Vegemite fudge, beach, afternoon tea and more on Australia Day

Last night we returned home from a long weekend at the beach in Torquay.  It was glorious to walk in the shallows with the sand between our toes.  On the way home we stopped at my parents' home for a birthday afternoon tea.  Today is Australia Day so I had some fun with our national icon Vegemite and added it to fudge.

I was inspired by vegemite caramel chocolate, to add a layer of caramel into a chocolate fudge (made of chocolate and condensed milk).  However it was not easy to know how much vegemite to add.  I felt that my cautious quarter teaspoon could have been doubled.  I was happier with my caramel.  I learnt from the caramel for the recent rice krispie slice and tested the caramel on a cold saucer earlier rather than giving it the full 10 minutes other recipes suggested.  It was a bit chewy when kept in the fridge but lovely at room temperature.

Before we left for our holiday in Torquay, I chopped up the fudge into small squares, wiping the knife between slicing.  Sylvia and I tasted a piece or two and it was addictive.  We wisely dropped it to wait in my mum's fridge before the afternoon tea.  I would not like to say how much would have been left had we taken it to the beach house with us.

My mum put on an impressive spread for the afternoon tea.  I loved that there were plenty of savoury options - herb scones, samosas, sandwiches, bruschetta, zucchini fritters, as well as lots of sweet options - lamingtons, friands, my fudge, little cakes, scones with jam and cream, and lemon tarts.  I also took down cashew cheese stuffed dates but am not sure which category they fit.

There was also a gorgeous Persian love cake for the birthday cake decorated with pomegranate and pistachios.  We were so full after all the good food.  Luckily we didn't eat much after breakfast and then we just had snacks for tea.  Some of the family then played cricket outside but I stayed inside and chatted.

Today back in Melbourne, we headed out to Kings Domain on the fringe of the city for the annual RACV Australia Day picnic and federation vehicle display.  It the place where the Australia Day parade finishes and the crowds enjoy food trucks and activities.

On the way in we were handed free cartons of Choc Lamington Big M (flavoured milk), offered Australian flags and given free sun cream.  I had a baked potato and a chocolate ice cream.  We spent most of our time sitting in the shade at the main stage watching the ukulele group, Justine Clarke, Aussie pub rock classics and hip hop dancers.  I wondered if I could change my birthday when we watched those born on 26 January birthday being treated to cake.

We had a little time to wander around the other stalls.  I would have shown Sylvia how to play totem tennis if it hadn't been so popular.  I was convinced to have a henna tattoo.  And we enjoyed looking at the vintage cars.  The one above gave everyone a start with the [fake] arm hanging out the back.  I asked the owner if he drove around like this and he said he had too many complaints about a body in the boot so the police have ordered him not to do it any more.

Before I finish this post, I have a few esoteric Australian photos to share.  Above is a group of haybales with the Australian flag imposed on them.  We saw it on the Princess Highway yesterday.  I am always in admiration of vision while driving along country roads and stopped to take a photo.

Given that we have just been to the beach, I thought that for Australia Day I would share a quintessentially Aussie picture I took of my family at the beach a few weeks back.  It was my first outing to the beach for the summer and a joy to see how Sylvia enjoyed surfing the waves on a boogie board.

This picture is street art in North Carlton I took late last year.  I wish there were many Indigenous images I had encountered today and I didn't need to dig through my photo archives for a picture.  However though I have been seeing lots of Australian flags around Australia Day, the only Aboriginal flag I saw today was carried by a couple on the train home.  It embarrasses me.

There are Aboriginal events held today.  My friend Heather met us at Kings Domain and said that she encountered an Aboriginal group occupying the Flinders St Station intersection.  However I would love to see Aboriginal Australia incorporated into more mainstream events like the RACV picnic.

I wish I had more space and eloquence to explain why it is sad and harmful when we don't remember Australia Day as a day of invasion of Aboriginal Australia.  Instead I highly recommend you read Chelsea Bond's article The day I don't feel Australian: that would be Australia Day and then if you want to imagine how it would feel to have your land invaded, check out The Conversation's Australia Day film guide listing films in which Sydney has been invaded. 

