The recipe title alone says it al! Only good can come from these ingredients – an island holiday in a piece of cake.
This is a recipe from the book ‘A new way to Cake’ by Benjamina Ebuehi.
Lamington are revered everywhere, and respectfully, should not be tampered with. This light and fruity version is not so much tampering but more playing around with. It is also a lovely option for a very hot summer, making use of ripe, heady mangoes. The taste is completely different but oh so pleasing!
The stages are the same – first bake a light lime scented sponge, then soak little cubes in a mango puree before rolling the fruity squares in some coconut.
When mangoes are in abundance. give this delightful cake a try.
Ingredients for Lamingtons
CAKE
- 190 g cake flour
- 1 1/2 TBS cornflour
- 1 TBS baking powder
- Zest of 2 limes
- 200 g caster sugar
- 225 g room-temperature butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 c full-fat milk
MANG0 PUREE/GLAZE
- 2 medium sized ripe mangoes
- 105 g sifted icing sugar
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 c of desiccated coconut
METHOD TO MAKE CAKE
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
- Grease and line a 21cm x 31 cm pan, making sure there is an overhang of the baking paper on all sides, in order to lift cake out of pan once baked.
- In a medium mixing bowl add the flour, cornflour and baking powder and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In another bowl, add the caster sugar and lime zest. Rub in the zest into the caster sugar until the mixture looks like wet sand. This intensifies the lime flavour.
- Add the butter and vanilla. Using an electric beater, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. (3-5 minutes)
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add the flour in 3 batches alternating with 2 batches of the milk, starting and ending with the flour. Mix lightly after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and using a spatula, evenly smooth the mixture.
- Bake for 30 – 40 minutes until a deep golden brown and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake.
- Let the cake cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan before using the overhang to lift it out. Let the cake completely cool.
TIP – once the cake is cool, keep it in the freezer for 10 minutes before cutting into cubes. The cold cake doesn’t crumble when cut.
- To make the mango glaze/puree skin the mangoes and add the flesh to a food processor or blender, with the lime juice and sifted icing sugar. Blend till smooth and well combined.
- Pour the mango puree into a shallow but wide dish.
- Add the coconut to a large plate.
- Trim the sides of the cold cake and cut into 16 – 20 cubes.
- Dip each cube into the mango purree coating all sides well and then roll in the coconut.
- Place each coated cube on a wire rack and let the glaze slightly set.
