Delicacy gets its own day
WHAT’S sweet, covered in coconut and a Queensland icon?
The lamington will celebrate 118 years of being on the tables of Australian morning and afternoon teas on National Lamington Day this Saturday.
Since its humble beginnings in 1900, recipes have been passed down from generation to generation – and with a bit of experimenting the tasty cake now sees a variety flavours such as jaffa, lemon, raspberry and passionfruit.
Natalie Gambuti a former station cook from Western Australia had fond memories of the delicacy growing up.
“My grandmother was a very good cook and she passed her recipes down to my mum and down to me,” she said.
“I’m one of nine children so I remember when we made them it was a bit of a production line, one would cut, the other would dip and then the other roll.”
She said although she doesn’t make them as often now, her choc-dipped cakes are still quite popular.
“A friend of mine from England always puts an order in when we catch up,” she said.
Ms Gambuti said she double dips her cuts of sponge and adds chocolate to the dipping sauce.
“I did a bit of experimenting because I got people asking me to make them more chocolatey and it worked,” she said.
“The best thing to do is to let them sit for a bit before rolling them in the coconut, it helps it stick a bit better and reduces mess.”
She said the most important thing for the treat is cake you cook.
“The lighter the cake is the crumblier the lamington will be,” she said.
“So if you bake a heavier sponge it won’t be as crumbly.”
She said the coconut-covered sweet is best served with a cup of tea.
“I like them after they’ve just been rolled,” she said.
RECIPE CAKE
❚ 125 grams butter or margarine ❚ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ❚ 1/4 cup caster sugar ❚ 2 eggs ❚ 2 cups self-raising flour ❚ 1/2 cup milk
ICING
❚ 5 grams butter
❚ 1/2 cup boiling water
❚ 3 cups icing sugar
❚ 1/2 cup cocoa
❚ 2 drops vanilla essence
❚ Coconut to roll
CAKE METHOD
❚ Preheat oven to 180 degrees
❚ Cream butter and vanilla, add sugar until light and fluffy
❚ Add eggs one at a time, beating well
❚ Fold in flour alternatively with milk
❚ Place mix in a 28cm x 18cm lamington tin, brushed previously with melted butter and based lined with baking paper
❚ Bake for 25-30 minutes
❚ Turn cake out of tin onto wire cooling tray
❚ Wrap in foil and store for one day ❚ Cut up the cake into 21 pieces
ICING METHOD
❚ Dissolve butter in boiling water
❚ Sift icing sugar and cocoa into a large bowl
❚ Stir in water and vanilla and beat until smooth
❚ Keep warm by putting bowl over a pan of boiling water
❚ Working quickly, using two forks dip cake in icing and roll in coconut
❚ Allow to set on wire cooling trays and store in an air tight cake tin