A lamington is an Australian cake, made from squares of cake (traditionally a butter cake or sponge cake) coated in an outer layer of chocolate sauce rolled in coconut. The chocolate sauce is absorbed into the (sponge) cake which then leaves the distinctive lamington texture.

These tiny square cakes is something I grew up with. Even though I grew up in Sweden, one of my mum’s friend was from Australia, and she would bake these and impress my taste buds every single time she bought them! 🙂

Coffee Chocolate Cake Base – 

• Unsalted butter, for the pans (ive used 2 pans at 6″ size for my cake)
• 1 1/4 cups unsweetend cocoa powder
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
• 1 1/4 cups warm water
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk, just add 2 tbsp of lemon juice into your milk and let it set for five min before using as buttermilk) 
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 
• 1/2 cup of ground instant coffee

Chocolate buttercream

• 1 cup (230g) unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes
• 3 and 1/2 cups icing sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 3 Tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Coating – 

• 300 grams White chocolate, melted and cooled
• 300 grams desiccated coconut (coconut flakes would look pretty cool too!)

METHOD:

Coffee Chocolate Cake – 

1. Preheat oven to 175 C (350F), with racks in upper and lower thirds. Line your baking tray or rectangle pan with baking paper and butter lightly.
2. Sift together coffee, cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. Return bowl to mixer. Fit mixer with the paddle attachment. Add eggs, yolk, water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Mix on low speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.
3. Pour the batter into the baking tray (or rectangle baking pan) lined with parchment paper or baking sheet. Bake until a cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes. Let cool in the tray before assembling.

Chocolate Buttercream –

1. With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy – about 2 minutes. Add icing sugar, cocoa powder, heavy cream, salt, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high speed and beat for 2 full minutes. Add up to 1/2 cup more icing sugar if buttercream is too thin or another Tablespoon of cream if it is too thick.
2. Cover tightly, and store in fridge until ready to use. TIP : store for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer. After freezing, thaw in the refrigerator then beat the frosting for a few seconds so it’s creamy again.  

Assembly:

1. Tip your cooled rectangle cake out on the counter, and cut in half down in the middle (top to bottom).
2. Then spread the chocolate buttercream onto one of the half and place the other half on top NOTE : you will have buttercream leftover which is used in the next step!.  Then slice into squares, I made mine 4x4cm but you can make them as small or big as you like.
3. Once each square is created then, with the leftover buttercream, cover each square all over, and place into the fridge for roughly 20 min, or until it stiffens.
4. Once stiff, take the melted white chocolate and pour it into a shallow bowl, and same with the coconut. Dip each square into the white chocolate, all sides (except bottom) and then in the coconut. Once done, place back into the fridge and let it harden.
5. And voila! Your Lamingtons are done!

Enjoy!