It would be great if Australia Day were a day for all Australians.  And though I want to be inclusive, I happen to know that not everyone embraces vegemite.  There are many who share Amanda Palmer's sentiments against our lovely salty black spread.  However we always tell newcomers it is best used sparingly.

This fudge can be compared to a salted caramel with a slightly deeper flavour.  In fact I was surprised none of my family was horrified when I told them the secret ingredient was vegemite.  If you grew up on vegemite like we did, you wil no doubt love this fudge.  To the novices, I suggest try this fudge and you might just find it is a way to like vegemite.  If you really can't bare the thought of vegemite in fudge, the check out more of my Australia Day recipes.

More vegemite in recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Cheeseymite scones
Dahl
Dark vegetable and lentil stew
Gravy
Mashed vegetables with vegemite 
Nut roast

Chocolate fudge with vegemite caramel
Adapted from Green Gourmet Giraffe, Bakers Corner and Tin and Thyme

300g condensed milk
300g dark choc chips

Caramel filling:
100g condensed milk
1 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp castor sugar
2 tbsp butter
1/4-1/2 tsp vegemite*

Line a 13 x 22cm loaf tin with baking paper.   Melt 180g condensed milk with 200g choc chips.  (I did this in the microwave.)   Spread evenly into the loaf tin.  Set in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile make the caramel.  Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to the boil on medium heat stirring frequently.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.  Check if it has struck the right balance between too soft and too chewy by putting a small drop on a cool plate and checking it once it has cooled (this should be seconds).

Scrape the caramel into another bowl to help cool it.  Leave about 5 minutes and then spread onto the set chocolate mixture.  Return loaf tin to freezer for about10 minutes.  Then melt remaining condensed milk and chocolate and spread over the caramel.

Set in freezer an hour or so and then cut into small squares.  Wipe the knife between each cut to keep the slices neat.  Keeps in the fridge for at least5 days.

NOTES: I added 1/4 tsp of vegemite which was barely discernable so next time I would try more.  However for vegemite novices, 1/4 tsp might be just enough.  I accidentally melted 300g each of chocolate and condensed milk and used about two thirds for the bottom and then remelted the last bit for the topping.  I found that I had about 90g of the 395g tin of condensed milk left for the caramel but luckily had a little extra in the fridge.  However I would measure the 100g for the caramel before I measured the last 100g for the chocolate topping as I think the later is more important to have correct.

UPDATE: Shaheen at Allotment to Kitchen has posted a marmite fudge based on this one.  She used a lot more marmite than I used vegemite so I definitely will next time too.

On the Stereo:
Molly - Do Yourself a Favour - the Soundtrack to the TV Miniseries and Molly's Life in Music - Various Artists

Australia Day recipes

Australia Day on 26 January is almost upon us.  Whether you are celebrating settlement or commiserating on invasion (it is a day full of political opinion as much as parades and bbqs), I hope you will be eating good food.

Today for Australia Day I share some iconic Australian recipes, and recipes using iconic Australian food.  It has been hard to narrow down so many favourite recipes so I have tried to only include quintessentially Aussie food, rather than recipes of my family. Here they are (clockwise from top left):

Classic Australian baking:

• ANZAC biscuits - traditional oaty biscuits from World War I
• Chocolate caramel slice - layers of biscuit, caramel and chocolate
• Pumpkin scones - slightly sweet and popular at afternoon tea
• Pikelets - fatter sturdier pancakes that are a quick treat for kids
• Lamingtons - light sponge cake dipped in chocolate icing and then coconut
• Ginger fluff sponge - a lightly spiced sponge layer cake sandwiched together with cream

Kids parties and lunchboxes

• Hedgehog - similar to fridge cake, biscuit cake or tiffin - a chocolate slice with chunks of biscuits
• Honey joys - cornflakes baked with a honey butter coating
• Lemon slice - chunks of biscuit in a slice of lemon, coconut and condensed milk
• Apricot delight - dense uncooked mixture of dried apricots and coconut cut into small squares
• Coconut ice - very rich condensed milk and coconut mixture usually with a pink layer and a white layer
• Chocolate crackles - chocolate coated rice bubbles, traditionally made with copha (hydrogenated coconut oil - which is less popular these days). 

