Cooking With Judy Doherty

Lamingtons

“ This Australian culinary icon, which consists of sponge cake dipped in chocolate and liberally sprinkled with fine desiccated coconut, is believed to have been created through an accident at work by a maid-servant to Lord Lamington, the thoroughly-British eighth Governor of Queensland. The maid-servant was working at Government House in Brisbane when she accidentally dropped the Governor's favourite sponge cake into some melted chocolate. Lord Lamington was not a person of wasteful habits and suggested that it be dipped in coconut to cover the chocolate to avoid messy fingers. Lord Lamington devoured this new taste sensation with great delight and the maid-servant's error was proclaimed a magnificent success by all!”


Ingredients

Melted butter, to grease
½ cup self-raising flour
½ cup plain flour
½ cup cornflour
6 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup caster sugar
2 cups desiccated coconut

Chocolate Icing
2 cups icing sugar mixture
1/3 cup cocoa powder
¼ cup milk
¼ cup boiling water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 160ºC. Brush a 19 x 29cm (base measurement) lamington pan with melted butter to lightly grease. Line the base & sides with non-stick baking paper, allowing it to overhang slightly.

Sift the combined flours together into a large bowl. Repeat twice.
Use an electric beater to whisk the eggs in a large clean, dry bowl until thick and pale. Gradually add the sugar, 1 tbs at a time, whisking well after each addition until mixture is thick and sugar dissolves.

Sift the combined flours over the egg mixture. Pour the boiling water down the side of the bowl. Use a large metal spoon to gently fold until just combined. Pour mixture into the prepared pan and use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn cake onto a wire rack, cover with a clean tea towel and set aside overnight to cool.

Trim the edges of the cake and cut into 15 squares. Spread the coconut over a plate.
To make the chocolate icing, sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder into a medium bowl. Add the milk and water and stir until smooth.

Use 2 forks to dip 1 cake square into the warm icing to evenly coat. Allow any excess icing to drip off. Use your fingers to roll the cake in the coconut to evenly coat, then place on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining cake squares, icing and coconut. Set aside for 1 hour or until icing sets.