There is no cake more Australian than Lamingtons! A moist butter sponge dipped in chocolate then coated with coconut, this is The Cake sold at every suburban bakery and weekend fundraisers.
You’ll get coconut everywhere making them and eating them. But that’s all part of the Aussie experience. It’s how we do it Down Under! 🇦🇺
Lamingtons – an Australian classic!
A soft buttery sponge cake coated all over with chocolate icing and coconut.
Even if you’ve never heard of these before, you just know it’s going to be good. We Aussies know great tucker – and this is as Aussie as it gets!! (OK, OK, maybe as Aussie as Pavs, Anzac Biscuits, Sausage Rolls, Party Pies, weekend sausage sizzles and Sunday Roast Lamb😇)
How to make Lamingtons
On the face of it, it sounds simple enough:
make a buttery vanilla sponge cake
cut into squares, dip into chocolate icing, coat with coconut
The one little extra step I add that is going to make your Lamington making life a total breeze is to mostly freeze the cake before rolling in icing. A firm, semi frozen piece of cake is much easier to handle when coating in icing and rolling in coconut. Try doing it with fresh sponge, and you’ll be battling crumbling cake as you try to coat it. Been there, done that, multiple times!
The cake will thaw as the icing sets and the cake is as fresh as it was straight out of the oven.
Here’s a bit more background to explain why I freeze the cake before coating – to make sure I fully convince you so you don’t skip that step!
Why I Freeze The Cake before coating
Lamingtons are one of those cakes that recipes say are easy to make, but most are just downright lying to you. The first few times I made them involved screeches of frustration and serious foot stomping.😤 I emerged on the other side looking like I’d been in a mud-wrestle with a plate of something that barely resembled the neat squares you see in this post.
The challenge is this: The sponge has to be tender and moist enough to eat plain, but trying to roll such a delicate cake in icing is a disaster. The cake crumbles into the icing, making it thicker and impossible to work with.
And once the crumbling begins, imagine the mess when you try to roll it in coconut.
The solution offered by traditional recipes is to leave the cake out overnight, essentially letting the outside become a bit stale so it’s easier to handle. This works pretty well – but the cake is a bit drier than ideal.
The 21st century solution:
FREEZE THE CAKE.
It’s even easier to handle for coating, and the bonus is that the cake stays fresh and moist – no need to leave it out to dry out!
This will change your Lamington Life forever.
Butter Sponge Cake for Lamingtons
The sponge cake for Lamingtons is a terrific recipe that I use as a base for other recipes (strangely, none that I’ve shared here – yet). Simply made with pantry staples, it’s soft and buttery, and not too sweet which is what we want because we get extra sweetness from the chocolate icing.
The big debate:
Do Lamingtons have jam and cream?
Classic Lamingtons made the traditional old-school way do not have jam or cream sandwiched in the middle. But you’ll come across many Aussies who won’t have Lamingtons any other way (some RecipeTin family members included).
My view – Lamingtons should stand as a great cake without any filling. Jam and cream is optional – it should make it over the top good!
If you’re a Lamington fan, I think you’ll approve of this recipe! The butter cake is moist, tender and buttery. The chocolate coating is thick enough so you get a great hit of chocolate, but thin enough so it soaks into the sponge, a sticky enough to glue on plenty of coconut.
The added bonus is that using the little trick to freeze the cakes before coating, they are neat and tidy so they look as great as they taste! – Nagi x
PS It will be messy making these. And that’s totally ok. Because it’s part of the great Aussie tradition that you get coconut “everywhere” when you’re making them and eating them!
PPS When better to make Lamingtons than for Australia Day??
Lamingtons
Watch how to make it
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Lamingtons
Ingredients
Butter Sponge
- 125 g / 4.5 oz unsalted butter , softened
- 1 cup (220g) caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs , room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups (260g) flour , plain/all purpose, sifted (Note 1)
- 3.5 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) milk (low or full fat)
Icing
- 4 cups (480g) icing sugar (confectionary sugar), sifted
- 1/3 cup (22g) cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp (15g) unsalted butter
- 150ml (1/2 cup + 2 tbsp) boiling water
Coating
- 3 – 4 cups desiccated coconut
Optional: Jam and Cream
- Strawberry jam
- 1 cup (250 ml) cream
- 1 tbsp white sugar
Instructions
Butter Sponge
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (or fan forced 160C/320F).
- Sift flour and baking powder together.
- Grease a 20 cm x 30 cm / 8″ x 12″ cake pan. Line with baking paper (parchment paper), leaving an overhang on all sides (to make it easy to remove).
- Beat butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium high speed until light and fluffy – about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
- Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition so the batter is smooth, not curdled.
- Add half the flour and gently fold to combine, then stir in half the milk. Repeat with remaining flour and milk.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Stand for 5 minutes then use the overhang baking paper to lift the cake out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
Prepare Cake to Coat
- Cut cake into 15 squares (5 x 3), or 18 rectangles. Freeze for 1 to 1.5 hours. (Note 2)
Icing
- Combine the Icing ingredients in a heat proof bowl and mix until smooth. Should be a syrup consistency, but not watery. (Note 2)
Coating
- Place coconut in a shallow bowl or pan with a largish surface area (Note 3).
- Place a piece of cake in the icing and roll to coat using 2 forks. Transfer it into the coconut and quickly roll to coat all over in coconut. Transfer to tray.
- Repeat with remaining sponges.
- Stand for 1 to 2 hours, or until set. Then serve with tea and coffee!
Optional: Jam and Cream
- Beat cream and sugar until firm peaks form.
