Lamingtons

Never heard of them? We tried our first lamington in Australia, where they are a iconic, beloved dessert of kids and adults alike. They're on every grocery store shelf and a favorite at school bake sales. Lamingtons are sponge cake surrounded by a soft chocolate glaze and rolled in coconut. Layers with jam or chocolate inside are optional. If you love coconut and chocolate, you'll love lamingtons!

Our lamington, which includes a layer of raspberry jam, is adapted from a recipe by David Lebovitz. It's a fairly simple recipe, but takes some patience, as the sponge cake doesn't include leavening (no baking powder), so you'll need to whip your eggs and sugar for a long time. You'll also need your stand mixer for this recipe - unless you have some pretty impressive arms for whisking. We also, of course, used our SideSwipe, but if you don't have one yet, use your whisk attachment, not your flat beater for this one. We deviated on some of the directions to make it easier on ourselves. Fell free to make as listed or according to our notes.

NOTE: This recipe requires unsweetened, shredded coconut for the coating. We found ours at Trader Joe's, but you might also find it at smaller, natural food type markets.

ingredients

For the spongecake:

• 6 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup (150g) sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/3 cups (175g) cake flour 
• 2-1/2 ounces (70g) melted unsalted butter at room temperature
• 9-inch square cake pan (23cm)

For the filling (optional):

• 2/3 cup prepared jam (we used raspberry)

For the chocolate icing:

• 4 ounces (113g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 ounce  (27g) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup (130ml) milk, whole or lowfat
• 1-1/3 cups (147g) powdered sugar
• 4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder, natural or Dutch-process (sifted if lumpy)
• 4 teaspoons boiling water
• 2 cups (134g) unsweetened shredded coconut

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instructions

1. To make the spongecake, butter a 9-inch (23 cm) square cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with SideSwipe or your whisk attachment, whip the eggs and granulated sugar and salt on high speed for five to ten minutes, until thick and the batter forms a well-defined ribbon that remains on top of the batter when you lift the whip. The mixture shown above is about halfway to where you need to get. Our finished mix was a paler yellow, was very light and fluffy and achieved about twice its original volume. We have it on a video, and will post the video here later (formatting issues).
3. Stir in the vanilla.
4. Fold the flour into the egg mixture by putting the flour in a sifter or mesh strainer and sifting the flour over the top of the beaten eggs. Mix the flour in on the lowest setting ONLY until wet. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and hand fold the remaining dry ingredients that you will likely find in the bottom of the bowl. Do this gently by hand - using the mixer to finish will reduce the air you waited so long to incorporate!
5. Again, by hand, fold in the melted butter until no streaks of butter are visible. If you're not sure, mix less. Overfolding will reduce your cake's height and make the texture heavy. 
6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
7. When cool, unmold the spongecake onto a cutting board and remove the parchment paper. Trim the ends and cut the cake in half horizontally using a serrated bread knife. You can cut the cake in half before doing so - or do what we did and cut into squares, then slice each square in half. 

1. Make the chocolate icing by melting together the chocolate, butter, and milk in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Remove the bowl from the pan of simmering water when smooth, then whisk in the powdered sugar and cocoa powder.
2. Spread a generous 1/2 cup (125 ml) of the chocolate icing over one layer of the spongecake, then top with the other half of the spongecake, sandwiching the two together with chocolate icing in the middle.
3. Cut the cakes into 9 or 16 squares and whisk two tablespoons of boiling water into the icing. Put the coconut into a shallow baking dish or bowl.
4. Use your hands to dip the Lamingtons into the chocolate, rolling them around to make sure each side is coated with the chocolate icing, then wipe off any excess on the side of the bowl. Place the Lamingtons in the vessel of coconut, tossing them around gently to get them coated on all sides.​

Once iced and tossed in coconut, place the Lamingtons on a wire cooling rack and let stand until the icing firms up a bit.

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