Lamingtons! a.k.a. Chocolate Coconut Cake Squares
Chocolate Coconut Cake Squares a.k.a. Lamingtons, homemade white cake dipped in a decadent chocolate syrup and then rolled in coconut. An Australian fave!
Originally published Nov 2013
This Lamingtons recipe is one that I have not made in a very, very long time. It was almost a lost recipe to me and when I saw it in my sister's Facebook timeline from a blog called Sweet Little Bluebird, the memories came flooding back.
My sister Brenda tells me that our Nan Morgan made them which makes sense since she loved anything coconut. I remember them as a very common treat even at kid birthday parties too.
I went digging through some local old church cookbooks and sure enough, there was the recipe. The original recipe calls for a cake mix but I haven't used one of those in decades.
The vanilla scratch cake recipe included here was perfect to use with these dessert squares.
Memories of baby and wedding showers.
Baby and wedding showers seemed to be more common back in those days and inevitably in rural Newfoundland where I grew up, there was far more food than the ladies present could ever consume.
Every lady was certain to leave with the same Tupperware container she brought along but return with it filled with a selection of the treats that the other women had contributed.
Besides the ham and cheese and egg salad sandwiches that were always mainstays, as well as a great selection of sweet treats, I remember these little cake squares as being a very common contribution to the celebrations too.
As small children we must have eaten hundreds of these but somehow the popularity of this dessert faded over the years. I have no idea why; they are so moist, soft, chocolatey and scrumptiously coconut covered.
My kids had never had them until I made them this past weekend and quickly went through several of them in the first two days. I've frozen the rest of the batch into to enjoy later but I suspect the kids will sneak a few from the basement freezer before long.
I'll have to guard them closely.
UPDATE
The first day I posted this recipe I heard from literally dozens of Australians informing me that these were an Aussie favorite called Lamingtons, reportedly named for Lord Lamington, Governor of Queensland at the turn of the 20th century.
How this recipe became popular in Newfoundland in the 1960's or possibly earlier is a mystery to me but I received so many responses from Australia, New Zealand and even as far east as Hong Kong, I've updated the recipe title to reflect its heritage.
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Chocolate Coconut Cake Squares a.k.a. Lamingtons!
Chocolate Coconut Cake Squares a.k.a. Lamingtons, homemade white cake dipped in a decadent chocolate syrup and then rolled in coconut. An Australian fave!
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 ¼ cups sifted all purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups sifted cake flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup vegetable shortening at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons good quality vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk
For the chocolate syrup
- 1 cup cocoa
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups white sugar
To finish
- Approximately 4 cups dried shredded coconut
Instructions
- Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan and line with parchment paper.
- Sift together both flours, baking soda. baking powder, salt and sugar, Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the vegetable oil, shortening and vanilla. Beat well at high speed with whisk attachment until light and fluffy
- Beat the eggs in one at a time.
- Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk.
- 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.
- 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.
- Wrap the pan in plastic wrap and place in the freezer until the cake is completely frozen.
- 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 chocolate syrup and coconut.
TO PREPARE THE CHOCOLATE SYRUP
- Whisk together the sugar and cocoa. This helps to remove any small lumps from the cocoa.
- Add the vanilla and water.
- Bring to a slow rolling boil and cook for 5-6 minutes. The syrup should thicken slightly but will still be quite thin.
- Cool completely to room temperature.
- Working quickly, dip the frozen cake cubes into the syrup. You don’t want to soak too much syrup into the cake.
- Quickly roll the soaked cake into the coconut and place on a parchment lined baking sheet to dry.
- Store in airtight plastic containers. If you are freezing the dessert squares put them back into the freezer right away.
- 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.
Nutrition Information
Yield
24Serving Size
24 dessert squaresAmount Per Serving Calories 291Total Fat 14gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 8gCholesterol 25mgSodium 224mgCarbohydrates 45gFiber 2gSugar 29gProtein 4g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
We call these Ladyfingers in King's Point, NL
An Australian neighbour
of ours makes these but split with a layer of rasperry jam between layers.
Now that sounds amazing.
Yes! That’s how my Australian friends make it. It’s wonderful!
Will make this recipe, spent a month in Australia, so happy eating sausage rolls, meat pies and drinking "flat whites" missed these. The addition of a layer of rasperry jam is another option. Thanks for posting...
Excellent! I love my sausage rolls and pies too....a little too much. 😉
they sell these in Tarzana CA at Bea's Bakery. So glad I found this recipe since I have moved to Las Vegas and am 5 hours away from the bakery. Can't wait to try these!
Thank you so much Dawn! They sold these in Cleveland in the 1960s and 70s and I have been looking for them every since.
Davis Bakery in Cleveland still sell these!!
barry did you ever make the lamington squares with whits cake mix
Why is it necessary to use cake flour instead of regular?Tahnk You Barry
I worked for a lady once who often spoke of "Mocha Squares". Apparently they were much like Lamingtons but rolled in crushed nuts. She couldn't remember the sauce they were dipped in first. Any idea or recipe? Thanks
p.s. recently found this site, Love it!!
From what I've been told it's the same recipe with a little instant coffee or espresso powder in the sauce.
Note from New Brunswick: I grew up eating two kinds of these cakes at Christmas time, which my grandmother always made. The base was what she called a hot milk sponge cake. One kind was dipped in a very wet vanilla frosting, then coated in crushed peanuts. The other was, as in your recipe, dipped in chocolate frosting/ sauce then coated in coconut. I have her original recipe, but have never seen it anywhere else. Local bakeries around the Fredericton area (and perhaps elsewhere) still make the peanut kind, and we all call them "mocha cakes" though there is no chocolate or coffee in them. I am completely unsure of the origin of the name... even my 87 year neighbour has no idea (though she too grew up eating mocha cakes).
@Terri ., Vanilla butter creme and rolled in chopped unsalted peanuts. Del's bakery No. Mankato, Mn
I haven't had these since our time living in Fiji! Can't wait to make them. They also serve as a great birthday cake in a pinch 😉
I make something similar, but with peanut butter sandwiches cut into quarters.
we make them with seedless raspberry jam instead of the chocolate syrup. We have been known to substitute them for traditional birthday cake . They disappear quickly !!
This was yummy, a little messy, but GREAT!