Australian brand names in recipes:

• Tim Tam brownies - brownies stuffed with tim tams (chocolate sandwich biscuits)
• Chokito fudge - fudge stuffed with chokito (chocolate bar with fudge and rice bubbles)
• Grubs with Tim Tams - chocolate balls made of condensed milk, cocoa, coconut and biscuit - this recipe uses Tim Tams instead of traditional Marie biscuits
• Violet Crumble ice cream - ice cream stuffed with Violet Crumble - a chocolate covered bar of honeycomb
• Tick Tock teacups - biscuits with clock faces form the saucer with a marshmallow cup, a lifesaver handle and a freckle for the froth - these are really cute party favourites
• Cherry Ripe cake pops - cherries, condensed milk and coconut are mixed and dipped in chocolate to imitate a favourite chocolate bar

Classic savoury Australian recipes (vegetarian):

• Sausage rolls - one of my favourite party recipes - "sausage meat" wrapped in pastry
• Damper - simple campfire bread leavened with baking powder
• Party pies - while the larger meat pie is an Aussie classic, these smaller versions were always at parties of my youth
• Chiko rolls  - minced meat and cabbage in a really chew fried pastry
• Zucchini slice - lots of egg and grated zucchini plus some fried bacon all mixed and baked a bit like a fritatta
• Pumpkin soup - it was a great shock when I first travelled to find that pumpkin soup was not as ubiquitous as I had thought from living in Australia

Recipes using Australian ingredients

• Vegemite in Cheeseymite scones - I hardly need to tell you about how dark and salty vegemite is and that it is best eaten in small amounts - it goes well very with cheese.  (Also try the vegemite burger or vegemite fudge.)
• Pumpkin in Pumpkin, pecan and poppyseed scones - I know well that many other countries have pumpkin but few seem to have it like we do in Australia where our Queensland Blue and Kent pumpkins are regular household vegies - and we love it in scones
• Quandong syrup in the frosting on Kale cake - I only tasted quandong syrup recently and loved its gentle fragrant fruitiness in a cream cheese frosting - an indigenous fruit that I must learn about
• Dried wattleseed in Mud cake -  I love using native seed, dried wattleseed, instead of coffee granules in baking - it has a slight bitterness that echoes coffee
• Weetbix in Marshmallow weetbix slice - weetbix was first made in Australia (though it became weetabix in some countries) and was one of the main cereals when we were young - it is low in sugar and high in fibre so retains its popularity - the marshmallow slice with it is a faovurite from my childhood
• Pepperberry in Tofu and pesto crackers - in Australia we have an indigenous mountain pepper with edible leaf and berries - I've used it in baking occasionally

Quirky Australian themed recipes

• Southern Cross cake - an easy Australian-themed cake
• Buttermilk and lemon myrtle damper in Aboriginal flag dinner - many years ago as a new blogger I created a dinner homage to the Aboriginal flag - one day I will do it with a better photo!
• White Christmas - we have very few iconic Christmas recipes in Australia but this no bake slice filled with rice bubbles, dried fruit and copha (or white chocolate) is an old favourite
• The Getting of Wisdom book cake - the cake didn't look very much like a book but it did feature the name of a classic coming-of-age Australian book that we studied at school
• Shamburger pizza with the lot - the classic Aussie burger in a fish and chip shop has lettuce, fried onions, beetroot, fried egg, tomato and bacon as well as the burger in a bun - I had a go at putting a veg version on a pizza
• Gluten free Tim Tams - I also had a go at making gluten free Tim Tams for the celiacs in my family - they were good but the melted chocolate was not on my side that day

Classic Australian recipes I hope to blog one day

• Sponge cake - my mum makes beautiful light sponge layer cakes regularly on birthdays so I feel it is my destiny to bake sponge cakes
• Fairy bread - what Aussie party is complete without bread with butter and coloured sprinkles though such a simple idea that it seems crazy to blog it
• Jelly slice - have loved jelly slice since childhood but need to get around gelatine to make it (the Moody Noodles have had a go)
• Cheesymite scrolls - a recently Aussie classic take on the bread roll though the idea of pairing vegemite and cheese is an old one
• Vanilla slice - custard between layers of puff pastry with lots of icing on top - I only occasionally want one so the idea of a whole batch of them seems a bit much
• Pavlova - this is one of my mum's regular desserts that I grew up on - I want to try one but dream of making a vegan one with aquafaba - though it needs to have the marshmallow inside and crisp outside to be proper pav

