There is no cake more Australian than Lamingtons! A moist butter sponge dipped in chocolate then coated with coconut, this is The Cake sold at every suburban bakery and weekend fundraisers.
You’ll get coconut everywhere making them and eating them. But that’s all part of the Aussie experience. It’s how we do it Down Under! 🇦🇺
Lamingtons – an Australian classic!
A soft buttery sponge cake coated all over with chocolate icing and coconut.
Even if you’ve never heard of these before, you just know it’s going to be good. We Aussies know great tucker – and this is as Aussie as it gets!! (OK, OK, maybe as Aussie as Pavs, Anzac Biscuits, Sausage Rolls, Party Pies, weekend sausage sizzles and Sunday Roast Lamb😇)
How to make Lamingtons
On the face of it, it sounds simple enough:
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make a buttery vanilla sponge cake
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cut into squares, dip into chocolate icing, coat with coconut
The one little extra step I add that is going to make your Lamington making life a total breeze is to mostly freeze the cake before rolling in icing. A firm, semi frozen piece of cake is much easier to handle when coating in icing and rolling in coconut. Try doing it with fresh sponge, and you’ll be battling crumbling cake as you try to coat it. Been there, done that, multiple times!
The cake will thaw as the icing sets and the cake is as fresh as it was straight out of the oven.
Here’s a bit more background to explain why I freeze the cake before coating – to make sure I fully convince you so you don’t skip that step!
Why I Freeze The Cake before coating
Lamingtons are one of those cakes that recipes say are easy to make, but most are just downright lying to you. The first few times I made them involved screeches of frustration and serious foot stomping.😤 I emerged on the other side looking like I’d been in a mud-wrestle with a plate of something that barely resembled the neat squares you see in this post.
The challenge is this: The sponge has to be tender and moist enough to eat plain, but trying to roll such a delicate cake in icing is a disaster. The cake crumbles into the icing, making it thicker and impossible to work with.
And once the crumbling begins, imagine the mess when you try to roll it in coconut.
The solution offered by traditional recipes is to leave the cake out overnight, essentially letting the outside become a bit stale so it’s easier to handle. This works pretty well – but the cake is a bit drier than ideal.
The 21st century solution:
FREEZE THE CAKE.
It’s even easier to handle for coating, and the bonus is that the cake stays fresh and moist – no need to leave it out to dry out!
This will change your Lamington Life forever.
Butter Sponge Cake for Lamingtons
The sponge cake for Lamingtons is a terrific recipe that I use as a base for other recipes (strangely, none that I’ve shared here – yet). Simply made with pantry staples, it’s soft and buttery, and not too sweet which is what we want because we get extra sweetness from the chocolate icing.
The big debate:
Do Lamingtons have jam and cream?
Classic Lamingtons made the traditional old-school way do not have jam or cream sandwiched in the middle. But you’ll come across many Aussies who won’t have Lamingtons any other way (some RecipeTin family members included).
My view – Lamingtons should stand as a great cake without any filling. Jam and cream is optional – it should make it over the top good!
If you’re a Lamington fan, I think you’ll approve of this recipe! The butter cake is moist, tender and buttery. The chocolate coating is thick enough so you get a great hit of chocolate, but thin enough so it soaks into the sponge, a sticky enough to glue on plenty of coconut.
The added bonus is that using the little trick to freeze the cakes before coating, they are neat and tidy so they look as great as they taste! – Nagi x
PS It will be messy making these. And that’s totally ok. Because it’s part of the great Aussie tradition that you get coconut “everywhere” when you’re making them and eating them!
PPS When better to make Lamingtons than for Australia Day??
Lamingtons
Watch how to make it
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Lamingtons
Ingredients
Butter Sponge
- 125 g / 4.5 oz unsalted butter , softened
- 1 cup (220g) caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs , room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups (260g) flour , plain/all purpose, sifted (Note 1)
- 3.5 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) milk (low or full fat)
Icing
- 4 cups (480g) icing sugar (confectionary sugar), sifted
- 1/3 cup (22g) cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp (15g) unsalted butter
- 150ml (1/2 cup + 2 tbsp) boiling water
Coating
- 3 - 4 cups desiccated coconut
Optional: Jam and Cream
- Strawberry jam
- 1 cup (250 ml) cream
- 1 tbsp white sugar
Instructions
Butter Sponge
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (or fan forced 160C/320F).
