Lamingtons

Lamingtons originated from Australia and somehow never made it to our shores yet! I am sure not a lot of people in the United States ever heard of Lamingtons. I have never seen them in bakeries store nor have I ever seen anybody serving Lamingtons for desserts! I only discovered Lamingtons while browsing through a food magazine and I also have a few books on Lamingtons and they do look interesting to me.
Lamingtons are very popular in Australia and consist of a small square (cube) of sponge cake that is covered in a sweet chocolate icing and then rolled in desiccated coconut..

I read that Lamingtons are sold in most Australian bakeries and sell very quickly at bake sales so I thought if they are popular in Australia they are probably very good so I decided to make a batch to test it out. They turned out to be delicious little morsels.

Moist sponge cake filled with chocolate icing, and then coated with desiccated coconut is the perfect bite that is perfect with a nice cup of coffee.

For the sponge cake

6 large eggs at room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups cake flour

2 1/3 ounces melted unsalted butter at room temperature

For the chocolate icing

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate

1 1/2 ounces unsalted butter

3/4 cup whole milk

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 to 3 cups unsweetened desiccated coconut

Make the sponge cake first. Put the egg, salt, and sugar in a stand mixer.

On high speed whip the egg/sugar mixture for about 5 to 8 minutes until thick and the batter form a well defined ribbon that remains on top of the batter when you lift the whip. Stir in the vanilla

Put the flower on a sifter and sift the flour over.

whisk in the flour very briefly just so that it is incorporated.

Add the melted butter into the batter.

use a spatula to mix it all together or until the well combined.

Line the bottom of an 9 inch square cake pan with parchment paper and scrape the batter into the pan.

Preheat oven at 350 degrees and bake for about 30 minutes or until the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Freshly out of the oven. Let it cool down and un-mold the cake.

Trim the ends and cut the cake in half horizontally using a serrated knife. Then cut the cake into 4 long strips and then cut eat strips into 4 squares. Set aside until the chocolate icing is ready.

Melt the chocolate, butter, and milk in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth.

Remove the bowl from the pan of simmering water and add the powder sugar and cocoa powder. Mix it well together and let it cool down to room temperature (about 15/20 minutes)

Spread a generous spoon of chocolate over one layer of the sponge cake.

Here I added a bit of shredded coconut in the center but I after testing it I think it is better not to use it in the center just the chocolate icing suffice.

Then top with the other half of the sponge cake, sandwiching the two together and pour the chocolate icing all over the cakes.

It takes a little time to cover the cakes with the chocolate icing. Just make sure to put a pan underneath to catch the chocolate icing drips.

Sprinkle the dry coconut all over the cakes.

If you are eating it right away, refrigerate and bring it back to room temperature before serving.