Name: Lamingtons
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: 16 servings
Cuisine: Australian
Ingredients: 4 eggs; 3/4 cup caster sugar; 1 cup self-raising flour; 2 tbsp cornflour; 2 tbsp butter, melted; 2 tbsp boiling water; 3 cups icing sugar; 1/2 cup cocoa powder; 1/2 cup full-fat milk; 2 tbsp butter, extra, melted; 2 cups desiccated coconut

Squares of sponge cake dipped in chocolate icing and rolled in desiccated coconut — a beloved Australian classic found at every school fête, morning tea, and Australia Day celebration.

The Cultural Story

The lamington's origin story is contested, as the best food origin stories always are. The most popular version credits Lady Lamington, wife of the Queensland Governor, whose cook allegedly improvised with day-old sponge cake, chocolate, and coconut to feed unexpected guests around 1900. Whether true or not, the dish carries her husband Lord Lamington's name — though he reportedly called them "those bloody poofy woolly biscuits." For Australians who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, the lamington is inseparable from the school fundraiser. Those cardboard boxes sold door-to-door, six lamingtons for a dollar, funded sporting equipment, school excursions, and library books for a generation. Some community groups still sell them today. The perfect lamington requires a firm, day-old sponge that holds its shape through the chocolate bath without disintegrating. The coconut should be fine and even, clinging in a soft crust. A thin layer of strawberry or raspberry jam in the middle is the premium version — the lamington that announces itself as the work of someone who genuinely cares.

Ingredients

4 eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup self-raising flour
2 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp boiling water
3 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup full-fat milk
2 tbsp butter, extra, melted
2 cups desiccated coconut

Instructions

1Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease and line a 20x30cm baking tin.
2Beat eggs and sugar with electric mixer for 8 minutes until thick, pale, and tripled in volume.
3Sift in flour and cornflour together, fold gently until just combined.
4Fold in melted butter and boiling water carefully. Pour into prepared tin.
5Bake 20–25 minutes until golden and springy to touch. Cool completely — overnight is ideal.
6Cut sponge into 16 equal squares.
7Make icing: whisk icing sugar, cocoa, milk and extra butter until smooth and pourable.
8Working quickly, dip each sponge square into chocolate icing, coating all sides with two forks.
9Roll immediately in desiccated coconut until fully and evenly covered.
10Place on a wire rack to set for at least 30 minutes before serving.

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