When I worked in an Aussie run cafe over the summer baking all their lovely cakes and biscuits I became sick to the back teeth of Anzacs - rolling 100's of syrup'y balls at 6am will do that to you, so I decided to make some Lamingtons to celebrate. Any excuse for cake. And I had been meaning to make them for ages - I badgered the owners of the cafe to let me make them but they said they were 'boring'. I notice now they have an Aussie baking person they're making them..tsk.
There are several accounts of where the name Lamington comes from but most agree it was named after Lord Lamington, who served as Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901. Ironically he is said to have hated the cake named in his honour and called them 'poofy woolly biscuits'. See I wasn't just being offensive with the title.
These are pretty simple to make. Bake a quite basic vanilla sponge. I used Dan Lepard's recipe, adding more vanilla, from his wonderful book Short & Sweet, which was turned out ok, except the cooking time was about 5 minutes less than stated. Then you section the cake, split each section in half and slather on some jam. Then it gets messy - the cakes are dunked into a chocolate/cocoa coating, then covered in coconut. I suggest being near a sink when doing this - I made a proper mess.
They're not really much to look at but they do taste good. Next time I may use a coconut sponge instead to give it a bit more ooomph.
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3 comments:
"Not much to look at"? I think they look divine. I made them a few months ago but I think the jam in the centre of yours looks so pretty. I agree with you that it gets quite messy but totally worth it!
I've always wanted to try Lamingtons - to me it's a perfect combination of flavours and I love your idea of coconut sponge
Definately worth making a mess for, these tasted superb :) I hope I dont have to wait til Australia day next year before you make more!!
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