Mandarin and Curd Lamingtons


I recently made a trifle that featured an orange curd and though the trifle was nothing special I really quite enjoyed the curd and idea of a curd that was not a standard lemon. On top of this I saw a recipe for lamingtons where instead of milk chocolate they used white, in which I though was interesting and got me thinking of lamingtons with no chocolate at all (very taboo of my Australian heritage I know).

As I wanted to do some lamington experimenting outside of chocolate and also wanted to make another fruit flavored curd I decided to combine both of these experimental baking sessions into one.



The experiment for the day; a Grapefruit curd lamingtons and a Mandarin curd lamington.









The curd would replace the jam component of the lamington as well as provide a solid flavour boost then incorporated into the sponge batter as well as the icing that holds the coconut in place.

As grapefruit is such a strong and zingy taste it was a bit too overwhelming in this instance, but the mandarin lamington was absolutely delicious and addictive, thus has made it to this website.

Ingredients:

Curd:

2 eggs
2 egg yolks
160g sugar
2 mandarins (you will need 2 tsn zest and 160ml juice)
80g butter

Cake:

150g butter
220g sugar
2 eggs
200g self raising flour
20g corn flour
300g sour cream
40g desiccated coconut
160g mandarin curd (as made earlier)
3 mandarins (you will need 1+ 1/2 tbsn zest and 160ml juice, 100ml juice kept aside for the icing)

Icing:

350g icing sugar
50g mandarin curd (as made earlier)
20g butter
100ml mandarin juice (left over from earlier)

Extra:

200g shredded coconut
50g mandarin curd (as made earlier)

Method:

Place the 2 eggs and the 2 yolks into a bowl with the sugar and whisk with a hand whisk until the mix becomes light and airy.
Zest and juice the 2 mandarins and pour into the egg mix, whisk until just combine.
Pour the egg mix into a saucepan along with the butter on a low heat and continuously whisk with a hand whisk until the mix thickens to a custard like consistencies and thickness.
Leave the curd aside to cool completely (this recipe will yield 360ml of curd).
Meanwhile, make the cake by pre-heating the oven to 180c degrees and line a 20cm x 20cm cake tin with baking paper.
Whisk the butter and sugar in a bowl with electric beaters for 5 minutes of until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating in between each addition until fluffy and silky.
Sieve the flours into the egg mix, then add in the sour cream, coconut and mandarin curd.
Lastly zest and juice the 2 mandarins, placing all the zest and 60ml of the juice into the egg mix.
Fold the ingredients with a spatula until half combined.
Whisk the mix with electric beaters on low until only just combine.
Pour the mix into the cake tin and bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Leave the cake in the tin for 5 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack.
Lastly make the icing by placing all the icing ingredients including the 100ml of juice saved from earlier into a saucepan on medium.
Whisking the icing with a hand whisk until the sugar is dissolved and the mix is smooth and glossy.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and transfer into a deep bowl, leave aside until at room temperature.
To assemble the lamingtons pour the extra coconut into a bowl.
Cut the cooled cake into 16 even square pieces.
Cut the squares in half horizontally and top the bottom pieces with the extra 50g of curd.
Place the top lamington piece on top of the curd, sandwiching the lamington in place.
Softly place a lamington on a folk and dip the folk into the icing mix until the lamington is completely covered in icing.
Allow excess icing to drip off the lamington then drop the lamington gently into the bowl of coconut.
Use a spoon to ensure the lamington is completely covered in coconut and place the lamington on a plate.
Repeat the icing and coconut steps with the remaining 15 lamingtons.
Leave the laminations in the fridge for 30 minutes to completely set, then enjoying!