This July 21, Australians around the country will stop and pause to mark the coming of age of an Australian classic, the humble lamington.
The sweet treat has been delighting Australian tastebuds for more than 100 years, and now sees flavours like jaffa, lemon, raspberry and passionfruit as some of the most popular
The lamington was first made in 1900, for the wife of Queensland’s eighth governor, Lady May Lamington. Made by either the Lamingtons’ well- credentialed French patisserie chef, Armand Galland, or well-known Brisbane cookery teacher Amy Schauer, regarded as ‘the Nigella Lawson of her time’, the sponge cake was dipped in chocolate and liberally sprinkled with coconut. Lord and Lady Lamington were said to be so impressed by the cake, that it was regularly requested at Lamington House.
Other fun facts:
- The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade lists the lamington as an Australian icon (along with the meat pie and Vegemite), and former Queensland premier Anna Bligh has declared this special cake a Queensland icon
- The world record for the longest line of lamingtons was set in Adelaide in 2015, with 20,000 pieces of lamington snaking over 1,073 metres long. The former record was held in England with a lamington line that measured 885 metres.
- Susan Day makes so many lamingtons each year that if you laid them end to end, you’d make it from Melbourne to Sydney – that sounds like a delicious journey!
CLASSIC LAMINGTON RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
3 eggs
½ cup butter
½ cup castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup milk.
Beat the eggs well, gradually adding the sugar until dissolved. Add the milk and vanilla essence and then stir in the self-raising flour and whip the butter into the mixture. Pour the mixture into a cake tin or lamington baking dish and bake in a moderate oven of 180 degrees Celsius for 35 minutes.
Allow the cake to cool for at least 10 minutes and then stand for 24 hours preferably in the refrigerator, before applying the icing.
THE CHOCOLATE ICING
4 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup milk
4 tablespoons boiling water
3 cups desiccated coconut.
Stir the cocoa and icing sugar vigorously in a large bowl, adding the milk, butter and boiling water, warming the chocolate mixture over a very low heat until it has a smooth creamy texture.
Cut the sponge cake into equal squares about 5cm x 5cm and, using a fork or thin skewer, dip each piece into the chocolate mixture ensuring that the mixture is liberally and evenly applied. Dip each piece into the desiccated coconut, allowing the lamingtons to cool on a wire tray for several hours.
Vegan Lamingtons
Serves: 18
Prep: 15 minutes
Cooking: 25 minutes
Ingredients
- 140g Nuttelex, melted
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Good pinch of salt
- 300ml soy milk
- 2 cups and 2 Tbsp plain flour
- 4 tsp McKenzie’s Baking Powder
Filling & Coating
- 1/2 cup raspberry jam (for filling)
- 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
- 160ml Soy milk
- 4 tbs melted Nuttelex (or other vegan margarine)
- 1 tbs hot water
- 2 cups McKenzie’s Fine Desiccated Coconut (for rolling)
Method
Step 1: Preheat oven to 175C (160C fan-forced). Line a 23x23cm square tin with non-stick baking paper.
Step 2: In a bowl, combine melted Nuttelex, sugar, vanilla, salt and soy milk. Whisk to combine. Add flour and baking powder and whisk to form a smooth batter. Do not overmix!
Step 3: Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Step 4: Leave to cool in tin for 5 minutes and then turn out onto a rack and allow sponge to cool thoroughly.
Step 5: Once cooled, split the sponge into half evenly with a serrated knife. Spread raspberry jam onto one side of the sponge.
Step 6: Neatly place sponge layers back together (one on top of the other)
Step 7: Cut the sponge into 18 squares (5cm x 5cm) and set aside in the refrigerator for 15 minutes whilst making the chocolate coating.
Step 8: To prepare the chocolate coating, whisk all ingredients to combine well (mixture is quite thin).
Step 9: Dip each sponge square into icing mixture and immediately roll in coconut. Repeat with remaining sponge squares. Store lamingtons in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Vegan Lamingtons – McKenzie’s Foods (mckenziesfoods.com.au)
Try these Lamington recipes:
Pink Blackcurrant Cream Lamingtons – MamaMag
HEAVEN! White Christmas Lamingtons actually exist – MamaMag