Chocolate Lamingtons

To every Australian at home or abroad, Happy Australia Day! This is one holiday I really miss now that we are living in New Zealand, there was nothing better than everyone all going to the beach and celebrating this wonderful day. So I thought I would do some nostalgic baking, now I know these may not be the lamingtons that you know {normally double or triple in size and sometimes filled with cream} but for me this is what a lamington is, more slice like, with a thick rich coat of chocolate icing and so much coconut that you’d have to shake them before eating them! This is also the first time I have baked these by myself, I’ve only ever made lamingtons before with my Grandma, so I had a lot of fun making these messy treats. Happy Australia Day everyone! x
Click read more for the recipe.

Sponge Cake
1 1/4 cup plain flour
6 eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar
60g butter, melted
Preheat oven to 180°C. Sift the flour three time and set aside. Place the eggs and sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 8 to 10 minutes or until thick and pale and tripled in volume. Add the sifted flour over the egg and sugar mixture and gently fold through, then fold through the melted butter. Pour mixture into slice tin lined with baking paper, and bake for 15min or until the cake is springy to touch. Allow to cool before cutting and icing. Once cool cut into squares or rectangles.

Chocolate and Coconut Icing

3 cups icing sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup boiling water
75g butter, melted
Sift together icing sugar and cocoa powder and mix with boiling water and melted butter, stirring until smooth. Toss the sponge cake in the chocolate icing and then coat in desiccated coconut. Allow lamingtons to set on a wire rack, before putting in-between layers of baking paper and refrigerating.

Tips and tricks

I found that I had to keep adding boiling water to the icing to keep it runny so that it will soak into the sponge cake. It’s also much easier to lower the sponge cake into the icing with forks… this is a messy cake to make, but you’ll forget all about the mess you’ve made once you taste your delicious homemade lamingtons! xx