Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Great balance of flavors; mellow sweetness from the cake, tartness from the jam, richness from the chocolate, and an exotic sweetness from the coconut.
Texture: Gets better the longer the lamingtons sit after being coated and the coconut adds a nice crunch.
Ease: Although there are quite a few steps involved they are all simple.
Appearance: Square and cute, especially if you can see the thin layer of red strawberry jam once bitten into.
Expense: I didn’t need to buy a single ingredient for this recipe, everything was in my pantry or fridge.
Pros: Like I said with texture, the longer these sit after being coated the better they taste. Also, if you are crammed for time you can make these with store bought cake or a box mix. I prefer homemade, though.
Cons: The process of spreading the jam, cutting into squares, dipping in chocolate, rolling in coconut, and letting dry can be painstaking (but so worth it).
Would I make this again? Yes 🙂
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Lamingtons are chocolaty, rich, sweet, tart, and have an exotic sweetness!
Happy belated Australia Day! I made Lamingtons for my mom (or should I say mum?) for Australia Day a few days ago and then I forgot to post about them. Whoops. In case you were wondering, my mom immigrated to Australia from Scotland when she was a little girl and then when I was a little girl my family moved from California to Australia. And know I live in Arizona. How did that happen?
Anyways, one of my memories from living in Australia has always been munching on lamingtons. They’re these sweet little squares of cake, sometimes with jam sandwiched in between, covered in chocolate then rolled in dessicated coconut. What is there not to love? Unfortunately dessicated coconut is nearly impossible to get in the U.S., especially in Arizona. So when I got my hands on a bag of the stuff thanks to a visiting Aussie, I pounced on the chance to make one of my favorite Australia treats.
Although there was a recipe printed on the back of the dessicated coconut bag, I ended up using Martha Stewart’s recipe for lamingtons because I didn’t feel like converting the measurements.
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Lamingtons
Ingredients
Lamingtons
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
- 2 2/3 cups cake flour , (not self-rising), plus more for pans
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 2/3 cup strawberry jam
- 1 pound shredded sweetened coconut (I used the traditional dessicated coconut)
- Chocolate Icing (see recipe below)
Chocolate Icing
- 1 cup milk
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 8 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1 cup cocoa powder, sifted
Instructions
Lamingtons
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter two 9-by-13-inch baking pans; line bottoms with parchment; butter parchment. Dust with flour; tap out excess; set pans aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time; beat until incorporated.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; add to egg mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
- Divide batter between prepared pans. Place in oven; bake until a cake tester inserted into middles comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool slightly on wire racks; remove from pans. Turn out cakes onto racks; cool completely.
- Spread one of the cooled cakes with the jam; place other cake on top. Using a serrated knife, trim edges of sandwiched cakes; cut into 24 two-inch squares.
- Place the coconut in a medium bowl; set aside. Place the bowl of chocolate icing over a saucepan filled with 2 inches of gently simmering water. Place a jam-filled cake square in the bowl of chocolate icing; using forks to turn the square, coat all sides.
- Allow excess icing to drip off; transfer square to bowl of coconut (left bottom). Using clean forks to turn square, coat it with coconut. Transfer coated square to wire rack to stand until coating has set, about 15 minutes. Continue until all squares have been coated.
Chocolate Icing
- Place the milk and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, and heat until butter is melted. Transfer to a medium heat-proof bowl; add the vanilla extract, confectioners’ sugar, and cocoa powder. Stir until combined.
It really is a delicious dessert. However, I couldn’t make the cake as delicious as I expected.
Just found your blog. Great recipe, thought you might like this one with Nutella that I saw a while back.http://maplencornbread.blogspot.com/2010/01/nutella-lamingtons-blog-love.html
Amanda- Thank you so much!!
Andrew- Hahaha thanks brotha
Masa- Oh that's good to know!! Thank you.
Lauryn- Well I mostly grew up in Arizona but spent about a year in Australia when I was 5-6. Thank you 🙂
Jane- Thank you so much!!
You have some great recipes and photos here! Glad I found your blog!
I did not know that you grew up in Australia! I have always wanted to go visit!! So cool!! Your photos are gorgeous!! YUM!
looks great. i gotta try it. btw, you can get dessicated coconut thru amazon 🙂
now guess what i'm making LOL
cheers
masa
wow tessa this looks good
love brother
ooohhhhhhh… I saw these on foodgawker… your photography is perfection!
Great job!
Blessings-
Amadna