- Cut coated Lamington in half horizontally. Spread with jam then pipe or dollop on cream. Top with lid, keep refrigerated.
Recipe Notes:
No cream: Store in airtight container for 3 to 4 days, or freeze for 2 – 3 months then thaw before serving.
Cream: Store in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. 5. Nutrition per serving.
Barely adapted from this recipe from taste.com.au. Ingredients the same, the main thing I changed is the process (especially the coating process, to make it easier!)Nutrition Information:
Originally published 2014. Post refreshed with better photos, recipe video and process steps added. No change to recipe!
More Aussie Tucker favourites
- Pavlova – Meringue cake with marshmallow centre topped with cream and berries
- Sausage Rolls – Juicy pork filling encased in puff pastry. We think ours rivals Bourke St Bakery!
- Party Pies – Mini pies filled with slow cooked beef
- Scones – One of the best things the English brought to our shores!
- Caramel Slice – chocolate, caramel and shortbread. Home run!
- Sunday Roast Lamb with Gravy – also try this amazing Slow Roasted Leg of Lamb!
- Big bucket of fresh cooked prawns with dipping sauces – a summer favourite!
- Browse the Australia Day recipes collection!
Life of Dozer
You think it’s hard making recipe videos? Trying make them with THIS in your line of sight….
Hello, do you use pure icing sugar or icing mixture please? I used pure icing sugar and found it quite sweet. Thank you.
it was good so sweet and warm it was amazing i have never tasted something so good in my 10 years of living
Hi I was planning to make these for a bake-off I have at work Thursday morning (today is Tuesday) if I make them tonight, will they be fresh for Thursday? Or should I freeze the sponge cake tonight and complete the second part Wednesday night?
Mate, these Lamingtons are top I made them for the Lamington day in July perfect for the cool weather, great recipe would make again.
Have made this recipe to the letter every Australia Day for the past 3 years. It is easy and delicious!
Easy to make and worked well with Nagi’s recipe. Next time I will double the recipe and cook together in the same pan. The single recipe makes them too small, like the cheap supermarket versions are, not the big 3″ cubes I usually make. Always great recipes from Nagi. Thank you.
This recipe is adapted from taste.com but did not rise very much, so made lamington fingers with it. Next time will use self raising flour as i have done before and get a better rise out of it. Great taste and moist though.
do these go dry or crumbly GF? clean swap of flour?
Do these lamingtons go dry GF? swap for swap flour?
THE BEST LAMINGTONS!! Nagi u superstar
Hi Nagi, which brand of cocoa powder do you use?
Made this recipe and it came out beutifully! As a chef in training my chef said it was good! Thank you
My hopes were way up bc of the 5* ratings but it was way too sweet and too watery (the frosting). Next time I would cut the sugar by half and up the butter or not sure how to tweak this.
These were great. My grandma made a version by dunking in white glaze then roll in chopped dry roasted peanuts.
A roasted peanut coating sounds delicious! thanks for sharing this tip.
Hi Nagi, looking to make these for my dad as he’s currently missing home (now in the UK). Are the eggs medium or large?
Thank you! 🙂
I woke up feeling like I would die if I didn’t get to eat lamingtons soon, and because I live in the US the only choice was to make them. I only had a 9×13” cake pan (and mine is really closer to 9.5×13.5”) so, not wanting them too thin, I scaled the recipe up by a third. I saw several comments stating that the cake didn’t rise enough, and replies implicating the baking powder. I think the real culprit is insufficient creaming of the butter and sugar. 1.5-2 minutes is no where near enough, I probably creamed mine for 10 minutes before it was “light and fluffy.” It rose beautifully.
Recipe is also missing salt, which helps address some of the other comments about it being too sweet. I added 1/2 tsp salt to the cake and a BIG pinch of kosher salt to the glaze. Definitely helps balance the sweetness.
The freezing tip is great. My mom always baked hers a day early to stale a bit, but freezing is superior IMO! She was skeptical and told me it wouldn’t work, but it absolutely did. I probably froze mine 2-3 hours because I discovered I was out of powdered sugar and had to run to the store, but they worked perfectly. I did 1.5x the glaze to accommodate the extra quantity of cake. I also split half and filled with raspberry jam prior to freezing, which also worked very well! I had never tried them with jam before and was curious. Very tasty, but I think I prefer the classic.
Hi Nagi! I make these lamingtons every year for our school’s International Day and get tons of lovely compliments (from Aussies!). This year I won’t have that much time so I am wondering if I can make the sponge ahead and freeze it for a few weeks, and then what would be the best way to defrost and cut before coating? Thank you!
After watching the video & reading many comments of the cake not rising, I realized there was an error in the video that is corrected in the directions. The flour & baking powder must be combined before adding it to the butter, sugar & vanilla bowl. Otherwise, the baking powder won’t be evenly distributed throughout the batter, thus not allowing the cake to rise. Just whisk the flour & baking powder together before mixing it in. Your cake will be fluffy & light!
4. Storage:
No cream: Store in airtight container for 3 to 4 days, or freeze for 2 – 3 months then thaw before serving.
Cream: Store in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.
My go to recipe anytime I decide to make lamingtons. Have yet to find someone who doesn’t like them.
I made this cake, followed the recipe. The sponge didn’t rise. Half of the batter didn’t cook, the top did. Maybe the batter was dense.. It’s a pitty, I’ve used quality ingredients..
Perhaps it would have been better to beat the whites separately
Made this lamington recipe to make lamingtons for Austral8lia Day 2025. Best lamingtons I’ve ever made! Cake was good ( good tip putting it in the freezer before icing). Icing consistency was perfect!!