So now I am pretty amazed at how many Aussie recipes I have produced here.  Cultural cringe makes us Aussies believe we have little to offer the rest of the world but it aint true.  And I haven't even started on other favourites like coffee scrolls, jelly cakes, peach melba.  Check out my Australia Day Pinterest board for more ideas.  Whether commiserating or celebrating, I hope you are finding some Australian food for our national day.

NOTES: For American readers, when we say "biscuit" it is like your cookie.  Our slices are similar to American bars.  Rice bubbles are known as rice krispies elsewhere.  It is confusing but Google will mostly help out.

Damper: traditional Australian campfire bread

When we were young, my mum would mix flour and water and places it in the coals of the fire in the BBQ at a bush picnic area.  We ate it with slabs of butter from the local dairy and (for my parents) billy tea.  I have such fond memories of it that I am very picky about damper recipes.  They have to be very plain and have a thick crust.

I read somewhere that damper is Australia's version of soda bread.  Though I used self raising flour in my damper, it is different from using bicarbonate of soda and buttermilk together in soda bread.  I love the simplicity of damper.  If you have flour and baking powder you can make it.  Which I guess is why it was part of the swagman's diet in colonial Australia. 

Of course in the days when the swagmen wandered the bush they could stop at will to light campfires on which to bake damper and boil the billy.  Nowadays we are more aware of bushfires and must be more careful about lighting fires.  This summer is not a great one for cooking damper on an open fire.  The hot dry weather has resulted in many days of total fire ban. 

When we were young a bbq was a grill above a fire.  These days bbqs often involve gas and coals both at home and in picnic spots.  So I guess there are generally less people lighting campfires.  However you can baked damper in your oven.  It wont have that charred taste of the fire but it can have a thick crust and be fluffy inside.

We really loved this damper.  It had that robust yet fluffy crumb with a thick crust.  More like beer bread than soda bread.  I tried to bake it in a casserole dish to imitate a camp oven but it cooked too slowly so then I baked it on a baking stone until it was golden brown.

We tore chunks of damper to eat with a bottom-of-the-fridge-clearing stew.  Then we had some with jam for afters.  Well E and I did.  Sylvia had been on a sleepover the previous evening and had fallen asleep at 5pm.  I tried to wake her for dinner but she slept through til the next morning.  A shame.  I think she would have enjoyed the plain damper.  Seems I need to make it again.  And it would be perfect on Australia Day next week.

I am sending this to Kimmy for Healthy Vegan Fridays, Solange and Margot for Inheritance Recipes, and Helen and Camilla Credit Crunch Munch.

More savoury Australian baking:
Buttermilk and lemon myrtle damper
Party pies (v)
Pumpkin damper (v)
Pumpkin scones 
Sausage rolls
Zucchini slice

Damper
From Kidspot

2 cups self raising flour
generous pinch of salt
1 cup water

Mix salt into flour and then gradually mix in water to make a soft sticky dough.  You can use your hand to knead in the last few bits of flour and give it a couple of kneads on a floured surface to make a smooth(ish) dough.  However it should be treated gently as too much handling will make it tough.  Bake on a floured baking stone or baking tray in a hot oven until golden brown.  Mine took about 40-50 minutes at 220 C but my oven is quite slow.  Best on day of baking but will be ok the next day.

On the Stereo:
Ruby: Killjoys

Chokito fudge

Today I want to encourage you to celebrate underrated Aussie chocolate bars.  Such as the Chokito.  Honestly, I get worried some days when they are not available in my local supermarket.  Not that I am looking to buy.  Just checking that they are still in circulation!  So I created a fudge filled with chunks of Chokito.  It is sort of like a fudgy crispy fudge.

