Lamington Cake

Blow everyone away at afternoon tea time with this lamington cake. The recipe is slightly adapted from Poh Bakes 100 Greats. Instead of using day-old sponge cake to make individual morsels, an orange chiffon cake is the base of this elegant remastering. I'm afternoon-tea-obsessed, and I'll pretty much take lamingtons which ever way they come, but this version is my current favourite.

Lamington Cake:

From here

For the Cake:
5 eggs, separated, plus 2 egg whites
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
150g caster sugar
80ml grapeseed oil
100 ml tinned coconut milk
finely grated zest of 1 orange
80 ml orange juice
150g plain flour, sifted
½ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt


For the Icing:
300g icing sugar mixture
30g good-quality cocoa powder
20g butter
90 ml tinned coconut milk
200g desiccated coconut

Preheat the oven to 160˚C fan-forced.

Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk all the seven egg whites with the cream of tartar to medium peaks. Add the remaining sugar in 4 batches, mixing well after each addition, until stiff and very fluffy.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the oil and whisk, then add the coconut milk, orange zest and juice and whisk until combined. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk until just smooth.

Spoon one-third of the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture and whisk until combined to form a batter. Add the batter to the remaining egg white mixture and fold until well combined and incorporated; stir gently with a whisk to get rid of any pockets of egg white, if necessary.

Pour the batter into a 25 cm angel cake food tin and bake for 30–40 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and immediately invert the cake tin when it comes out of the overn, and allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the tin. Loosen the cake from the tin bu running a knife around the outer and inner sides of the tin. The cake should release easily. Then, slide the knife along the bottom of the tin and transfer the caketo a wire rack.

Make the Icing:
Combine the icing sugar, cocoa, butter and milk in a heatproof bowl. Place over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl does not touch the water, then whisk until the mixture is smooth.

Pour and spread the chocolate icing over the entire cake, then sprinkle top and out and inner sides with coconut.