Lamington Cake – Australian Cake Recipe

4.61 from 88 votes

Lamington Cake – Australian Cake Recipe

Lamingtons – traditional Australian cake squares dipped in a velvety chocolate icing and sprinkled with desiccated coconut, they are moist, comforting, and utterly delicious!

Prep Time45

Cook Time30

Total Time1 15

Course: Cakes

Cuisine: Australian

Servings:

Calories: 353kcal

Author: Adina

Equipment

Square 20 cm/8-inch baking dish

Ingredients

240 g all-purpose flour 8.5 oz/ 2 cups
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
120 g unsalted butter soft, 4 oz/ ½ cup
150 g granulated sugar 5.5 oz/ ¾ cup
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
125 ml milk 4 fl.oz/ ½ cup
For the chocolate icing:
325 g icing sugar 12 oz/ 3 ¼ cup
65 g unsweetened cocoa powder 2 oz/ ⅔ cup
75 g unsalted butter 2.6 oz/ ⅓ cup
250 ml milk 8.5 fl.oz/ 1 cup
200 g desiccated coconut unsweetened, 7 oz/ 2 cups

Instructions

Butter cake:

Bake the butter cake one day in advance as it needs to spend the night in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/ 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a square 20 cm/8-inch baking dish.
Dry ingredients: Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Wet ingredients: In another bowl, beat the soft butter until creamy. Add the sugar and beat until pale and fluffy. Add one egg, beat well to incorporate, then add the second egg and the vanilla extract and combine as well.
Batter: Set the mixer at the lowest speed. Alternatively, add the flour and the milk, starting and finishing with the flour. Beat the mixture only shortly until smooth, do not overbeat.
Bake: Place the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake in the baking dish for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
Refrigerate: When completely cool, wrap it well in cling film/ plastic foil and refrigerate overnight. (Note 2)
Cut squares: The next day cut it into regular squares of about 5 cm/ 2 inch. Place a wire rack on top of a large baking tray that will catch the possible chocolate or coconut drippings.

Chocolate icing:

Sift the icing sugar and the cocoa powder. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a saucepan large enough to hold the whole icing sugar and cocoa powder mixture.
Combine: When the butter has melted, add the milk, mix, and start adding the icing sugar and cocoa powder mixture while whisking all the time. Add only about 1 cup at a time, whisk well and continue adding the sugar until everything is well incorporated and lump-free.

Icing the lamingtons:

Divide ingredients: Pour half of the chocolate mixture into a bowl and leave the rest in the saucepan. (Note 3)
Do the same with the desiccated coconut. Place only ⅓ of the coconut onto a plate and when the coconut gets too “dirty,” and you have too many chocolate clumps in it, discard those and add some fresh coconut to the plate.
Dip the lamingtons into the chocolate mixture and coat them in coconut one by one. Work carefully (the cake squares are delicate), but rather quickly. Turn the lamingtons into the chocolate with the help of two forks, then take the square on one fork and let the excess drain a little before you drop the cake piece into the coconut.
Roll the squares into the coconut with the forks, transfer it to the wire rack and continue with the next lamington. (Note 4)
Refrigerate: When finished, you can refrigerate the lamingtons until set (it will not take long), but let them come to room temperature before serving.

Notes

Always use a digital kitchen scale in baking; it ensures the best results (Amazon affiliate link). Although the recipe is converted to American cups, cup measuring is very unreliable. Also, cup volume is slightly different from country to country, which might lead to disasters.
This will help the cake become more stable and crumble less when you dip it in the chocolate icing.
Dividing the mixture into two will help in case the cake crumbles too much. This way, you can dip the first half of the cake squares in the bowl, and if that gets too crumbly, you can continue with the remaining cake pieces using the fresh chocolate icing left in the saucepan.
Finish each square before you move to the next one. Don't try to dip them all first in chocolate and then all of them in coconut; those already glazed should not sit and wait for the coconut.

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