For those who aren't familiar with it, here is what it looks like.  A bar of fudge smothered in rice crisps and milk chocolate.  Yes it is sweet but oh so good.  If you are a fan of condensed milk, then this is for you.  Unless you don't live in Australia, in which case you might not be able to find them easily.  Although according to Wikipedia they are also sold in Switzerland and Brazil.

When I was young we didn't eat chocolate bars a lot but there were moments when we could choose one.  At such times we all knew our favourite bars.  For me it was Chokito.  Strangely enough I have very few vivid memories of it but I have one: as a teenager I had a minor operation and I remember waking from the anaesthetic and being greeted by my family bringing me a Chokito.  It cheered me up.

I made this fudge upon a whim.  I know that January is supposedly the month of detox and dieting after festive excesses.  Yet that is just not happening when every weekend is another birthday celebration and at the end of the month is both Burns Night and Australia Day.  I guess we are still in party mode.

It is also the school holidays which meant that this was a fun activity on a day around the house.  Sylvia was beside herself with excitement at chopping up Chokitos.  She was also very excited when I pulled out the couches and mopped the day before.  

And what kid - big or small - could not be excited at fudge that involved chopping up chocolate bars, melting condensed milk and chocolate, and sprinkling fudge chunks.

In fact we were so excited that we could not wait for the fudge to be firm enough to slice.  Which might mean we each had a piece of soft fudge.  It was so very yummy.  Then I put it into the freezer so it got firm quicker.

I could highly recommend putting a Chokito into your fudge.  However I understand not everyone loves it as much as I do or has access to it.  So I can also recommend adding other chocolate bars to this fudge or even veganising it with vegan chocolate, vegan condensed milk and vegan chocolate bars.  Or you could just be really healthy and enjoy this fudge on my blog vicariously.  Which I think I probably need to do in future!

I am sending this fudge to We Should Cocoa which is hosted by Lovely Appetite and about simple recipes this month.

More fudge on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Black bean cacao fudge (gf, v)
Caramel fudge (gf)
Chocolate cashew fudge (gf, v)
Chocolate layered fudge (peppermint or caramel) (gf)
Hedgehog fudge with dried cherries
Mostly raw double layer fudge (gf, v)
Nutella fudge

More fun fudge elsewhere online:
Chocolate Crunchie Fudge - Jacqueline Meldrum on baby.co.uk
Easy Tim Tam Fudge - Kidspot
Mars Bar Fudge - Create Bake Make
Peppermint Crisp Fudge - Thermobliss
Tim Tam Milo Fudge - Bake Play Smile

Chokito Fudge
Makes lots of small pieces

300g dark chocolate (I used one with 50% cocoa solids)
300g condensed milk
25g butter
3 Chokito bars
85g fudge chunks, for topping

Line a 15cm square cake tin with baking paper.  Chop Chokito bars into chunks and set aside.  Melt chocolate, condensed milk and butter.  Mix in Chokito chunks.  Tip into prepared tin and smooth on top with the back of a spoon. Scatter fudge chunks over the top and lightly press into the fudge.  Leave in the fridge to firm up (or put it in the freezer if you are impatient).  Cut into small squares.  Keep in an airtight tub in the fridge or at room temperature.

On the stereo:
The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic

Lamingtons for an Aussie party

When I asked my nephew Dash what he wanted me to bake for his birthday he requested lamingtons.  A lamington man, in fact.  I thought about using a gingerbread man cookie cutter to cute the sponge cake before dipping it into chocolate icing and coconut.  But that was too challenging and you will see down the post that I had another solution.

This is my third go at making lamingtons on my blog.  The first batch of lamingtons were good and a little pumpkiny and the cake was very sticky.  Since then Sylvia has developed a pumpkin-aversion.  The second batch of lamingtons was vegan and used some quince syrup.  They were good but not the airy sponge cake of traditional lamingtons.  This third batch was excellent with a light sponge cake and rich chocolate icing.  The recipe came from Masterchef's Sophie Young.

For the uninitiated, lamingtons are a traditional Australian cake that have long been popular for afternoon tea, cake stalls and fundraising drives.  I grew up with them often in my mothers pantry and always at my grandmothers so they are a sentimental favourite (as I have written about previously).  However they are also slightly challenging.

