Lamington Cake ala Nerissa

from l to r: my Grandma, Phyllis, her mother, (Bessie) Pearl, and her grandmother, Maryanne Truscott (in Boulder, Western Australia)

I cannot express to you all how much enjoyment I get from these old photographs - I LOVE this one of three generations of women in my family! It is so interesting to me, - yes, because they are my family and ancestors, but also because what IS Maryanne wearing? Maryanne, what ARE you wearing on your head there? Why are you dressed in such a hot-looking coat? Don't you know that you live in the Goldfields? That's the outback, - it's HOT!! The red-dirt and hot sun are not going to bode well for you in that outfit! They all look a little too.... warm for me! I know it does get kinda cold out there in the Goldfields, sometimes, but it doesn't look particularly cold in this picture!! I wonder what they were doing?

I also get a little obsessed looking for traces of myself in the photos. Does anyone else do that? I am always searching for some sort of ancestral throw-back, something to show me I belong to them. Hmmm, the beautiful dark hair, brown eyes, olive complexion.... I don't have any of it! I have green eyes, blondy-brown hair and am pretty white. And their stately CHESTS!! Wow! Nope, I don't see much resemblance at all - which makes me feel sorta left out considering my Mum inherited the same lovely looks, and my sister too. OK, I am tall - that may be the one thing!

But, onto the ledger..... I haven't written much lately, sorry! Life got sorta busy with the onset of Spring. Things have started blooming and my winter blues have evaporated, meaning I have been outside a lot enjoying the sunshine. The thought of being inside and cooking is not very inspiring! But, I whipped up some sponge cake yesterday and today we went and ate Lamingtons in the park. Recently, my husband & I moved from Brooklyn, where we'd lived for 8 - 9 years, to Harlem. It's a long way from the borough we know & love! But, we have been having so much fun exploring our new neighbourhood - lots of parks around us, the Hudson River is just down the road (awesome for a water-loving Aussie like me, even if I can't swim in there),  great neighbours, beautiful old buildings and .... cheap!! Great for a musician & writer!

I was inspired when looking for something to make by a couple of things. I wanted to make some Lamingtons, but then saw a filling for sponge cake that looked delicious and wanted to make that too. Then I imagined all the tastes together and thought it would be a good experiment, - so now we have citrus-filling Lamingtons ala Nerissa (with the help of the ledger!)...

PS. I especially love the Wikipedia entry about Lamingtons - who were named after a Queensland Governor who didn't much like the dessert and called them, "those bloody poofy woolly biscuits".

Citrus Lamingtons (& Lamington Cake)

Sponge Cake

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 TBS of water

1 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

add the water last thing before baking

~ pre-heat oven to 350 f

~ grease a 9 x 9" cake tin

~ bake for 25 - 30 minutes

Sponge Filling

Grate the rind of 1 lemon & 2 oranges

Add the juice of the same

with 1 cup of sugar &

1 cup of water &

1 tsp cornflour (I used arrowroot)

~ boil until smooth (and sorta gelatinous - I added one more tsp arrowroot)


Chocolate Icing 


4 cups icing sugar (I only used 3, but that's me!)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3 Tbs butter
1/2 cup milk

Lamingons ala Nerissa

~ cut sponge cake in half

~ spread filling on one layer and put the other half back on top (this is the non-traditional part. Some Lamingtons do have a jam or cream filling, but I have never seen one with a citrus filling. But, I am sure I am not the first to think of it!).

~ cut into squares

~ cover with chocolate icing & roll in coconut (I can't find desicated coconut in the States, so the taste is already a little different from traditional Lamingtons, regardless of the filling - they also don't look quite as nice as the Australian version. They taste delicious though)

I made one half of the sponge into a Lamington Cake, it isn't as rich, which I like because I like a good sponge cake!

Who knew making cakes from scratch was so easy? Not me! I am a product of the cake - packet generation. Er, but no more though!

Lamington Cake & Lamingtons in Riverside Park - yum!