Traditional lamington: the Australian cake of cubes coated in chocolate icing and desiccated coconut

The lamington is the cake Australia has taken to school fetes, fundraising sales and afternoon tea for more than a century. The most told story says it was born in Brisbane, around 1900, in the house of the governor of Queensland, Lord Lamington, when a cook, to use up a stale sponge cake, dipped the pieces in chocolate and coconut. Some dispute it with New Zealand, but the name is Australian and so is the national day, 21 July.

The recipe is deceptively simple: a butter sponge cake, cut into cubes, coated in a thin chocolate icing of cocoa, icing sugar and milk, and rolled in desiccated coconut. The trick is for the cake to be a day old, firm enough not to fall apart in the bath, and the icing thin, so it soaks into the surface without becoming a thick shell.

The party version is cut in half with raspberry jam and whipped cream in the filling. With black tea, it is Australia at four in the afternoon. It makes sixteen and they vanish the same day.

Recipe card

• Origin: Queensland, Australia
• Category: Cake, tea sweet
• Difficulty: Easy
• Preparation time: 40 minutes (the cake is baked the day before)
• Oven time: 30 minutes
• Serves: 16 lamingtons

Ingredients — cake

• 125 g butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 pinch of salt

Ingredients — icing and filling

• 3 cups icing sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/2 cup hot milk
• 3 cups fine desiccated coconut
• Raspberry jam and whipped cream for the filling (optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C and grease and line a 20 cm square tin.
2. Beat the butter with the sugar and vanilla until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt and fold into the batter alternating with the milk, in three additions, without overbeating.
4. Pour into the tin, smooth and bake for 30 minutes, until golden and a skewer comes out clean. Let cool, wrap in film and keep until the next day.
5. Cut the cold cake into 16 cubes of 5 cm. To fill, cut each cube in half horizontally, spread jam and whipped cream and close.
6. For the icing, sift the sugar and cocoa into a bowl, add the butter and hot milk and mix into a smooth, thin icing. If it thickens while you work, add a little hot milk.
7. Spread the coconut on a deep plate. With two forks, dip each cube in the icing, coating all sides, drain the excess and roll in the coconut.
8. Let set on a rack for 30 minutes before serving.

Tips and variations

• Same-day cake is too soft and falls apart in the icing: bake the day before or freeze the cubes for 1 hour before dipping.
• Icing too thick makes a shell; too thin soaks through. The right point is that of thin cream.
• Ready-made bakery sponge works for a quick version.
• Strawberry lamingtons: replace the cocoa with strawberry jam dissolved in hot water in the icing.
• Fine, dry desiccated coconut, not the moist sweetened kind, is the right one.
• They keep 3 days in a sealed container and freeze well.
• Cut with a wet serrated knife so the cubes come out clean.

Lamington is chocolate, coconut and sponge cake, the most Australian cake there is. Make a batch for tea and get ready for requests for seconds.