Firstly there is the sponge cake which should be light and soft.  Airy eggy baking is not my strength.  Then there is all the faffy sifting and folding.  Beware the flour bombs if you don't fold thoroughly and yet if you fold too vigourously you will beat out the air.  The recipe I chose had no leavening but eggs.  This made me a little nervous so I added some self raising flour.  The sponge looked quite flat when out of the oven but had a really good texture.

Next there is the messy business of dipping the cake into chocolate icing and coconut.  The icing needs to be thin enough so that you can dip cake into it but thick enough that it will cling to the cake and not end up in a pool under the wire rack.  There is no way to do this neatly.  The kitchen gets covered in coconut.

And then there is the matter of getting the right ratio between the cake, the icing and the coconut.  I had to make a tiny bit more chocolate icing which got quite thick towards the end; a spoonful of icing sugar and a drizzle of water mixed in to the remains was enough.  I had lots of coconut leftover, probably because I didn't measure it in the first place.  (The amount of coconut below is from the recipe I followed.)

It is all worth it in the end.  I was really pleased with these lamingtons.  They were fluffy sponge with a rich chocolate icing that didn't drip much.  I chose to go with the traditional dessicated coconut rather than the chunkier shredded coconut that Sophie Young used.  We made them on the morning of Dash's party so that the icing was still a bit damp which is the best way to eat lamingtons.

When we got to my parent's house, Dash's parents, Chris and Fergal had arranged a fun party for him and his cousins.  They really know how to organise an event!  We arranged the lamingtons on a plate in the shape of a man.  Sylvia chose some blue smarties for eyes.  Dash has a book about the Lamington Man.  It is an Australian version of the gingerbread man where he says "run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the lamington man".

We had a great time at his party.  Firstly there was pizza for lunch, followed by a swim at the local pool.  Then we had sausage rolls, hot dogs, spring rolls and crisps.  There was a break in party food while the kids went out to have a bash at the Darth Vader pinata.  There was a Star Wars theme going on here with themed cups and party horns as well.  But the food was all Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi.

Then back inside for more traditional Aussie party food: hedgehog, fairy bread, frog in the pond and lamingtons.  Yes we were all well and truly stuffed.  But we still had room for birthday cake.

The funniest moment of the day was when my brother and his wife were sitting chatting to us when the kids had eaten their full and gone outside to play.  Andy stood up in disgust and said "we are the frogs in the pond".  If you have never heard of frog in a pond, it is jelly with a chocolate freddo frog in it.  Andy and Erica had been standing where one of the kids had spilled jelly.  It was a funny end to a fun day.

I am sending these to Janie (and Karen) for Tea Time Treats, Mandy (and Kirsty) for Cook Blog Share, and Emily for Recipe of the Week.

More Australian baking on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Chocolate caramel slice
Ginger fluff sponge (gf) 
Honey joys (gf)
Potato boston bun (v)
Pumpkin scones
Tim Tam brownies

Lamingtons
Slightly adapted from Sophie Young on taste.com.au
Makes 25

Sponge cake:
4 eggs
125g caster sugar
75g self raising flour
50g plain flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
50g margarine

Chocolate icing:
25g margarine
160ml (2/3 cup) soy milk
500g icing sugar
50g (1/2 cup)  cocoa

200g dessicated coconut

Preheat oven to 190 C.  Grease and line a 22cm square cake tin.

Measure flour and set aside.  Melt margarine and vanilla together and set aside.  Beat eggs and sugar for 4 minutes.  They should be pale and creamy and about three times the original volume. Sift flour onto egg mixture until covered and fold in gently with one motion with a metal spoon.  Continue doing this until all the flour is sifted.  Drop a spoonful of egg and flour mixture into the margarine mixture and mix well.  Now very gently fold the margarine mixture into the egg mixture until just combined.

Pour batter into prepared cake tin and bake for 20-25 minutes.  The sponge should be golden and spring back when you touch it in the middle.  Turn onto a wire rack lined with a tea towel.  Cool.

Leave the sponge overnight (or place in freezer for 20 minutes to firm up).

