Lamingtons
I love lamingtons.
I had my first bite of this delicious cube of cake when I was studying for my degree in Perth in the 1980s...now you know how old I am! Did not learn how to bake it until now.
What is a lamington?
Lamington is a small square of sponge cake coated all over in softish chocolate icing and then in dessicated coconut.
How the lamington cake came about?
A colleague [of the Staff Reporter writing the article] ... swear this really is how the lamington came about. At one stage when Baron Lamington was Queensland Governor (1896 - 1901), there was a large amount of stale cake in the Government House kitchen. In an attempt to make it palatable, the cake was dipped in chocolate and then tossed in desiccated coconut. The parliamentarians liked this "gateau" and ordered their cooks to obtain the recipe from the Government House cook.
(Extracted from www.anu.edu.au)
So, now you know what to do with your stale cakes !!!
Anyway, lamingtons are so popular with Aussies that the cake is a favourite mean of raising money and have spawned a new Aussie term - lamington drive.
I remembered I was part of this drive when accompanying my two girls in their summer school in Perth. We sell these at A$0.50 a piece in the school canteen during lunch break to help raise fund. I did not help to bake them as I did not know how to bake then
There are tons of recipes for these lovely cube cakes in the net, you can consult these recipes by doing a search on "Lamingtons". For this lamington of mine, I used my chiffon cake base as I do not like the texture of sponge or butter based cake. You do not need to cube the cake, you can serve it as a whole with the chocolate icing and dessicated coconut as the topping. Some friends asked me if they can do away with the dessicated coconut. I said, "YES" but it wouldn't be a "LAMINGTON" then!
As to the icing, chocolate still tops my list but you can do them in strawberry, pandan, lemon or even coffee flavours, so take your pick.
Labels: Cakes
posted by Florence @ 10:20 AM
9 Comments:
Florence, the lamington recipe I saw was from the lamington tray i bought a year ago. the inside is all chocolate, not a white sponge cake type. but hor, in case you don't know, I am allergic to chocolate cakes. yours so tempting..now hand also itchy.
Gina,
Allergic to chocolates!!! ＯＭＧ you miss out alot then.
Lamington - you can do it in other flavours. I always prefer the white sponge ones over the rest. I saw some dipping them in strawberry jam to get strawberry flavoured lamingtons.
I'm sure you will come up with something innovative, looking forward to your lamington then!
Hi Florence,
I just made the CNY pineapple tarts you posted a year ago.
Why is it that the tart pastry is very flaky, like shortbread. Though it's really nice and crumbly, but my family prefers a less crumbly one so that it won't break so easily.
My jam also turns hard after baking. Is it bcos i used store-bought jam?
Hehe sorry for asking about other recipes in the post. Don't know which channel to ask besides here..
Thanks!
Hi Florence,
Thanks to you, I have learned that Lamingtons are basically chiffon cake slices covered in melted chocolate and sprinkled with coconut. Will be making these soon. :)
Hi sunny_dreamzz,
In that case, you should cream butter and sugar together instead of doing the rubbing-in method for the dough.
Hope this is of help! :)
mycoffee,
I think the actual cake is a sponge cake instead of a chiffon. Since I like the texture of chiffon so I use chiffon cake base.
Hi Florence,
Ok i will try again! :)
By the way, I find that after a few days, the tarts taste and look nicer. The filling has soften and the tarts not as crumbly. Thanks! :)
I love lamingtons too from the 1st time I had it at Starbucks. It's a great mixture of soft and light cake inside with chocolate coating and dessicated coconut. Another quite an important reason why I like it a lot is, it's small in size that's helps me to control
Hi
Will u post this recipe up please?
TY!
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