Re-Inventing the Lamington 2014 Day Seven: Coffee and Walnut Lamingtons

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This lamington is inspired by Percy's mum: she makes the best coffee and walnut cake you've ever tasted. It dawned on me all of a sudden when I was having my lamington nightmare a week or so ago that this most wonderful of cakes (and one of England's best) deserved it's lamington equivalent, and what follows is just that. Except that I (once again) use a coffee liqueur glaze instead of the more traditional buttercream that you'd expect on a coffee and walnut cake.


(Oh come on - do you really think I have the time to coat cake cubes on all sides with frosting using a pallet knife? I'm not as patient as I was in 2010! Plus, I ♥ Tia Maria.)

Now: the more eagle-eyed (I nearly just typed that as aiguille-eyed, which I think would delight my French audience as needles do indeed have eyes) among you may have noticed that I skipped a day yesterday. Really, we should be on Day Eight by now. The reason for this is that I didn't get home until really late yesterday, so was too tired to post anything. Although I landed at Heathrow on time, there was a traffic accident on the motorway and we were delayed for HOURS.

I want to take a moment to talk about that actually. I was really annoyed about it when we were queueing for what seemed like decades, waiting for the traffic to clear. The inconvenience, the fact that I was tired and wanted to get home: it was all getting to me. Then we passed the accident site.

It made me sick to my stomach. No word of a lie, a supermarket truck had exploded in flames and had been reduced to mere cinders. I have no idea if the driver(s) got out ok or not, or if another vehicle was involved, but I can't get the image out of my head.

I know this is just a baking blog. But I want everyone to just take a moment and remind themselves to drive safely. Driving is something we do every day and rarely consider how dangerous it can be. Certainly I'm guilty of that. I need to change, and I dare say we all do. Take care. Be considerate. Give each other enough space. Because it can all turn nasty in the blink of an eye.

Anyway, back to the lamingtons. These were good! Highly recommended.

Remember that you still have time to Re-Invent the Lamington yourself, and win a beautiful prize. Get to it.

Coffee and Walnut Lamingtons

You will need:

 

1 x batch Coconut and Vanilla Bean Chiffon Cake

300g icing sugar, sifted

50ml Tia Maria 

250g walnuts, chopped

1. To make slicing the cake into lamingtons easier, I wrap it in cling film and freeze overnight. Cut the frozen cake into 12 cubes, or as many as you like/can.
2. Make the glaze: mix the coffee liqueur and icing sugar together until smooth. If you need to thin it down a little more, use a few drops of hot water from the kettle. Set the walnut pieces in a dish.
3. Dip each cube of cake into first the glaze and then roll in the nuts. Walnut pieces don't seem to adhere as readily as coconut, so you might have to take your time with this part. Set aside on a wire rack to dry out.