When you are ready to coat the lamingtons, make the chocolate icing.  Choose a heatproof bowl that is about medium mixing bowl size but not too deep because you will be dipping into it.  Stir the margarine and milk in this bowl over a gently simmering saucepan of water until the butter has melted. Turn off heat and remove bowl from the saucepan.  Sift the icing sugar and cocoa together and mix into the milk mixture until you have a thin icing.

Cut the sponge cake into 25 squares (ie five rows lengthways and widthways).  Set up the bowl of chocolate icing with two forks and a spoon, a shallow bowl of the coconut with two forks and a large wire rack.  Drop a square of cake into the chocolate icing and cover in icing, spooning icing over it if necessary.  Pick up the square with two forks and hold above the bowl to let as much icing as possible drip back into the bowl.  Drop the icing covered cake into the bowl of coconut.  Use the forks with the coconut to toss the cake in coconut.  Pick up the cake with the forks and place gently on the wire rack.  As you can see in my list of equipment, I find it easiest to use different forks for the icing and coconut bowls.  This recipe didn't drop much icing but will drip a little under the wire rack.

The lamingtons can be kept in an airtight container.  They are best on the day of making, great the next day and then after that start to diminish in texture.

On the Stereo:
The Captain: Kasey Chambers

Andy Warhol - Ai Weiwei and Studio Cats at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV)

The school holidays are whizzing by.  It is hard to believe we are halfway through January.  We have been busy with visits to the art gallery, the museum, the pool, family and lots of tidying up at home.  We have been listening to a lot of David Bowie.  His death was a shock.  His life was amazing. 

I mention David Bowie because his constant challenging and inventive artistry might be compared to Warhol and Weiwei.  One of our fun days out was to see the Andy Warhol - Ai Weiwei exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria.  It is truly spectacular, beautiful, esoteric, fun, thought-provoking and innovative.  A bit like David Bowie!

For those who are not familiar with Andy Warhol and Ai WeiWei, they are two innovative and significant artists whose lives and art have similarities.  Andy Warhol was born in 1928 and achieved fame as a pioneer of pop art in New York in the 1960s.  He died in 1987.  Ai Weiwei was born in 1957 in Beijing and is a contemporary artist and political activist who is still alive.  They never met but Weiwei was exposed to Warhol's work when living in Manhattan in the early 1980s.

We start in the foyer of the gallery where Weiwei's Forever Bicycles installation transforms many frames and wheels into a massive monolith of metal.  Like much of what we will see throughout the exhibition, it finds beauty in mundane objects.

I know a lot more of Warhol than Weiwei and his Campbell's soup images are so familiar as to be hackneyed.  Yet is still a delight to see them here with a lego image of Weiwei dropping a Han Dynastry Urn.  Two sides of taking culture for granted.  That which is so precious we can barely touch it and that which is so common as to be invisible.

Next is an installation where we spent most time.  Large balloons in the shape of the Twitter bird and a Llama (or Grass Mud Horse which is a symbol of defiance against Chinese internet censorship).  They float in front of a wallpaper that on closer inspection has CCTV, Twitter and Llama motifs.  It is a place of beauty and peace with deeper ideas imbedded in the imagery.

Fans gently waft the balloons about but the public is also able to push them this way and that.  It is particularly attractive to kids who are used to punching balloons.  I am there with some family including my nephew Dash who is great company for Sylvia.  I think they could have stayed here all day caught up watching the balloons swirl and punching them about.

We are there long enough for me to take up a conversation with the guard who has the thankless task of asking children to be gentle with the balloons.  She tells me they have to replace some of the balloons when they get shabby.  And that Weiwei personally designed the space.  "So what was he like", I ask in fascination.  Apparently he was always in the other room to this guard!  So no insights there.  What a shame.  The whole exhibition shows him to be an amazing person.

Then we are back to rooms of pictures and exhibits.  So many ideas crammed in here that it is intriguing.  Lots of ordinary life transformed into art.  Some of it both exotic and familiar such as Warhol's box of coca cola bottles from 1967. 

Weiwei's one man shoe is one of the most bizarre exhibits.  What would this man look like?  How would he walk? 

More mundane and yet every bit as fascinating is Weiwei's Tonne of Tea.  (See the huge brown block.) 

