Re-Inventing the Lamington 2011 Day Five: Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge Lamingtons

The devil cocktail sticks took some time out from cheese and pineapple stabbing to attack a lamington.

(In which Mr. P joins you from Paris.)

As I sit here, jet lagged and grumpy in my Parisian hotel room, I remember how delicious this lamington was when I ate it last week, and think how much I would love another. The fact that I have just polished off half a bar of caramelised pecan filled milk chocolate (you have to give France its due - fantastic chocolate bars) does little to stop my craving. Basically, chocolate with nuts is my absolute favourite dessert combination.

(For now.)

A brief aside to illustrate my long-standing love affair with chocolate and nuts:

Back when we were children and it was Christmas time, there would always be the obligatory tin of Cadbury's Roses passed around. My favourites were always the swirly ones with hazelnuts in, and I used to fish round among the coloured wrappers, like some well trained cormorant, looking for the clear cellophane with orange tips. When they were gone, I quite liked the coffee creams, which is not really what most children would go for I know, but hey: I liked the idea of a chocolate being filled with sugary fondant! I'm not saying I'd eat them now. Though I probably would.




Anyway, I digress. My stepdad used to, at the start of the annual tin pass around, take out all of the hazelnut whirls (turns out they weren't just my favourites, though my brother and sister both preferred the big, purple bean shaped ones with caramel and a nut in the middle) and keep them for himself. I thought this was the height of bad behaviour, but at the same time, longed to be an adult and therefore at the top of the pecking order, so that I could do the same.

Or course, now I am an adult, and you'll be pleased to know I don't. I don't think Mr. Other P would go for that to be honest. And we never buy Cadbury's Roses. But, my love for nuts and chocolate remains undiminished, and so I present you with my latest creation, the ne plus ultra of lamingtons, the Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge Lamington. Sadly unavailable in Parisian bakeries.

Note the crushed salted peanut coating: I really do care about you guys.



Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge Lamingtons

You will need:

1/2 a quantity of yellow cake (recipe here, adapted from Rose's Heavenly Cakes)

For the fudge icing and filling -

1 jar crunchy peanut butter
200g milk chocolate
200g dark chocolate
100g soft unsalted butter

To coat -

400g salted peanuts, chopped

1. I am presuming you're starting with the cake already baked and cooled. If not, the recipe is here. Split the cake in half, and sandwich with peanut butter. You may allow yourself a small piece at this point. There should always be a cook's treat.
2. Melt the chocolates together (I do that in the microwave, in 30 second blasts, on half power), and stir in the butter until it melts. If you want a shinier glaze, you could add a tablespoon of golden syrup.
3. Place the chopped nuts in a shallow dish.
   
4. When the chocolate has cooled slightly, start coating the lamingtons: cut the sandwiched cake into cubes and turn them in the icing using a few forks (and working quickly) then roll and coat in the chopped nuts.
5. Set the lamingtons on a wire rack to cool and set for a few hours before serving.

Re-Invent the Lamington Yourself!