Lamingtons

You’ll get coconut everywhere making them and eating them. But that’s all part of the Aussie experience. It’s how we do it Down Under! 🇦🇺

Lamingtons – an Australian classic!

A soft buttery sponge cake coated all over with chocolate icing and coconut. Even if you’ve never heard of these before, you just know it’s going to be good. We Aussies know great tucker – and this is as Aussie as it gets!! (OK, OK, maybe as Aussie as Pavs, Anzac Biscuits, Sausage Rolls, Party Pies, weekend sausage sizzles and Sunday Roast Lamb😇)

How to make Lamingtons

On the face of it, it sounds simple enough:

make a buttery vanilla sponge cake cut into squares, dip into chocolate icing, coat with coconut

The one little extra step I add that is going to make your Lamington making life a total breeze is to mostly freeze the cake before rolling in icing. A firm, semi frozen piece of cake is much easier to handle when coating in icing and rolling in coconut. Try doing it with fresh sponge, and you’ll be battling crumbling cake as you try to coat it. Been there, done that, multiple times! The cake will thaw as the icing sets and the cake is as fresh as it was straight out of the oven.

Here’s a bit more background to explain why I freeze the cake before coating – to make sure I fully convince you so you don’t skip that step!

Why I Freeze The Cake before coating

Lamingtons are one of those cakes that recipes say are easy to make, but most are just downright lying to you. The first few times I made them involved screeches of frustration and serious foot stomping.😤 I emerged on the other side looking like I’d been in a mud-wrestle with a plate of something that barely resembled the neat squares you see in this post. The challenge is this: The sponge has to be tender and moist enough to eat plain, but trying to roll such a delicate cake in icing is a disaster. The cake crumbles into the icing, making it thicker and impossible to work with. And once the crumbling begins, imagine the mess when you try to roll it in coconut. The solution offered by traditional recipes is to leave the cake out overnight, essentially letting the outside become a bit stale so it’s easier to handle. This works pretty well – but the cake is a bit drier than ideal. The 21st century solution: FREEZE THE CAKE. It’s even easier to handle for coating, and the bonus is that the cake stays fresh and moist – no need to leave it out to dry out! This will change your Lamington Life forever.

Butter Sponge Cake for Lamingtons

The sponge cake for Lamingtons is a terrific recipe that I use as a base for other recipes (strangely, none that I’ve shared here – yet). Simply made with pantry staples, it’s soft and buttery, and not too sweet which is what we want because we get extra sweetness from the chocolate icing.

My view – Lamingtons should stand as a great cake without any filling. Jam and cream is optional – it should make it over the top good! If you’re a Lamington fan, I think you’ll approve of this recipe! The butter cake is moist, tender and buttery. The chocolate coating is thick enough so you get a great hit of chocolate, but thin enough so it soaks into the sponge, a sticky enough to glue on plenty of coconut. The added bonus is that using the little trick to freeze the cakes before coating, they are neat and tidy so they look as great as they taste! – Nagi x PS It will be messy making these. And that’s totally ok. Because it’s part of the great Aussie tradition that you get coconut “everywhere” when you’re making them and eating them! PPS When better to make Lamingtons than for Australia Day??