dries quickly!
  • Now re-dip just one end slightly in chocolate to act as glue to attach your almond face - attach the almond with the pointed end so you have a rounded face
  • To make eyes you can either just dab on milk chocolate with the toothpick, or attach small bits of solid chocolate that you've rolled between your fingers just a little to soften and make round and attach that using the melted chocolate and the toothpick
That's it!  The LAMBington!

51 comments:

  1. These are so adorable that I wouldn't be able to eat them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You know, to be honest with you, I haven't been able to eat any but the mistake ones yet!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the pun, lam(b)ington. And your babies are adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  4. These are just adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  5. They are so cute! I like Clementine the best...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Brilliant! Simply brilliant!

    I made a set of olive penguins for a recent dinner party, and while trying to look for other animals for future parties, ran into your site. Great stuff!

    ~Dan
    http://jazzsick.wordpress.com/

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Bunny - clementine is the first one I made, so she is special :)

    Thanks all!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mae, you've made the best lamingtons in the whole world! Hubert is my favourite. You made Mr. Other P scream with delight, and that first picture is now our desktop background.

    AMAZING x 100!

    My lamingtons suck by comparison. The recipes start tomorrow for ten days. Here goes nothing! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Awesome, Mat! I love this recipe and am going to try making them myself in a few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes! CLM

    ReplyDelete
  10. Haha! Yes! Screams of delight are all I could hope for and more! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your blog is one of my most favorite. I love what you do , how you describe it and the way you illustrate it. Minus the fire of course. Would you be willing to do a guest post on my blog? www.carolegbert.com?

    I've never asked anyone before but I think my readers would love your style...Carol

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Carol! Thanks so much for asking (and for reading Peas Love Carrots!). I'd be glad to do a guest post! I'll pop over to your site now and get the details ;)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Too cute, Love them!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. haha, these are awesome! love the idea. i'm the black sheep of my family, so i'm Team Hubert all the way.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Clementine is giving me the ol' crazy eye.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Each rendition gets cuter than the previous one! Great work, Mae!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Mae these are absolutely ADORABLE!!!! What a creative idea -- these are too cute to eat! Clementine is my favorite :) great job kudos x 10000000

    ReplyDelete
  18. these are amazingly qt~~ :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Holy coconut!! These are so incredibly cute! I love them! I want one for a pet. Their almond faces are just brilliant!

    ReplyDelete
  20. OMG you gave me a chuckle first thing at breakfast. These are so inventive and adorable.

    ReplyDelete
  21. cutest most perfect cakes ever! I had to post a link on my edible crafts column immediately (and to the competition). These are so cute and perfect I don't even want to post anything else today so as to not detract from this cuteness and perfection. Oh. My. Gosh.

    ReplyDelete
  22. AMAZING!! You are very, very talented!! And so creative! Great job!

    Blessings-
    Amanda

    ReplyDelete
  23. very cute! too cute too eat!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Too adorable!! These guys would be great for a birthday party. Instead of traditional cake or even cupcakes, these would be perfect, sitting atop a little hill of ice cream!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Little Lamb-ingtons who made thee??..Peas Love Carrots!!i

    ReplyDelete
  26. So cute. I just realized I have egg shaped pans and could do two and sandwich them together for the bodies and not use the "cakeball" method of holding the cake together. Can't wait to try these. -- www.rosemaryandthegoat.com sherry

    ReplyDelete
  27. this... is redonkulous!!! very cute.

    ReplyDelete
  28. another fun post...sorry I am running behind on mail ... wish I had seen this one earlier, a great LAMBington post...

    ReplyDelete
  29. I love these little sheepies, but not enough to not eat them. Also, green with envy at your new light! :)

    ReplyDelete
  30. You are very talented!
    These could not be cuter!
    LL

    ReplyDelete
  31. Stunning.........................no more words needed!!!!!!!! Congrats on being in the Top 9

    ReplyDelete
  32. Udder cuteness! :)

    ReplyDelete
  33. Now Clementine is giving me the ol' crazy eye from the top 9 food buzz banner on my page! I can't escape that crazy sheep!

    ReplyDelete
  34. OMG! I *loooooooove* your LAMBingtons - bloody adorable and bordering on genius =) I need to have words with Mr. P - you simply MUST win the competition!

    ReplyDelete
  35. @Ms Humble - Heehee, she's a wild one, that Clem... and boy does she get around these days! Your crazy eye discription of her makes me think of the Evil Monkey from Family Guy... which of course makes me love her even more. :)

    @ Mowie - Thank you! If I don't win, I will just have to ship one of the lambingtons to Mr. P, fully outfitted with a chocolate sad face and a little sign that says "You've made Lambingtons sad". He'll feel horrible, I'm kidding, I think there's some really bang up recipes in this competition who I think deserve it way more. I was just doing it for an excuse to play with my food. :D

    @All - Thanks so much for reading and sending love to the Lambs - they were so much fun to make when they weren't causing house fires and I feel good knowing others like them, too :)

    ReplyDelete
  36. These look like they were so much fun! And bonus, they look tasty, too!

    ReplyDelete
  37. waaaaay too cute!! very inventive =D

    ReplyDelete
  38. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Beautiful. Simply stunning!

    ReplyDelete
  40. Just found your blog. It's really fun, creative and amazing! I've never seen anything like it. Keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
  41. LOL - these are adorable.

    ReplyDelete
  42. I love a play on words, and your Lambingtons are just adorable! You're very clever:D

    ReplyDelete
  43. I had already left a comment and praised your sheep on my column (edible crafts), but just wanted to let you know I saw these posted on My Food Looks Funny today. I couldn't find a link to your blog, but I added a comment directing them here... Hope that helps a little!

    ReplyDelete
  44. "arrange your "wooling" station"....haahahha..... I love it.

    What a great job you did with these little guys...I followed them over from the Flickr group.... to see how you did them ...

    ReplyDelete
  45. You are clearly a genius.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting - I'm always happy to hear from you!

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails