Recipe: Easy lamingtons

Believe it or not but Saturday is Lamington Day, and who are we to not give appropriate appreciation for the Australian sponge cake?

After all, it was supposedly created by the Governor of Queensland, Lord Lamington.

When a cook accidentally dropped a vanilla cake into some melted chocolate, Lord Lamington suggested dusting the tiny squares in coconut flakes to make it look a little more presentable for his well-esteemed guests!

Cross over to South Africa and they’re now a firm favourite better known as “ystervarkies”.

By simply using premixed box ingredients, such as Snowflakes Vanilla Cupcake Easymix, you can prepare a batch of 20 in 5 minutes!

Ingredients

250g Snowflake Easymix vanilla muffin
200ml cooking oil
250ml milk or water
4 extra large eggs

Chocolate syrup
750ml (400 g) icing sugar, sifted
45ml cocoa powder, sifted
100ml water
45ml butter or margarine
500ml (160g) desiccated coconut

Method

1. Place premix into a mixing bowl. Lightly beat eggs, oil and milk together. Add to premix and mix with a whisk until just combined. Do not overmix.

2. Spoon mixture into a lined and greased 18 x 27 cm rectangular pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C for 25 – 30 minutes. Leave to cool in pan for a few minutes. Turn out and cut into squares.

3. For the syrup, mix icing sugar, cocoa powder and water together in a medium, heavy-based saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly until sugar has melted. Remove from heat and add butter. While still warm, dip cake squares in syrup, but do not soak.

4. Roll squares in a thick layer of coconut. Place onto a wire rack to set.

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