Sunday, May 23, 2010

A Kiwi classic - Lolly Cake

Lolly cake is a bit of an institution to the young New Zealand baker, I think. Who among us didn't have the childhood joy of bashing up a packet of biscuits, cutting up eskimo lollies or fruit puffs, and mixing it all together in a messy bowl with sweetened condensed milk (only half a tin - so the other half could be left in the fridge and spoonfuls stealthily sneaked each time the fridge was opened!) and butter?

I'm not sure when I first made this but it may have been part of the baking segment for my Girls Brigade badge when I was about 7 - and this really is the perfect craft for kids that age - nothing complex, nothing you can really do wrong, you get to get your hands really messy when you shape the log - and then you can eat all the buttery, sugary mixture straight off your fingers. Not that I would ever do that, of course. ;-)


The actual creation of the 'cake' takes no time at all, but first you have to smash up a packet of malt biscuits. When I was a kid the proper method was to put them in a plastic bag and bash it with a rolling pin - but if you have a food processor you'll probably find that a bit quicker. I figured this would be a great trial for my new little blender thing:


I had to do them in a couple of batches, but it made quick, easy work of the biscuit smashing - 10/10!


The next task is chopping up the lollies. As far as I'm concerned eskimos (an NZ marshmallow-type candy - not without controversy) are the best for this, but fruit puffs come a close second and our supermarket was out of eskimos yeasterday. Mr Cake kindly cut them up for me:


You don't necessarily have to cut them up but it makes shaping the log a bit easier (especially with the longer eskimos).

Then you just mix it all together:


Roll it into a log, and coat with coconut. Easy!

Lolly Cake (recipe courtesy of Michael Adams)
Ingredients
1 pkt malt biscuits, crushed
100g butter, melted
1/2 tin/180g sweetened condensed milk
1 pkt eskimos or fruit puffs, chopped
coconut 

Method
Mix everything together in a bowl, then roll into a log. Roll the log in coconut, then wrap and refrigerate until firm. Slice into small portions and enjoy!

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