Lamingtons

The last few weeks I have been hearing my son murmuring a new song and I was wondering what he was up to these days. Since the words he was uttering were not very clear and so I repeatedly begged him to sing as it was a really nice tune. Later I came to know that it was one of the may Christmas carols they have practicing for his Christmas day event at school. I was glad to know about his costume too and we all parents are eagerly looking forward to this event.

The end of the year is always a busy time and at Rohan’s school they have been busy preparing for the Christmas event and constantly buzzing stay at home mom to volunteer for decorating the auditorium and dazzle it with Christmas lighting. I too was part of this group and it was great to know the details of the show. Parents have been asked to share some goodies at the end of the show and I thought of making these lamingtons.

I had made these a long times back and I thought of doing a batch before making the final ones for the event. Lamingtons are very popular in Australia and NZ. It is a very common sight in bakery shops and found in abundance so u would never feel an urge to bake your own. I found a nice article about the origin of lamingtons and more information about this cake here.

It is basically a vanilla sponge cake coated with sugar and cocoa icing and rolled with desiccated coconut.

For vanilla sponge cake
1 cup plain flour
2 eggs
¼ cup butter
1teaspoon baking powder
½ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Shift flour with baking powder and keep it aside. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and whisk until mixed well. Add vanilla extract and flour gradually till well combined.
Preheat the oven at 180’c and line a square tin. Bake for 20 to 25 till the done.

Let it cool down and slice them to square or rectangle shape.

Meanwhile prepare the icing
2 cup icing sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup water/milk
¾ tablespoon butter

Combine all the above ingredients in a sauce and cook on a medium fire till it gets an icing consistency.
While still warm, using a pair tongs dip the sliced cakes into icing mix and roll them over a plate of desiccated or shredded coconut. Place them on a rack. Serve and enjoy.