Lamingtons
Australian sponge squares dipped in a thin chocolate icing and rolled in desiccated coconut until every side is coated.
Photo : Spacekadet at English Wikipedia · Public domain
- Prep
- 40 min
- Cook
- 25 min
- Total
- 65 min
- Serves
- 9
- Difficulty
- Medium
Method
- Beat the eggs and sugar with an electric whisk for 8 minutes, until the mixture triples and falls in a ribbon.
- Fold in the sifted flour and baking powder with a spatula, then the melted butter and vanilla.
- Pour into a lined 20 cm square tin and bake at 180 C for 25 minutes.
- Cool, then wrap the sponge and refrigerate it overnight. Cold day-old sponge soaks up less icing.
- Cut 9 squares. Mix the icing sugar, cocoa, butter and hot milk into a thin, pourable icing.
- Spear each square on two forks, dip it in the icing and let the excess run off.
- Roll straight into the coconut, then set on a wire rack for 2 hours until the icing firms.
The name points to Lord Lamington, governor of Queensland around 1900, whose cook is said to have rescued a dry sponge by dipping it in chocolate. Dryness is the whole technique: a fresh sponge falls apart in the icing, while yesterday’s holds on the fork.
