“My mother had a Presbyterian temperament although she was brought up Church of England,” says Jenny Dickson. She adds her mother, Margaret Fairie, married a Presbyterian and thus the family attended William Dickson’s church.
Jenny, now a resident of Toronto, was born in Edinburgh right after the war. She claims she is the original War Baby. Her father arrived home, from Palestine, after completing his service in the RAF in September, 1945, and Jenny was born June, 1946 – the youngest of three children. When Jenny was two, the Dickson family immigrated to Australia. They settled in Northam, a small town in the Australian Wheatbelt, 60 miles from Perth.
“My mother marched all of us to the Presbyterian church. Every year I was given a prize, not for being the most pious child, but for perfect attendance. You could just hear a groan from the congregation when my name was called year after year,” Jenny says, with a chuckle.
Jenny’s prize was always a book. She remembers receiving classics such as The Water Babies, Rob Roy and her favourite, Anne of Green Gables. Jenny claims the only Bible story she remembers, from Sunday School, is the gory tale of Daniel in the Lions’ Den. (Book of Daniel: Chapter 6.)
“My mother was mad about berets and I hated the navy one she made me wear to church. Coming home from Sunday school, we had to cross a bridge and one day the beret flew off and into the water. For the rest of her life, my mother believed I threw the wretched beret into the river,” says Jenny, adding her mother lived to see 102.
Another early memory was the annual Christmas pageant. The church children drew lots to see what part they were to play. “One year before I could even look at mine, Maureen Crawford yanked it out of my hand and put in hers. Very un-Christian. I ended up being a tree.”
Jenny’s Sunday School picnics featured the usual sandwiches along with fruit cordials. There was also home-brewed ginger beer and, in the summer, explosions were heard all over the neighbourhood from the alcohol heating up. And there was always lamingtons – the national dessert of Australia. Lamingtons are chocolate frosted squares of sponge cake, served at every social event, bake sale, barbie and tea room in Australia, according to Jenny.
Why this confection is named after Lord Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron of Lamington (1860-1940), no one really knows even though Lamington served as Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901. (For the record, Lamington is also a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.)
At Christmas, in far-off Australia, the Dicksons always had a full turkey dinner and Christmas cake, topped with marzipan and royal frosting, as if they were still in Scotland. “I remember Christmases when it was 116 degrees. People begin to realize this was a stupid menu for summer. Two years ago in Australia we had (southern) lobsters for Christmas dinner,” Jenny says. And, of course, lamingtons.
In Canada, Jenny taught at the Toronto French School until her recent retirement. Every year on International Day, the Grade Threes were encouraged to bring an ethnic dish to school. And, naturally, Jenny, herself an immigrant, treated those lucky pupils to lamingtons.
LAMINGTONS
FOR THE CAKE
1- 1/3 cups self-rising flour
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup caster (superfine) sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
FOR THE COATING
About 2/3 cup water
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 ½ cups icing sugar, sifted
1 ¼ cups desiccated coconut
METHOD
Place rack in the centre of the oven. Heat oven to 350F. Butter a 9 x 12 cake pan.
Sift flour into a bowl. In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Fold flour into the butter mixture alternatively with the milk, mixingsuntil fully combined.
Pour into prepared pan. Bake until the cake top is golden and the sides recede from the pan. (About 25 minutes.) Let cool in pan, on a wire rack, for 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool completely.
COATING: Combine water and cocoa in a large pot over medium heat. Add butter and stir until melted. Add vanilla and icing sugar. Stir until smooth and shiny. Stand the pot in a bowl of hot water to keep mixture liquid. Put half the coconut in a large bowl.
Cut cake into 16 squares. Using 2 skewers to hold each square, dip one at a time into the chocolate pot. Allow excess coating to drip back into pot then dip the square into coconut. Dry on a rack covered with parchment paper. Continue coating and adding coconut to bowl as needed.
FANCY OPTION: Split lamingtons and fill with whipped cream and jam or lemon curd. Lamingtons are best eaten the same day.