- Sift flour and baking powder together.
- Grease a 20 cm x 30 cm / 8" x 12" cake pan. Line with baking paper (parchment paper), leaving an overhang on all sides (to make it easy to remove).
- Beat butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium high speed until light and fluffy - about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
- Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition so the batter is smooth, not curdled.
- Add half the flour and gently fold to combine, then stir in half the milk. Repeat with remaining flour and milk.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Stand for 5 minutes then use the overhang baking paper to lift the cake out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
Prepare Cake to Coat
- Cut cake into 15 squares (5 x 3), or 18 rectangles. Freeze for 1 to 1.5 hours. (Note 2)
Icing
- Combine the Icing ingredients in a heat proof bowl and mix until smooth. Should be a syrup consistency, but not watery. (Note 2)
Coating
- Place coconut in a shallow bowl or pan with a largish surface area (Note 3).
- Place a piece of cake in the icing and roll to coat using 2 forks. Transfer it into the coconut and quickly roll to coat all over in coconut. Transfer to tray.
- Repeat with remaining sponges.
- Stand for 1 to 2 hours, or until set. Then serve with tea and coffee!
Optional: Jam and Cream
- Beat cream and sugar until firm peaks form.
- Cut coated Lamington in half horizontally. Spread with jam then pipe or dollop on cream. Top with lid, keep refrigerated.
Recipe Notes:
No cream: Store in airtight container for 3 to 4 days, or freeze for 2 - 3 months then thaw before serving.
Cream: Store in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. 5. Nutrition per serving.
Barely adapted from this recipe from taste.com.au. Ingredients the same, the main thing I changed is the process (especially the coating process, to make it easier!)Nutrition Information:
Originally published 2014. Post refreshed with better photos, recipe video and process steps added. No change to recipe!
More Aussie Tucker favourites
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Pavlova – Meringue cake with marshmallow centre topped with cream and berries
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Sausage Rolls – Juicy pork filling encased in puff pastry. We think ours rivals Bourke St Bakery!
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Party Pies – Mini pies filled with slow cooked beef
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Scones – One of the best things the English brought to our shores!
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Caramel Slice – chocolate, caramel and shortbread. Home run!
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Sunday Roast Lamb with Gravy – also try this amazing Slow Roasted Leg of Lamb!
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Big bucket of fresh cooked prawns with dipping sauces – a summer favourite!
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Browse the Australia Day recipes collection!
Life of Dozer
You think it’s hard making recipe videos? Trying make them with THIS in your line of sight….
Here in Sweden we have a similar cake called mocha squares or “love yummies”. It is chocolate-flavoured sponge cake covered in pretty much the same chocolate sauce you use only with strong coffee instead of the water and then sprinkled with the coconut. We don’t dip the whole cake in the sauce though, but spread it on top of the sponge, add the coconut and then cut in to squares.
Seems that Australia and South Africa have many favourites in common. It most likely stems from both being British colonies. In SA, the cake is dipped long enough for the chocolate syrup to be drawn into the square about a quater of the square’s depth or the Lamington will be viewed as too dry (the baker was stingy with the syrup). Nice the see variations of the same food in different countries.
Lovely recipe the cake tastes yum! Is the cake meant to spongey? Mine had a crumbly texture, as if I’ve put some desiccated coconut in. Also, how do you make the icing less sweet? Is it as easy as putting less icing sugar in and reduce the water?
Hi Nagi, How would I modify the recipe if I used a 9″ x 13″ cake tin?
Thank you! This is my go-to recipe every time I want to make lamingtons. I am an Aussie living in the USA and it’s nice to make an Aussie classic recipe to share with friends. I double the recipe and divide into two rectangle cake pans. I also use dark cocoa powder and substitute the boiling water in the icing, for milk. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe 🥰
Fantastic recipe – such a crowd pleaser and very low effort. These are sweet enough on their own without cream or jam.
Hi Nagi girl, I comment again in your content because I want to thank you for your easy and quick recipe. Just continue your passion in cooking.
This was my very first attempt at making Lamingtons.
