lamington cake

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lamington cake- cityhippyfarmgirl

lamington cake- cityhippyfarmgirl

Lamingtons and I have never had a firm friendship. They were always the thing of old fashioned bakeries, afternoon tea at someone else’s house or a slightly squished white paper bag to bring home for my mum as little treat. 

A favourite for childhood cake drives and always guaranteed at the local church sweets stand. It wasn’t for me though. No matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t get past the dryness. Not even a lamington with jam and cream in the middle could save these iconic coconut squares of Australia for me.

They just weren’t my thing.

Until now that is. Now that I’ve drowned it in a sweet milky goodness that can only be attributed to a can of condensed milk. I can almost hear the collective gasps of the CWA. Shrieks of, you can’t put condensed milk in a lamington!

But you can. And I did. And perhaps in doing so I have wiped out all ability to name it still a lamington. However I’m sticking to it, and this is my lamington cake.

lamington cake- cityhippyfarmgirl

Lamington Cake

125g butter

3 eggs

150g (2/3 cup) sugar

2 tsp vanilla

225g (1 1/2 cups) s/r flour

50g (1/2 cup) desiccated coconut

125mls (1/2 cup) milk

******

1 can condensed milk

50g cocoa

Cream butter and sugar. Add in vanilla, beaten eggs, and milk together than fold in dry ingredients. Bake in a greased and lined spring form pan (approx 23cm) at 180C for about 35-40 minutes. Bake until golden in colour.

While cake is still hot, leave it in the cake tin, prick it all over with a skewer or fork then pour on the condensed milk mixture. (Whisk together in a bowl, condensed milk and cocoa together beforehand.)

Leave cake to soak up mixture, occasionally bringing the condensed milk back to the centre to soak in at the top a little more. Once room temperature, pop into the fridge for a couple of hours (or over night.) Take the cake out of the tin and cover in desiccated coconut.

54 thoughts on “lamington cake”

  2. This sounds awesome. Everything tastes better with condensed milk. Brydie you MUST enter this in the SMH Epicure lamington competition. They’re looking for unusual lamington recipes. I can’t find the info online but it was in the last issue of Epicure.

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  6. YUM!! Think I’ll make this for the Australia Day BBQ I’m going to on Monday. Two questions please Brydie –
    1. Would it work as cupcakes?
    2. Excuse my ignorance, but I don’t quite understand the instruction re the milk “Leave cake to soak up mixture, occasionally bringing the condensed milk back to the centre to soak in at the top a little more” – what exactly do you mean by “occasionally bringing the condensed milk back to the centre to soak in at the top a little more”? (Do you mean add the condensed milk bit by bit, rather than all in one go)? I’d really appreciate some clarification on this point – thanks so much.

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    • Hmmm, cupcakes it could…I would do high sides though, otherwise they will be messy….as in the cake bit low, the container higher to contain the condensed milk.
      As for bringing it in to the middle, you could do it slowly, but it would be quite slow. It’s slowly sinking into the cake over a couple of hours due to the condensed milk being thick. The hot cake makes the process a little quicker (ie soaking in) and if you used plain milk it would be really quick. You want as much of the condensed milk soaked into the cake as possible (down your skewer holes) rather than just spilling over the side once you take the sides of the pan away. It doesn’t sit stiffly like a normal icing would….yell if it still doesn’t make sense Keri, and I’ll start again. I don’t want it to only make sense to me! 🙂

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      • Ahhh!! The penny has dropped! “. . . occasionally bringing the condensed milk back to the centre to soak in at the top a little more” means move it back up from the sides of the cake tin to the middle of the cake, to allow it to soak evenly into the cake.

        Now that I get this I wonder if it would work for cupcakes – I think maybe not as the patty cases would probably end up being saturated with milk and perhaps even fall apart. It might work if I made them in muffin tins and left them in the trays while soaking up the condensed milk.

        Thanks so much Brydie : ) – and Happy Australia Day to you for Sunday x

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      • Genius Keri 🙂 The muffin tins would work beautifully. It would be a little messy for finger food but flipped out to a plate and then popping the coconut on would work beautifully…I’ll have to make it again! (And sorry the recipe wasn’t as clear as it could have been.)

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  7. I’m with you. I’ve never understood why people would like lamingtons. The only type I’ve ever liked were the ones filled with jam and mock-cream because that would sort out the dryness. I’ve also never liked making them because of all the mess with the liquid chocolate icing and then the coconut going EVERY WHERE. I’ve been thinking of making them for Australia Day but with homemade jam and cream. I’ll let you know if I get onto it (running out of time). I think the condensed milk is a great addition and the CWA should embrace you! xx

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  9. of course you are sticking to it if it is full of condensed milk ( ha ha). Your cake looks superb but I am surprised you find lamingtons dry – ones at shops often are but if I make my own I am always surprised just how moist they are – shame on bakeries for letting them sit there too long

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  10. Hmmm, i’m torn. I like you Brydie, but I must say that as a woman of the country, an involuntary tsk-tsk escaped as I read your recipe.While I love your first photo, knowing there’s a can of condensed milk holding up that flag, I can’t help but picture the bush telegraph arcing with activity as the CWA rally the troops to tear it down and burn it in protest. Now wouldn’t that be a great photo 🙂

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  11. I’m giggling at the thought of the CWA. I say embrace Modern Australian baking – and what a cake you have produced by doing so! I did like lamingtons as a child, I think due to the yearly school fundraising drive where you ordered boxes and they arrived one joyous school day. Those were always better (softer, chocolateyer) than any lamingtons in a store, and if there is a way to improve a school day, lamington deliveries are it. Your cake looks like it would rival them though 🙂

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  17. I’ve never heard of lamington but your version looks fab, definitely a cake to make you smile. I have a tin of condensed milk in the cupboard and very tempted to get baking.

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  18. Perfect Lamington cake. The chocolate marbling is so enticing. Unfortunately I can’t eat condensed milk anything but I know a great cake when I see one. Good luck in the comp.

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  20. Yeah…I am with you on regular lamingtons. Mum used to make them for a local bakery and so we were saturated in her failed (seconds) lamingtons and I would swap them with mates at school ;). NOT a fan but your idea has merit…how about making coconut milk condensed milk and pouring that over? A huge coconut hit whilst retaining the moisture…I could veganise this…I really could! 🙂

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  22. i’ve never had a bought lamington that’s acceptable but i love mini homemade ones..when they’re small there’s more icing to cake and so they’re not dry..your version looks really interesting and very tempting.. happy australia day..x

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  23. Gee I laughed about the CWA! You are a genius. Moist cake AND no gooey fingers from all the usual annoying dipping. Brilliant! Happy Australia Day xx

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  25. I am definitely making this for a morning tea with friends tomorrow – seems a lot easier to just make one cake than a lot of fiddly lamingtons! However, I did have to read the recipe a couple of times to get it clear ( eg no mention of the butter in the directions) but applying my common sense to figure it out 🙂

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    • Sorry Kimberley, thanks for the heads up. I’ve edited it re the butter and hope the cake turns out for you, (sometimes the one woman show here gets distracted!). Just use your cakey know how. It’s not difficult, just a coconut with a bit of gooey condensed milk on it kind cake 🙂

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