About this recipe
For those who don’t know, lamingtons consist of a square piece of sponge cake (usually at least a day old) which is cut in half and layered with strawberry jam and whipped cream. Both pieces are then sandwiched, then dipped in chocolate ganache and then coated in desiccated coconut. Like everything Australian there are numerous variations on the lamington recipe but it essentially used up left-over sponge cake which was a common item at morning and afternoon teas for the non-working mums and on weekends back in the early 1900s.
My lamington recipe is slight different to the traditional lamington recipe, as I prefer to flavour the whipped cream with Wattleseed extract and substitute the strawberry jam for a homemade rosella jam. These native Australian flavours provide a really unique flavour and certainly make the lamington dessert authentically Australian.
Ingredients
A 30cm x 30cm sponge cake (madeira cake or genoise)
400ml (1 ¾ cups) cream
250g (1 cup) couverture chocolate
250ml (1 cup) whipped cream
10ml (2 teaspoons) wattleseed extract
250g rosella jam
100g (½ cup) desiccated coconut
Cooking instruction
To make the chocolate ganache required for lamingtons it should be very wet so that the sponge cake absorbs some of the chocolate, compared to a regular ganache which is 50% chocolate and 50% cream. Place 400ml cream in a saucepan over high heat and bring just to a boil, then remove the pan from the heat. Meanwhile, chop chocolate into small pieces, then add chopped chocolate to the cream, whilst mixing vigorously until the chocolate and cream are thoroughly mixed. The mixture will slightly solidify as it cools.
To make the wattleseed cream, simply combine the whipped cream with wattleseed extract. The cream won’t require any sugar at all. Then cut the sponge cake into 4cm cubes, then cut them in half. On one half, layer the rosella jam and one the other site layer with wattleseed cream. Then sandwich the halves together.
Then make a production line of sponge, chocolate ganache, and desiccated coconut in a shallow container or plate, and a cooling rack with paper underneath. Using a fork dip the sponge into the chocolate ganache, then roll it in the coconut covering it well, and then place on to the rack to dry.