Green Tea Lamingtons

Lamingtons are Australian tea cakes. They are generally vanilla sponge cake squares, covered in a frosting glaze and dipped in desiccated coconut. They are usually double layered and the filling is usually either chocolate or jam. I really wanted to make a traditional Aussie dessert before I left Australia. Originally I wanted to make Pavlova, which is a meringue with creme and fruit, but without an electric blender that was out. So I decided to do Lamingtons, but with a twist! And that twist is matcha! I made green tea lamingtons, and they were amazing. No seriously, they lasted about a day and a half before my housemates and I devoured them. The baking part of this recipe was easy, it was the assembly that was difficult.

I baked the cake using a box mix and added matcha powder, I didn't have as much as I wanted so the cake ended up with this cake that had a slight matcha taste, it was nice but I would use more next time. For this recipe it requires that I cut the cake into easily dippable squares. Due to this I had to be strategic with what pan I baked the cake in. I decided on the bread pan, rather than our round cake pan. This ended up being a good idea. The first step to the squares was to trim off them rounded top of the cake (above), I think next time I'll trim the sides to make it more even as well, the reason I didn't this time is because I was worried about not having enough cake.

The next step was to do the layering. I sliced the cake into two layers, which was harder than expected to cut evenly, so the top layer was a bit thicker than the bottom (above left). Next I melted dark chocolate in the microwave and spread it on the bottom layer of the cake (above right). I tried to do this quickly before it hardened up again. Then I stuck the top layer back onto the cake. Next I cut the cake into 15 squares (below left). The next move was to arrange them for the dipping. So I covered a baking sheet in baking parchment and then arranged them on the tray. 

The next step was to dip them in frosting and then cover them in desiccated coconut. Now desiccated is a fancy word for dryed and dehydrated. This is a special type of shredded coconut and in order to really make this treat work you need to buy this kind, it prevents the cakes from getting soggy. What I did was buy some store bought vanilla frosting, I then microwaved it for about 20 seconds (below left) and dipped each individual square in the frosting. I tried to make sure that it was completely covered. Next I quickly moved the cake to a bowl with the coconut in it and covered the frosted cake in the coconut, once again trying to cover it completely. Then I set it on the baking sheet to harden. While my fingers got really messy during this process, it actually worked out so much easier than I expected. First of all, the heated frosting turned into this glaze that sticked really well, and the coconut adhered to it amazingly. And then when it was covered in coconut, I could move it around and set it down without it sticking (below right). Also, as one of my housemates pointed out, I got better at it as I went along so the later squares were easier and prettier.

These cakes tasted amazing. The matcha, vanilla, coconut, and chocolate each added their own texture and flavor to the dessert, and meshed really well together. These are perfect with a cup of tea (or matcha haha) after dinner. Or with a cup of coffee for breakfast! Lamingtons are classic Australia and it makes me happy that I will be able to make these anytime I want at home and bring Australia with me!

Thoughts on this Dessert:

• Like I said, next time more matcha is going into this recipe.
• I would like to try different flavors for these. My sister makes this awesome cake called 'Blush Cake' and I think that it would be great with this recipe, but with rose jam filling. Also I'd try them with taro cloud cake for sure!
• I think that next time I'd use chocolate frosting instead of vanilla.
• When doing the dipping step, its important to reheat the frosting for 5-10 seconds or so after each cake to make sure the consistency stays right. Also to add more frosting to the bowl when it starts to get low so that you don't have to scrape the cake on the bowl. 

Really happy that my last dessert here is a really cool Australian one, and one that I could make my own. I found it really fulfilling to be able to make a recipe that was complicated but turned out well.