Bringing together the every day and the political is WeiWei's Letgo Room.  The walls and ceiling are made of over 3 million faux-Lego blocks.  (Apparently Lego refused to provide blocks for political artwork.)  The block depict quotes and photos from high profile political Australians such as Gary Foley, Rosie Batty and Julian Assange.

Both Warhol and Weiwei had many multiples images in their work.  These reflect the mass produced items of the industrial age.  Little boxes made of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.  Yet often not quite the same.  I love the beauty both artists find in this repetition.

There are many flowers in the exhibition.  These are Warhol screen prints.

When the Chinese government confiscated Weiwei's passport in November 2013, he posted a photo of a bouquet of flowers in a bicycle outside his studio every day on social media in protest until the passport was reinstated in July 2015.

I really love wandering through a gallery and taking in images rather than reading lots of signs.  Yet I probably would have enjoyed reading more about the images because they have many layers of meaning in the ouvre of both Warhol and WeiWei.  Walking through with children makes reading harder.  So I was interested to read online that this arrangement of antique stools is a commentary on the relationship between the individual and the collective in China's socialist history.  And I had just thought it an interesting way to arrange stools.

I really liked the multi media room with Warhol's Screen Tests.  (Do you recognise any of the faces above?)  It also had footage of Weiwei riding about Beijing and a slideshow of 7677 called 258 Fake.  I would have loved to have sat and watched more that I had time for before the kids were off onto the next room.

And in the next room I saw statues and prints and photos of Weiwei flicking the bird at famous monuments around the world.  I can't tell you too much about this or the images screening in the room with the bean bags.  I discovered I had lost my ticket and had to get across the foyer to the remainder of the exhibition which included more prints and items from both artists' studios.  (I probably had Stendahl's Syndrome by then.)  The one piece of information that fascinated me was the sparkle on some of Warhol's prints came from crushed glass scattered in the ink.

Once out of the paid exhibition we proceeded to the Studio Cats for kids which is both interactive and free.  It is complementary to the Warhol-Weiwei exhibition.  Sylvia and Dash stacked Brillo and Heinz boxes while my mum and dad waited in line for the photo booth where they could make all sort of faces to make a fun video that we emailed to ourselves.

They sat on the chair with cat tails in front of monitors with cat ears to write captions on cat photos (Clever Cats). 

Then we sat and watched a slide show about how much Warhol and Weiwei loved cats and how many millions of cats are on the internet today.  Coincidence?

And there are lots of cat pictures in the room too.

It was a blissfully mild day (in this Melbourne summer where it is a scorching 42 C one day and a wet chilly 19 C the next.)  We went outside to the 2015 Summer Architects Commission by John Wardles Architects.  This colourful structure had tables and chairs under it and looked a relaxing space for a spot of lunch.

I really liked how the Gallery has lunchboxes ($8.50) for the kids.  I ordered one for Sylvia with a cheese and vegemite sandwich, veggie sticks, hummus dip, muesli bar and apple juice.  It seemed perfect for her (in a world where not many lunches at cafes are).  I also bought a similar one for Dash but with ham and cheese sandwich.  And for myself I bought a Vegetable Love roll with roast vegetables, brie, macadamia and pesto ($12).  It all seemed just right.

Kids have a way of seeing lunch from a totally different perspective.  Sylvia refused to eat her sandwich because it had butter on it.  The veggie sticks and dip were unavailable so she was given sultanas instead.  The muesli bar was replaced with a smartie cookie.  And the final moment of doom was when Dash dropped his sandwich and the pigeons ate it.  I enjoyed my roll though it had a slight chill to it.  But by then we were rushing out the door because there was much to do so I gulped it down in a hurry.

I highly recommend the Warhol WeiWei exhibition even despite the hefty price of $26 per adult.  I could go back and spend more time looking at images, wandering what on earth the artists were thinking and watching multi media.  I am hoping I might have the opportunity but you never know what life will bring!

Andy Warhol Ai Weiwei exhibition
$26 per adult, $10 per child

Studio Cats: Andy Warhol Ai Weiwei for kids
Free entry

Garden Cafe
Grollo Equiset Garden (through the foyer and the Great Hall)

NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne
11 December 2015 - 24 April 2015
10am - 8pm in January