My cherry amour

Lamingtons are squares of sponge cake, dipped in a chocolatey coating and then rolled in coconut. Very dainty, and just right for an afternoon tea with a pot of earl grey. They're popular in Australia, but not that well known in the UK.  I remember having them when I was younger but they seem to have disappeared from the vocabulary of English cooking - I can't be alone in having had these?

An Aussie friend kindly allowed me a precious Cherry Ripe bar from her stash smuggled back from Brisbane, prompting this marriage of Australian institutions (for those not in the know, a Cherry Ripe is a bar of cherry and coconut dipped in dark chocolate, very moreish, perhaps a little like our native Raspberry Ruffles).

CHERRY RIPE LAMINGTONS
Makes 16

85g room temperature butter
100g golden caster sugar
2 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
165g plain flour
2½ tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
85ml milk
200g dark chocolate
4 tbsp cherry jam
200g dessicated coconut

1) Cream the butter and sugar together, then beat in the eggs, vanilla and milk. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, then gently fold into the egg mixture.

2) Pour the mixture into a 20x20 square cake tin, and bake at 375f/190c/gas mark 5 for 25-35 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick poked into the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool, then slice into three layers horizontally. Spread the layers with cherry jam, then restack and trim away the edges of the cake to neaten it up. Now divide the cake into 16 squares of cake.

3) Place the coconut into a shallow dish and set aside. Break the chocolate into cubes and melt in a glass bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water, then dip each square of cake first into the chocolate and then into the coconut. Leave to set on a tray covered with greaseproof paper.