Lamington Cake

The Lamingtons are Australian cake squares dipped in chocolate icing and covered with desiccated coconut. Some history about this delicious bite size cakes:

 The Lamington, Australia's famed dessert, was actually invented in New Zealand and originally named a “Wellington". It is also believed that Lamington was named after Lord Lamington who served as governor of Queensland between 1896-1901. I heard about this from my sister who lived in Australia for sometime. I wanted to make something special for our 25th anniversary (December), and made these delicious spongy,moist cake bites. I adapted the recipe from whereismyspoon.com.

Ingredients:

2 Cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 Cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 Cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 Cup milk

For Chocolate Icing:

3 1/4 Cup icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)

2/3 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/3 Cup unsalted butter

1 Cup milk

2 Cups unsweetened desiccated coconut

Method to make Sponge Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease an 8 inch square baking dish.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of mixer beat the soft butter on medium speed until creamy.

                                                         

4. Add sugar and beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy.

                                            

5. Add one egg, beat well to incorporate, then add the second egg and the vanilla extract to incorporate as well.

                                             

6. Set the mixer at the lowest speed. Alternatively add the flour and milk, starting and finishing with the flour. Beat the mixture, just until smooth. Do not over beat.

                                                            

7. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Let it cool completely.

                                  

8. When it is completely cool, wrap it with a cling wrap and refrigerate over night. This is will help the cake to be more stable.

Method to make Chocolate Icing:

1. Sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder. Set aside.

2. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add milk. 

                                   

3. Mix and start adding dry mixture while whisking the whole time. Add about 1 cup at a time. Continue to whisk until everything is well incorporated, without any lumps.

                                       

Icing the Lamingtons:

1. Take about half of the chocolate icing in a bowl. This way you can dip half of the cake squares in the bowl and when it gets too crumbly, you can use fresh chocolate sauce for the remaining cake squares.

2. Take 1/3 of desiccated coconut in a plate, so when the coconut gets clumpy you can discard it and add fresh coconut to the plate.

                                                      

3. Using a sharp knife cut the cake to make even bite size squares. Remove any crumbles.

                                                       

4. Dip the cake squares in chocolate sauce and coat them in coconut one at a time. 

                                        

Work carefully (the cakes are delicate), but quickly. Turn the lamingtons into the sauce with the help of two forks or toothpick. Let the excess chocolate to drain a little before you drop the cake piece into the coconut. Roll the lamington in the coconut with the forks. Transfer it to the wire rack and continue with the next lamington.

                                          

5. Refrigerate the lamingtons until set. Serve them at room temperature.

                                  

Note: 

You can warm the chocolate sauce if it gets thick.