All worked very well and I managed to coat them without big mess. The cake was not done yet at 25 minutes, so left it in for another 10 minutes, until it looked golden (my cake pan was a bit smaller than 20cm x 30cm). I rotated the pan after 25 minutes to ensure the whole top would look golden with it then did.
Thank you. Great recipe!
Non-Aussie here and Aussie husband totally approved of these!!!
Question:
My sponge unfortunately collapsed in the middle while cooling off on the wire rack. Any idea on how to prevent this?
The middle slices became extra sweet then… too little sponge for the sweet chocolate sauce. Many thanks!
This is easily the best lamington I ever taste. Thank you Nagi for this recipe you never disappointment.
Hi Nagi Just saw this recipe and am going to definitely give this one a try. My old Mum used to make beautiful lammos when I was a kid in the 60s and 70s. And she always froze the cake before she glazed. She was really ahead of her time!!!
From UK but lived in Australia as a child (4yrs-10yrs). Remembered lamingtons fondly. Fantastic recipe, transported me back over 40 years to happy childhood days. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
So I made these for my mum’s b’day and she LOVED them! You should have heard the noise she made when we revealed them as her b’day “cake”! Surprise, shock, excitement and nostalgia all in one little sound haha.
I’ve never really liked lammingtons, didn’t love the cake or the coconut or the fake chocolate, but I had also never had homemade ones… and my mum hasn’t had homemade ones since her grandma made them for her when she was a kid!
This recipe was exactly how she remembered them! Tho her grandma used melted chocolate as the coating, my mum couldn’t tell the difference 😉 and I actually LOVED them! Not suprising since store bought can never beat homemade!!
We’ve been sharing them daily for the last week haha and they held up pretty nicely, almost 5 days strong!
Thanks again for this little nostalgia trip… next is Pikelets & jam for mothers day!!!
You are a good daughter Samantha! Thanks for letting me know how it all turned out! They are such an Aussie icon dish! N x
Totally smitten with this recipe. So easy and love the frozen cake tip. Mine are perfectly tender crumb and taste terrific.
Thanks Heather!! I appreciate the comment!! N x
Made today very pleased with the result, thank you for the recipe!
it’s a very good receipe, my kids LOVE IT. Thanks
Hi Nagi,
I made this recipe on the weekend with my kids and they loved it! We have been reading possum magic and they were keen to make lamingtons. They turned out so well that the youngest is insisting on having them at her birthday party on the weekend.
I was wondering if I could make the sponge ahead of time and freeze it to keep it fresh, maybe wrapped in layers of foil and gladwrap? Or if not, how long do you think the lamingtons would keep for? I’m keen to prepare as much as possible in advance.
Hi Kate – you can store the tightly wrapped sponge in the freezer until you are ready to ice it or you can freeze the finished lamingons as per the notes for storage under the recipe! N x
Hi Nagi – another one of your recipes which I just have to comment on (I use too many of your recipes to always do this!). While this dessert is a bit of work, it is so totally worth it! Even a few days later, the cake is tender and moist. I added the cream & jam to some of them and that took them to another level. My husband, who normally dislikes cakes (weird, I know!), complimented the Lamingtons. This recipe is definitely a keeper and one I will pull out again for guests.
Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe. Grew up eating this back home. Now residing in the states and my kids are in love with lamingtons, thanks to this recipe, which has now become one of our favorites treats as a family.
I made this today and this is the most softest and yummy vanilla sponge… I filled it with my homemade strawberry jam and it’s delicious… Not a fan of the chocolate sauce I could just eat the vanilla sponge filled with jam
OMG. I have been making lamingtons for 52 years (in USA). The trick of freezing the cut up cake is wonderful. It made making the lamingtons so easy. THANK YOU
Hi Nagi!!!!
Hope you’re looking forward to a nice Australia Day off.
I’m just making some treats for Australia day (vanilla slice, your chicken pot pies but made into mini hand pies and lamingtons) and realised I only have icing sugar mixture for these lamingtons. Not plain icing sugar. Will this be ok?
Thanks so much
Jules ☺️
Oh I just saw you’ve already answered this below!! Thanks for having the answer up – icing sugar mixture is fine.
Thanks again xx