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Lemon Lamingtons close up photo with raspberry filling

Lemon Lamingtons

Lemon Lamingtons. Moist vanilla cake cubes dipped in lemon and coconut. Enjoy them plain or dress them but with raspberry compote and vanilla cream.
Course Cake/Dessert
Cuisine Australian, North American
Keyword coconut, lamingtons, lemon
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 24 Cake squares
Calories 344 kcal
Author Barry C. Parsons

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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.

Recipe 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.