Lord Lamington's Anglo-Aussie Sponge

by Emma B

On the train the other day, I overheard two Australian women having a conversation about baking. Two complete strangers had met on the train and had a chat the whole way from Frankston to Flinders Street Station.

I love Australia for many reasons, this openness being one of them.

I have to admit I tuned in and listened, in and out, and their conversation meandered from discovering they were both passionate bakers to discussing baking secrets.

‘The secret with a Lamington is to freeze it. Then you can cut it into squares without the sponge falling apart.' 

There's an idea! As I had a triple birthday coming up, I mulled over this thought and decided to bake a Lamington.

Lord Lamington Source: QUT, Brisbane

Lord Lamington was English, would you ever have guessed it, and became Governer of Queensland 1896.

Stories about the invention of the coconut covered cake vary, but in most versions Lord Lamington's chef created the cake either by accident, dropping a sponge cake in a bowl of chocolate or, invented it on the run, when confronted with unexpected guest. The Lamington was his rabbit out of a hat.

Lord Lamington himself, however, never became a fan and reportedly called them ‘those bloody, poofy, woolly biscuits’.

For my Lamington, I used Donna Hay's sponge recipe and poured the batter into a greased and lined rectangular 30x19cm Lamington tin and baked it in the oven at 180 for 30 minutes.

I cut the sponge in two, spread strawberry jam in a thin layer across one half and placed the other half on top.

I wrapped the cake in glad wrap and popped it in the freezer overnight (a couple of hours would be enough if you are in a rush).

When you are ready remove the cake from the freezer and unwrap.

Cut the cake carefully into even cubes and set aside while you make the icing.

Icing

3 cups icing sugar 

¾ cup cocoa powder 

⅓ cup boiling water 

75g butter, melted 

desiccated coconut to coat

Sift together the icing sugar and cocoa. Mix with the boiling water and melted butter. 

Set up your cut sponge cakes, bowl of icing, bowl of coconut and cooling rack in a row (production line style). Using forks, to minimise the amount of finger licking required, coat the sponge squares in icing on each side then hold aloft to drain off the excess.

Drop the chocolate covered cake square into the bowl of coconut and again using forks turn to coat each side.

Enjoy with a steaming cup of Australian Afternoon Tea for a true Aussie experience!