Lamingtons
Here is our working lamingtons for Scoops & Dishes: no doorway fluff, just a cookable page with Australian metric detail and notes that prevent the usual failures. Plan on 1 hr 5 min (plus 1 hr freeze and setting) from starting prep to plating for 15 squares. Prep is about 40 min; the active cook or oven time is closer to 25 min. Read the whole method once before you turn on the heat. Shop first for unsalted butter, caster sugar and ½ tsp vanilla extract; those ingredients do the heavy lifting for flavour and texture, while the rest of the list seasons, binds, or finishes the plate. After cooking, cool on a rack, then slice or pack once firm. One tray or tin as written — freeze extras in airtight bags. If humidity or a fan oven changes browning, trust visual cues over the last minute of the clock. Method opens with: “Heat oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Grease a 20 × 30 cm pan and line with baking paper, leaving an overhang.”. Follow the order as written; jumping ahead is how pans crowd and sauces split.
Ingredients
Method
- Heat oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Grease a 20 × 30 cm pan and line with baking paper, leaving an overhang.
- Sift flour and baking powder together. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy, 1½–2 minutes.
- Beat in eggs one at a time until smooth. Fold in half the flour, then half the milk; repeat with the rest.
- Spread in the pan and bake 25 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes, lift out, cool completely.
- Cut into 15 squares. Freeze 1–1½ hours so the sponge is firm to dip.
- Mix icing sugar, cocoa, butter and boiling water until a thick syrup. Dip each square, roll in coconut, set 1–2 hours.
Tip: Freeze the cut sponge before dipping — fresh cake crumbles into the icing. If icing thickens, microwave 20 seconds to loosen.
Notes
- Shopping and mise en place: read the full ingredient list once before you start. For Lamingtons, unsalted butter and caster sugar are the items that decide whether the dish tastes flat or properly seasoned. Weigh where grams are given — volume cups are fine for liquids and some dry goods, but baking ratios are tighter if you use scales. Australian cups are 250 ml; a tablespoon is 20 ml and a teaspoon is 5 ml.
- From our tested tip, expanded: Freeze the cut sponge before dipping — fresh cake crumbles into the icing. If icing thickens, microwave 20 seconds to loosen. Treat that as the non-negotiable. If something still feels off — too wet, too pale, too tight — adjust one variable at a time (heat, liquid, or bake time) rather than changing three things at once.
- Before the heat goes on, line up unsalted butter, caster sugar and ½ tsp vanilla extract and anything perishable from the list. Soften butter, bring eggs off the fridge if the method needs them room-temp, and preheat so you are not waiting mid-recipe. For a baking cook of this size (15 squares), a clear bench saves more time than any gadget.
- Putting it together for Lamingtons: work clean, taste as you go, and do not rush browning or reduction steps if they appear in the method. If you are cooking for mixed diets, plate sauces and toppings separately where practical. Keep this page bookmarked if it becomes a household regular — we update wording when cooks report a confusing step. Metric consistency across Scoops & Dishes means once you trust the cups and scales here, breakfast through dessert behaves the same way.