Australian recipe
How to make Lamingtons
Queensland, around 1900
Squares of sponge or butter cake dipped in thin chocolate icing and rolled in desiccated coconut. Some are cut in half and filled with jam and cream.
Ingredients
- 1 square sponge or butter cake, about 20 cm, baked a day ahead (home-made or bought)
- 500 g icing sugar
- 40 g cocoa powder
- 15 g butter
- 125 ml milk
- 250 g desiccated coconut
Method
- Trim the edges of the cake and cut it into 16 squares. A cake from the day before is firmer and easier to dip.
- Sift the icing sugar and cocoa into a heatproof bowl. Add the butter and milk and stir over a pan of simmering water until smooth and runny.
- Put the coconut in a shallow dish.
- Using two forks, dip each square of cake quickly into the chocolate icing, let the extra drip off, then roll it in the coconut.
- Put the lamingtons on a wire rack for about 1 hour until the icing sets.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
They are believed to be named after Lord Lamington, Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901. The most popular story says his French-born chef, Armand Galland, made them from leftover cake for unexpected guests.
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