Easy Lamington Recipe with Chocolate Sauce

Iconic Aussie Lamingtons are so easy to make and the perfect treat for Australia Day. With just 10 mins prep, this easy lamington recipe will leave you with fluffy sponge cakes wrapped in chocolate sauce and coconut. Grab a hot cuppa and let’s dive in!

Why We Love This

Lamingtons are the perfect sweet snack for morning or afternoon tea! They’re soft, buttery and delicious, with a rich hit of chocolate flavour.

They freeze really well, so you can batch cook, freeze, and thaw when you need to satisfy that next sweet craving.

The sponge cake centre would have to be one of the easiest homemade cakes we’ve made. Plus even though it can get messy, it’s so much fun to roll each slice around in the chocolate sauce and coconut.

As a bonus, having the chocolate coating on the outside not only tastes great, but helps to keep the cake from drying out, maintaining that moist and crumbly texture we know and love.

Related: Choc Coconut Balls / Ginger Fluff Sponge Recipe

What are lamingtons? 

Lamingtons are made up of a light and airy sponge cake, sliced and dipped in chocolate sauce and sprinkled with coconut. They’re usually enjoyed as a sweet snack with a hot cuppa, but we love them just as much for dessert (with a dollop of cream or ice cream for good measure – yum!).

When it comes to cakes, lamingtons are an Aussie icon most often sold at school fetes, bake sales, fundraisers and local bakeries. They’re also a popular treat to make for Australia Day along with vanilla slice, weetbix slice or custard trifle.

Although, just like pavlova, vanilla slice and ginger kisses, there’s plenty of debate over whether lamingtons are a copy of a New Zealand recipe. To be honest, when they taste this good, and are so easy to make at home, we really don’t mind where they originate!

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What You’ll Need

This recipe calls for basic baking staples like sugar, butter, eggs and desiccated coconut. You’ll also need:

• Self Raising Flour – If you don’t have self raising flour, you can use 1 cup of all purpose flour and add 1 tsp baking powder.
• Cocoa – We recommend using a high quality, high percentage cocoa powder (80% works well) rather than regular drinking chocolate powder, as this will give you a rich chocolatey flavour.

How to make lamingtons + homemade chocolate sauce

For the sponge:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180°C / 360°F. Cream together the sugar and butter with a spoon or hand mixer. Then, add in the eggs and give it a whisk until combined. Next, add the self raising flour and mix again until you have a smooth cake batter. Note: Egg sizes may vary. If your batter is too thick at this stage, add a dash of milk to thin.
2. Pour batter into a lined square baking tray (9×9 in / 24×24 cm) and smooth out to the edges. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until deliciously golden on top. Test with a wooden skewer and if it comes out clean, it’s ready.
3. Allow the sponge to cool on a baking tray before cutting into squares or rectangles.

For the chocolate sauce:

4. Mix together the icing sugar, cocoa, melted butter and boiling water. Pop the desiccated coconut into a separate bowl. Place a wire cooling rack over a baking tray so it’s ready for the dipped lamingtons. Tip: Keep your boiling water near by, if your chocolate sauce starts to harden, add a dash more water and mix it in thoroughly then continue to coat as normal

To assemble:

5. One at a time, place each slice of sponge cake on a fork and dunk it in the chocolate sauce. You may need to roll it around a bit to ensure it’s completely covered. Then use the fork to lift the cake out of the chocolate and pop it into the coconut. Use the fork to cover the cake with coconut, then once coated, transfer to the wire rack to dry.
   
   Allow lamingtons to dry for around 5-10 minutes then dig in!

Wandercook’s Tips

• Line the Baking Dish – Use a sheet of baking paper or aluminium foil that’s a bit wider than you’d normally use when lining a baking tray. This way you can use the edges to neatly pull the sponge cake out of the tray.
• Square the Edges – Before cutting into pieces, slice off the outside edges of the sponge cake to ‘square off’ and leave you with nice even pieces.
• Freeze the Sponge Slices – If your sponge cake is too crumbly to work with, you might like to freeze the slices for an hour or so before dunking in the chocolate. It shouldn’t be necessary for this sponge recipe, but if you do run into strife this will make them easier to work with.
• To Soften the Chocolate Sauce – If the sauce starts to harden before you’re finished, add a little more boiling water (1 tsp at a time) to soften and thin the sauce so it’s easier to coat the sponge slices evenly.
• Leftover cocoa? Make our English Chocolate Concrete cake next!

FAQs

Variations

• Jam & Cream – Fill the lamingtons with jam and cream by cutting them in half before serving. Or you can cut the sponge in half and add jam in the middle BEFORE coating as an alternative way to eat lamingtons. Strawberry jam works best for this!
• Double Stacked Lamingtons – For larger lamingtons, you could make a double batch and, after cutting into squares, add one on top of the other and seal with the jam suggestion above.

More sweet desserts and slices to try next:

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