Lamingtons stir up a lot of memories for me. I remember in the 1980's down at the local soccer club, lined up in a production line making lamingtons for the club's fundraising drive. Someone responsible, normally mum or dad, cutting the lamingtons into 3" squares whilst us kids would be there waiting to dip them into that yummy and sticky chocolate sauce. The unlucky one always ended up with the tray of coconut. It would have to be the messiest job, but the most important! Without the coconut all you had was a sticky mess!
What I didn't know until now was that the humble Lamington was invented right here in Queensland. There is conjecture at the exact event where they first debuted however what is known is that they were made by the personal chef to Lord Lamington. Lord Lamington's chef, French-born Armand Galland was called upon at short notice to feed some unexpected guests. Using what he had available he cut up some French Vanilla Sponge Cake, dipped it in some chocolate sauce and rolled them in coconut. Coconut was not popular in European cuisine, however Armands wife was Tahitian where coconut was very popular.
The earliest known reference to the naming of the Lamington was in June 1927 which links the cake to Lord Lamington. Lord Lamington was the Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901, so one can assume that they have been a favourite for the past 122 years!
Some of us have a favourite recipe for the cake used in Lamingtons. That is too controversial to go into here :) For our lamingtons made this week we chose to use the Bakels All in One Sponge Cake Mix. This amazing cake mix has all the work done for you. All you need to do it add 660ml of water to 1kg of cake mix and you're done!
One handy hint when using the All in One Sponge Cake Mix, be aware it makes a LOT of cake. With 1kg of cake mix you will make an 8" round x 8" high cake! Always line your tin well to ensure you don't end up with a mess at the bottom of your oven.
Whilst square pans will work well, if you need to make a lot of lamingtons, we highly recommend grabbing yourself a high quality Fat Daddios Rectangular Cake Pan. These 3" high pans come in a variety of sizes from 7" x 11" all the way to 12" x 15". For our lamingtons baked them in a Fat Daddios 9" x 13" pan. With 1kg of cake mix we made a 3" high sponge cake.
Cutting the cakeHow large you make your Lamingtons is completely up to you. If you are feeling lazy or you are after larger lamingtons for desert, cut them around 3" square. If you are after them for a snack or for the kids lunch boxes you can cut them much smaller. Just remember, you need to roll each one in chocolate and coconut which can be a tedious job!
Make sure your cake has cooled before completing this step. Fresh sponge cake is extremely soft and damages easily.
Once again, we want to make this job as easy as possible. We chose to use Bakels pre-made chocolate ganache. Bakels Ganache is a pre made chocolate ganache that is available in 1kg bags and 12.5kg tubs. One handy trait of Bakels ganache is that once it is melted it takes quite some time to go back to being solid. Generally some refrigeration is required when using it on a cake to help it solidify.
Add some chocolate ganache to a bowl and microwave it for a short burst to melt it to a runny consistency.
There is no easy way to do this bit and stay clean. Bryony tried and succeeded somewhat! My preferred method is to dip them in by hand, roll the sponge cake through the melted chocolate ganache and drop them into the coconut bowl. You can use a fork to hold the sponge cake as this is as effective and not as slippery and messy. Using the fork ensures your hands stay as clean as possible.
Using a Loyal Angled Spatula, scrape the excess chocolate ganache off the sponge cake prior to placing it into the coconut.
Ensure you scrape off the excess chocolate for two reasons. This ensures you don't end up with a sticky blob of lamington and will keep your coconut tray much cleaner.
Once you have dipped the sponge cake into the chocolate ganache and scraped the excess chocolate off the cake, they are ready for the coconut step. For smaller pieces, a small bowl will suffice however if you are making larger 3" square lamingtons a baking tray or dish is ideal for the coconut step.
You can either roll or place the sponge cake into the coconut. Using a fork or spoon pour coconut over the sections of the cake that hasn't been covered in coconut.
Place them on your serving dish or container to dry.
There is no rule on how to finish off your lamingtons. Our lamingtons were simple, cubed and covered in chocolate and coconut. You could fill them with fresh cream and jam, fill them with leftover ganache or a thin layer of jam. The choice is yours!
