Lamingtons

Ingredients

• Flour250 g
• Sugar200 g
• Butter150 g
• Eggs4
• Milk120 ml
• Baking powder2 tsp
• Vanilla1 tsp
• Icing sugar400 g
• Cocoa powder50 g
• Hot milk150 ml
• Desiccated coconut250 g
• Salt1 pinch

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Beat the butter and sugar pale, add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla.

   12 min

2. 2

   Fold in the sifted flour with the baking powder and salt, alternating with the milk.

   8 min

3. 3

   Pour into a square tin and bake at 180 °C for twenty-eight minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.

   30 min

4. 4

   Cool it completely and leave the sponge uncovered overnight.

   20 min

5. 5

   Cut it into five-centimetre cubes.

   10 min

6. 6

   Whisk the icing sugar with the cocoa and hot milk to a thin icing that runs off a spoon in a stream.

   6 min

7. 7

   Dip each cube on two forks, let it drain and roll it in coconut. Leave them to set for an hour.

   30 min

About the dish

The sponge has to be yesterday's. Fresh sponge disintegrates in thin icing; a night's drying leaves it just firm enough to survive the dip.

The icing is made runny, almost like milk. Thick icing sits on top in a lump; the right consistency soaks a couple of millimetres in.

They are named after Lord Lamington, governor of Queensland in the 1890s. The common story has them invented in his kitchen when unexpected guests had to be fed on stale sponge.

Worth knowing

• — The icing cools and thickens. Keep the bowl over a pan of hot water, or the last cubes come out different from the first.
• — Work with two forks rather than your hands. Fingers crush sponge once it has softened.
• — Split and filled with jam and cream, they are still lamingtons, and Australians argue about which version is correct.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

420 kcal

Protein

5 g

Fat

20 g

Carbs

56 g

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