Lamington cake, a soft cake rolled in chocolate and coconut flakes, is as simple to make as it is delicious. With a minimum of effort and using simple everyday ingredients you can prepare an absolutely delicious dessert.
The recipe belongs to Australian cuisine, the cake being named after Lord Lamington, governor of the state of Queensland between 1896 and 1901. He is said to have asked the French chef Armand Galland to quickly prepare a dessert because visiting guests were announced. Searching the kitchen for ingredients, the cook found a previously prepared vanilla sponge cake, a few pieces of chocolate and coconut.
That’s when he came up with the idea to portion the sponge cake into cubes, glaze the cubes with melted chocolate and roll them on all sides in coconut. The cake was a great success and was requested to be prepared for other events.
If you haven’t tried the recipe yet, below is the list of ingredients and steps to try it out for yourself.
Ingredients
The cake consists of a simple base prepared with honey, rolled in chocolate glaze and coconut flakes decoration. It divides the ingredient list according to these elements.
For the cake base, baked in a 21/25 cm tray:
- 6 eggs
- 150 g sugar
- 150 ml milk
- 150 g fat butter
- 100 g bee honey
- 450 g flour
- 10 g baking powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- A pinch of salt
For the chocolate sauce:
- 200 g sugar
- 400 ml milk
- 200 g fat butter
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon rum essence
- 100 g coconut flakes
Preparation
The first step consists in preparing the base of the cake, which requires a short time of mixing the ingredients, then baking. While the base is cooling after baking, you can prepare the chocolate sauce.
How to prepare the base for Lamington cake
Gather all the ingredients on the work table and turn on the oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
Take a large bowl and sieve the flour directly into it. Add the baking powder and mix the two ingredients well.
Crack the eggs into another bowl and add a pinch of salt and sugar. Mix the eggs well, until they lighten in color and gain volume, and the sugar crystals melt completely.
Put the butter in a frying pan on the stove, melt and let it cool slightly. Then add the honey and mix with the warm butter. Add the milk and vanilla extract, homogenize the mixture and gradually pour it over the egg mixture, mixing vigorously to homogenize. At the end, gradually add the flour mixture.
Spread the cake batter in a tray lined with baking paper.
Bake the cake for 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Let it cool in the pan, then turn it out onto a work surface and cut into cubes.
How to make chocolate frosting for Lamington cake
Sieve the cocoa powder into a saucepan and add the sugar and milk over it. Mix well and place the saucepan on the stove. Simmer the mixture until you obtain a slightly runny sauce.
Cut the butter into cubes and add to the hot sauce. Stir vigorously until the butter is melted and the sauce becomes thick.
Turn off the heat, allow the chocolate sauce to temper for 2-3 minutes and add the rum essence.
Allow the chocolate sauce to cool thoroughly, then roll the cake cubes through the sauce using skewers.
Roll them immediately in coconut.
Place the cubes on a wire rack until the frosting hardens, then transfer them to platters and serve.