Happy Australia Day with English Madeleines which are very similar to Lamingtons!!

This is an English Madeleine - yes I know French Madeleines are the famous version of this dessert but in Blighty this is what you would get if you ordered a madeliene with no specification AND it is very similar to an Australian Lamington with the exception of NO cherry on the top, square instead of castle shaped, if you have a strawberry Lamington it would be coated with strawberry jelly/jello instead of jam and it seems a lot of Lamingtons are actually chocolate covered and not strawberry. 

I'll give links to said Lamingtons at the end of the post including to a luscious looking one for Lamington Biscuits from the fabulous raspberri cupcakes blog

You will need 6 dariole moulds or as I used popover moulds – mine was a set of twelve but James cut them in half for me so I can make a small batch at a time for there are only 2 of us to eat the desserts I make and if we bake a lot we eat a lot. If you do't have this kind of mould you can use muffin/cupcake pans and the cakes will just be shorter and larger in girth.

This is a simple and charming little cake perfect for afternoon tea or a snackette with your elevenses!

Set the oven to 350F/ 180C

INGREDIENTS:
 
4oz/ one stick/100g butter, softened

 
4oz/100g/mounded 1/2 cup sugar 

2 large eggs

 
4oz/100g/1 cup white flour

 
1 level tsp 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract/essence

For the coating:

4 tbsp strawberry jam

 
4oz/100g/1 cup desiccated coconut unsweetened is preferred - this is approximate as you just need it to coat the cakes and it will vary on how thickly you coat them. 

3 natural glacé cherries

 

1. Grease the moulds then line the base of each with non-stick baking parchment. 

  2. This step seems odd but you put all the cake ingredients into one bowl and beat until well and evenly mixed - this is why you want the butter nice and soft or you'll get lumps.

3. The batter is quite stiff - spoon a dollop into the moulds, filling them about half full and smooth the tops with a wet spatula - the water helps non stickage of the batter to the knife.

4. Bake for about 20 minutes until well risen and firm to the touch - it doesn't matter that they might rise above the level of the mould as you'll be cutting off the bottoms to even up the cakes when they stand. Leave to cool in the moulds for 5 minutes.

5. Turn out the cakes - they may need a swish around the outside with a knife to encourage them to leave the moulds, then peel off the parchment 'hats' and finish cooling on a wire rack. My advise is to keep the hats to put the cakes on after you've rolled them in their fillings as they are pretty tricky to handle once coated.

6. When the cakes are completely cool, trim the bases so that they stand firmly. Warm the strawberry jam in a small pan until quite fluid and strain through a sieve to get a nice smooth jam. Spread the coconut out on a large plate.

 6. Use a fork to spear the bases of the cakes to hold them. Spoon the warm jam over them as evenly as you can and then roll them in the coconut to coat. 

Here are my little dahlingks all ready and assembled and awaiting their little glace cherry tops.

and a close up of said dahlingks:

7. Cut the glacé cherries in half and pop one on the top of each pretty madeliene.

Now put the kettle on and get yourself a cuppa to enjoy with these delights.

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY to my Aussie friends! Are you having a Lamington today?

Lamington recipes:

raspberri cupcakes Lamington Biscuits

Taste Australia Strawberry Lamingtons

Taste Australia Chocolate Lamingtons with white chocolate cream - want to try these!! 

Little Box Brownie chocolate lamingtons 

If you're interested in the fabric featured in this blogpost - here's a link to it "Homespun Quilt Patchwork" in my Spoonflower shop - Thanks!!