Re-Invent the Lamington Contest 2014 Entries--If You Know Me, You Won't Be Surprised.

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This blog has been poorly neglected. I could go into all the details about why I haven't posted in over a year, but I don't have time. I'm in a major rush at the moment, and I'm a man on a mission.

It's the annual Re-Invent the Lamington Contest sponsored by Mr. P on his fun baking blog Delicious Delicious Delicious! The deadline to enter is only minutes away. Therefore, I will not have time to do a good proofread, so please excuse any typos and bad grammar. This is the only baking contest I have ever entered. Why? I don't know other than it just sounds fun to me.Click here to read the story behind the contest.

What is a Lamington?

Well, let me tell you. It's a dessert of Australian origin consisting of two cake halves held together with layer of jam or cream. They are then dipped in chocolate and covered in desiccated coconut. (For Americans, desiccated coconut is more finely shredded than what you can find here.)

For the contest, you can be as creative as you want. You can see what I've entered in the past by clicking here, here, and here.

When I found out about this year's contest, I decided I wanted to do something on a theme, and it only took a couple of seconds for me to come up with one. But, it does require some back story.

Let's go back in time to 1983. I was a senior in high school. One day, I was watching MTV on our old TV that had seen better days and was only working in black and white. On came a new video that had me completely hooked from the beginning synthesizer riff. The video was the most amazing thing I had ever seen, and I had to own the song immediately. I ran outside, hopped in my car, and drove straight to the mall. At the music store, I asked if they had heard of the song, and the lady said, "You mean the lady with the crazy orange hair?" I didn't know what she was talking about because I had only seen the video in black and white. The clerk found the cassette tape for me, and yep, the woman from the video did have the brightest orange buzz cut I had ever seen. I virtually ran to my car to pop it into the cassette deck. It was one of those albums where I loved every single song. About a month later, I finally saw the video in color, and it was another amazing experience.

I became obsessed.

If you haven't guessed yet, the group is the Eurythmics and the singer is Annie Lennox. I am one of their biggest fans. I know ALL their music by heart, and I've seen them multiple times in concert. I listen to Annie almost every day, follow her in social media, and even sat through that interminable Lord of the Rings III in a theater just to hear Annie's song at the end. Yep, I'm certifiable. Fortunately, I have a great family who puts up with it.

So, back to Lamingtons. The theme this year is the Eurythmics.

I take my inspiration for my first entry from the video that started it all. Take a look.

Even though that video is 30 years old, I still love it. Hence, I give you the Sweet Dreams Are Made of This Lamington.

The Lamington is covered in white chocolate and broken up Oreo cookies. This, naturally, pays homage to one of my favorite parts of the video--the cow walking around the board room. And now to view the inside.

Of course, it's orange. Could it be anything else? This is an orange pound cake with a vanilla cream center. I added orange food coloring to match Annie's shocking shade.

The reviews from the family were unanimous. These are downright fantastic! You have to be careful though. Because they're bite-sized, you can go through a mound of them in a hurry.

Now, for to my second Lamington entry...

This is also inspired by a Eurythmics video. Please enjoy "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with my Heart)."

The There Must Be An Angel Lamingtons are covered in toasted meringue. Once again, I wanted to match Annie's hair. I did this with the caramelized sugar drizzled on top.

For the cake, there really was only one choice. It had to be angel food cake, am I right? But I must confess... Angel food cake is probably the only cake where I use a box mix. They are too much of a hassle when the mix tastes just as good.

I struggled with what to put on the inside. I wanted the Lamingtons to be mostly white and gold in color. As I perused the grocery aisles searching for something to use for the filling, I had a eureka moment. Biscoff Spread! This product is fairly new to our area. It's kind of a golden brown and is definitely one heavenly treat. It turned out to be the perfect inside for these Lamingtons.

These were light, fluffy, and oh so tasty. The family also gave these their overwhelming stamp of approval.

So, there you have it--my entries for the 2014 Re-invent the Lamington contest. I actually have many more ideas for Lamingtons inspired by Eurythmic and Annie Lennox videos, but they will have to wait. First of all, I have to finish this blog post, and secondly, I have completely destroyed the kitchen.

Elvis Presley Lamingtons

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It's Lamington time again!

And for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, it's when Mr. P. hosts the Reinvent the Lamington Contest on his blog Delicious, Delicious, Delicious. Lamingtons are an Australian dessert consisting of squares of cake with a jam filling covered in chocolate and shredded coconut. Last year, I submitted three entries. You can check them out here and here. My S'Mores Lamingtons actually placed 2nd.

This year, I had the greatest of plans. It was going to be a veritable Lamington extravaganza. I had ideas for at least four different Lamington creations. But alas, I procrastinated, and then life just got in the way. To illustrate—the reason I'm typing this at 10 p.m. just two hours before the deadline is that I spent the entire evening involved with the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. (Yes, I am Master o' the Cubs.) Unfortunately, only one of my ideas made it to fruition. It's sad, I know, but at least I've got some ideas ready to go for next year if Mr. P decides to once again hold the competition.

So without further ado, I give you (drum roll please)...

the ELVIS PRESLEY LAMINGTON!

My inspiration for this Lamington was Elvis' favorite sandwich, which contains three of my favorite flavors together in one—peanut butter, banana, and bacon. 

Now wait!

Just stop right there, and wipe that look of disgust off your face.

Do NOT knock it till you've tried it.

You're probably thinking, "Hmm. Banana and peanut butter—I'm OK with that. But bacon? No way. That's too weird!" Well, just think of it this way. You know how adding sea salt to sweet desserts like caramels and brownies is all the rage? (If you didn't know that, just trust me. It is.) The bacon is just a little bit of salty goodness that balances out the sweetness and adds an interesting smokiness.

For these Lamingtons, I made a banana pound cake for the cake part. The filling is a peanut butter frosting. I then dipped the squares in chocolate and sprinkled bacon pieces on top.

In my opinion, Elvis was really onto something, and these Elvis inspired Lamingtons turned out really well. I brought them into work to use my students and coworkers as guinea pigs. I admit I got some skeptical looks, but everyone gave the Lamingtons a fair chance. In the end, everyone liked them. Most were pleasantly surprised.

I found the Elvis Lamingtons quite addicting. I ended up eating too many of them, which is not good. I'd better be careful, or I'm starting to look like Elvis in his later years.

Oh, and by the way, this banana pound cake recipe is fantastic by itself.

If you're wondering what the Kewpie doll is doing in the photo, it was my 2nd place prize for last year's Lamington contest. A little strange, I know, but still fun. It comes from Japan and arrived in a sealed box where you don't know what kind of Kewpie is inside—kind of like Cracker Jacks or Kinder eggs. I got the deer Kewpie from the animal collection. Kewpie dolls and other assorted figurines show up in Mr. P's blog posts, so I thought I'd include mine in the photo as a shout out to Mr. P to say thanks for holding the competition. It was a lot of fun coming up with these Lamingtons.

So, with 10 minutes to go till midnight. I'm going to hit the publish button and go to bed.

Good night.