Saturday, January 22, 2011

Lamingtons

Lamingtons

If you are a fellow Aussie you know all about lamingtons and how awesome they can be - but if you live else where you may not have experienced these little wonderful cakes. Just imagine mini sponge or butter cakes dipped in chocolate and coated in coconut - seriously one of the best flavour combinations of all time.

Lamington


Lamingtons (from the Australian Women's Weekly - 100 Favourite Cakes)
Makes 24

Cake:
4 oz unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
2 cups self-raising flour
pinch salt
1/2 cup milk

Chocolate Icing and Coconut Topping:
1 lb icing sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 oz unsalted butter
1/2 cup milk
3/4 lb shredded coconut

Cake:
  1. Grease and line a lamington tin (11 in x 7 in). Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F).
  2. Beat butter and vanilla together until white, add sugar, beat until light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  3. Fold in sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk. When all the ingredients are added, beat mixture lightly until smooth.
  4. Spoon mixture into lamington tin, bake in oven for 30 minutes. Cake is done when firm to the touch and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool slightly before turning the cake out on to a wire rack to cool completely.
Icing:
  1. Sift icing sugar and cocoa into heatproof basin, or into top half of double saucepan. 
  2. Add softened butter and milk, stir with a wooden spoon to mix thoroughly.
  3. Stand over hot water, stir constantly until icing is of good coating consistency.
  4. Keep icing over hot water while dipping lamingtons. If icing becomes too thick, add a little extra warmed milk or water. 
Putting it all together:
  1.  Thinly trim brown top, base and sides from cake. 
  2. Cut cake into 24 even pieces.
  3. Hold each piece of cake on a fork. Dip each cake in chocolate icing, then toss in coconut.
  4. Stand on wire rack until icing sets.
Butter Cake batter

The butter cake batter ready to bake.

Butter Cake

The baked cake.

Cubes of cake

Individual pieces of cake.

Lamington

Delicious lamington!


Why not give it a try? I promise you will love this one!

12 comments:

Frangipan said...

These look so tasty, this is an australian recipe isn't it?

apparentlyjessy said...

I agree...I <3 Lamingtons, looking forward to having a couple on Wednesday!

cocoa and coconut said...

Oh these look so good. The coconut you have used is awesome; nice and thick. I've never made them from scratch myself, but I guess for Australia Day I really should!

All That's Left Are The Crumbs said...

I love lamingtons but they have to be the kind that do not have jam and/or cream in them. Yours look delicious!

Future Grown-Up said...

That looks so awesome! I wish I lived in Australia right now.

Rose said...

I love lamingtons although i dont usually like coconut all that much. I usually do them with jam and cream in the middle mmmmm can taste them now :)

Rose

Laura said...

YUM!
I couldn't make them from scratch for years because our oven couldn't cook a decent cake base for lamingtons.
Might have to try now that I have a convection microwave :) yay!

Spencer @ Moo-Lolly-Bar said...

Looks absolutely delicious. I love Lamingtons and would love to chow down on a huge chunk of that!

O. said...

yum, those look delish!

Kat said...

I used to love lamingtons as a kid then when I was in grade 5 we discovered I was allergic to chocolate and coconut amoungst a million other things and I haven't eaten one since.

By the Bluegrass said...

Oh My.....these look so delicious! I need to try them.
Yummmmm!
~Sena

Xiaolu said...

Reading all the Australian and British food mags (better than ours in the US in my opinion) as I have been lately, I've been curious to try many of the treats common there but unfamiliar to us. Like steamed puddings and lamingtons! These look just perfect, Alicia.