Lamingtons

Cake:

• 1¾ cups bleached all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 12 tablespoons (1½, sticks) salted butter, at room temperature
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
• 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk

Chocolate Sauce:

• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 tablespoons (½ stick) salted butter, melted
• 2/3 cup boiling water
• 2/3 cup boiling water

To make the cake, adjust an oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 13 × 9 × 2-inch baking pan, dust it with flour, and knock out the excess flour.

Whisk the flour and baking powder together in a medium bowl.

Beat the butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add ¼ cup of the sugar and the vanilla and beat for 30 seconds. While beating, gradually add the remaining 1¼ cups sugar. Scrape the bowl and beater, then beat for 5 minutes on medium-high speed. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and beating only until smooth. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for up to 40 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and pulls away slightly from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in its pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then cover the cake pan with a wire rack and invert the two. Remove the pan, cover the cake with another rack, and invert the cake again to cool completely right side up.

Drape the cake loosely with a kitchen towel and leave at room temperature overnight.

With a sharp serrated knife, trim the crusts from the sides of the cake. Cut the cake into 24 squares.

To make the chocolate sauce, in a medium metal bowl whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, cocoa, butter, and boiling water until smooth. Set the bowl into a pan of very hot water to keep the sauce fluid. Spread the coconut in a shallow dish or pie plate. Drop a piece of cake into the chocolate sauce and use two long-tined forks to turn the cake quickly in the sauce to coat all surfaces. Lift the cake out of the sauce, letting excess sauce drip back into the bowl, and transfer the cake to the bowl of coconut. Use you fingers to sprinkle the cake with coconut, rolling it around to coat all surfaces well. Remove the cake from the coconut and set it on a wire cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining cake. Leave the cakes on the wire racks to dry for 1 to 2 hours before serving.

Variation:

For utter extravagance, and for Lamingtons with a completely different quality, you can substitute about 1 pound salted or unsalted macadamia nuts, (which originated in Australia), finely chopped, for the coconut.