Lemon Lamingtons

Lemon Lamingtons. Moist vanilla cake cubes dipped in lemon and coconut. Enjoy them plain or dress them up with raspberry compote and vanilla cream.

Lemon Lamingtons

I’ve written about Lamingtons before, even though I didn’t know they went by that name. It was a couple of years back when posting about a recipe for Chocolate Coconut Cake Squares.

I began to get comments and emails from Australia, New Zealand and even Singapore, telling me that these were indeed called Lamingtons.

I did a little research and then amended the name to include “Lamingtons”. You can read more about that on the recipe page.

Lemon Lamingtons

This isn’t the first time we have made them with a fruit flavour either. Growing up in the 70’s and early eighties, raspberry or strawberry versions were very common in our house. They were made using a combination of jelly powder and jam.

You can find my recipe for Strawberry Lamingtons here. It’s also easily adapted to raspberry, but you might want to sieve the seeds out of the dipping glaze.

Lemon Lamingtons

A little while back a friend told me that they now sell Lemon Lamingtons in Australia. I decided then that I would try a version of my own. I’d also learned that the centres of Lamingtons were often filled with cream or jam or even both.

Since I had on hand some raspberry compote and vanilla frosting from making those Homemade Flakies pastries last week, I decided to make some plain and dress some up  with those raspberry and vanilla fillings.

The plain version is delicious on its own, we even froze some with great success and shared them with tea when Spouse’s mother visited a week or so later. They were still moist and totally delectable. I wouldn’t recommend freezing the filled lamingtons but you could always fill them after thawing if you wanted to serve them that way.

These little cakes make a very pretty presentation for an afternoon tea but in the plain version they would be just as at home at a summer barbecue or  picnic. If you love the combination of lemon and coconut, you will surely love these wonderfully simple but delicious treats.

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Lemon Lamingtons

Don’t forget to try our Classic Chocolate and Strawberry Version too!

Chocolate Lamingtons

Strawberry Lamingtons

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Lemon Lamingtons

Yield: 24 Cake squares

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Lemon Lamingtons. Moist vanilla cake cubes dipped in lemon and coconut. Enjoy them plain or dress them but with raspberry compote and vanilla cream.

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Ingredients

For the cake

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• 1¼ cups sifted all purpose flour
• 1½ cups sifted cake flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1½ cups sugar
• ⅔ cup vegetable oil
• ⅓ cup vegetable shortening at room temperature
• 3 tablespoons good quality vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 1½ cups buttermilk, (or sour regular milk by adding a Tbsp of lemon juice or plain vinegar)

For the Lemon Sauce

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• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• pinch salt
• 3 Tbsp corn starch
• 3 egg yolks
• juice of 2 large lemons
• zest of one large lemon very finely minced
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 4 Tbsp butter not margarine

To finish the Lamingtons

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• Approximately 3-4 cups dried shredded coconut, (unsweetened)

Instructions

1. Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan and line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together both flours, baking soda. baking powder, salt and sugar, Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the vegetable oil, shortening and vanilla. Beat well at high speed with whisk attachment for a few minutes until well blended.
4. Beat the eggs in one at a time.
5. Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk.
6. I always add dry ingredients in three divisions and liquid ingredients in 2 divisions. It is very important to begin and end the additions with the dry ingredients. Do not over mix the batter. As soon as it has no lumps in the batter, pour into the prepared 9×13 inch pan.
7. Bake at 325 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan.
8. Wrap the pan in plastic wrap and place in the freezer until the cake is completely frozen.
9. When frozen, lift the cake out of the pan using the parchment paper as an aid and cut it into 24 squares. Return to the freezer until ready to dip in the lemon syrup and coconut.

To Prepare the Lemon Sauce

1. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, salt and cornstarch.
2. While still off the heat, whisk in the egg yolks.
3. Add the lemon juice, zest and water and place over medium low heat.
4. Bring this mixture to a boil stirring constantly. I find that a silicone spatula best for this because you can continuously scrape the entire bottom of the pan, making sure that the sauce thickens evenly and doesn't stick or burn.
5. Once it is boiling continue to boil for one minute, then take it off the heat and stir in the butter, a tablespoon at a time until smooth.
6. Pour into 8x8 baking dish to cool to almost room temperature before using to dip the cake cubes. Stir the sauce occasionally as it cools.

To Prepare the finished Lamingtons

1. Working quickly, dip the frozen cake cubes into the sauce. You don’t want to soak too much sauce into the cake.
2. Quickly roll the soaked cake into the coconut and place on a parchment lined baking sheet to dry.
3. Store in airtight plastic containers. If you are freezing the dessert squares put them back into the freezer right away.

Notes

• Total time to make , freeze and finish these dessert squares is probably about 6 hours. You may want to plan to freeze the cake overnight and finish the squares the next day.
• If you'd like to fill your Lamingtons with the raspberry compote and vanilla frosting as shown in the photo, just use the same fillings as in our Homemade Flakies recipe here.

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