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.
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:
- Grease and line a lamington tin (11 in x 7 in). Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F).
- 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.
- Fold in sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk. When all the ingredients are added, beat mixture lightly until smooth.
- 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.
- Sift icing sugar and cocoa into heatproof basin, or into top half of double saucepan.
- Add softened butter and milk, stir with a wooden spoon to mix thoroughly.
- Stand over hot water, stir constantly until icing is of good coating consistency.
- Keep icing over hot water while dipping lamingtons. If icing becomes too thick, add a little extra warmed milk or water.
- Thinly trim brown top, base and sides from cake.
- Cut cake into 24 even pieces.
- Hold each piece of cake on a fork. Dip each cake in chocolate icing, then toss in coconut.
- Stand on wire rack until icing sets.
The butter cake batter ready to bake.
The baked cake.
Individual pieces of cake.
Delicious lamington!
Why not give it a try? I promise you will love this one!
