Oceania

Lamingtons: Australian Sponge Squares in Chocolate and Coconut

Name: Lamingtons: Australian Sponge Squares in Chocolate and Coconut
Yield: 20 pieces
Cuisine: Australian
Ingredients: 4 (about 55–60 g each) Eggs; 150 g Caster sugar (superfine sugar); 150 g Self-raising flour; 35 g Cornflour (cornstarch); 25 g Chilled butter; 80 ml Boiling water; 200 ml Boiling water; 20 g Cocoa powder; 150 g Caster sugar; 260 g Dark chocolate (about 70%); 216 g Desiccated or shredded coconut

How to make classic Australian lamingtons from a light whisked-egg sponge, dipped in dark chocolate icing and rolled in desiccated coconut. Covers why the sponge must be fully cooled, how to keep the icing fluid over a water bath, what Australian cornflour and self-raising flour mean, jam-filled variations, and the fundraising and tea-time culture behind the cake.

Published: October 31, 2026

Cooking flow

Cooking steps

STEP 11 / 12

Prepare the pan and the oven

STEP 1

Grease the 20 × 30 cm pan lightly and line the base with baking paper, pressing it into the corners so the sponge is easy to lift out later. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) conventional, or 160°C (320°F) fan-forced.

STEP 22 / 12

Whisk the eggs and sugar to a thick ribbon

Egg and sugar mixture falling from the beaters in a thick ribbon — Beat until the mixture falls in a thick ribbon that holds on the surface

Put the room-temperature eggs and 150 g caster sugar into a deep bowl and beat until the mixture turns pale and thick, about 5–8 minutes (SBS beats for about 8). You do not need a thermometer. Lift the beaters: the mixture should fall back onto the surface in a thick ribbon that sits there for a moment before sinking in. This foam is a foundation of the sponge's light texture, so don't cut it short.

STEP 33 / 12

Sift the dry ingredients three times

STEP 3

Combine 150 g self-raising flour and 35 g cornflour and sift them together three times. This breaks up lumps and adds air, which makes the next step gentler.

STEP 44 / 12

Fold in the flour, then the butter liquid

Folding sifted flour into the whipped egg mixture with broad strokes — Fold with broad strokes from the bottom of the bowl, and stop when the flour disappears

Sift the flour mixture over the egg foam in several additions, folding each in with a large metal spoon or a whisk, lifting from the bottom of the bowl and turning it over. Combine the 80 ml boiling water with the 25 g chopped chilled butter, and when the butter has melted, fold this liquid in last. Stop as soon as no dry flour is visible. Over-mixing breaks the bubbles and gives a heavy, dense sponge.

STEP 55 / 12

Pour into the pan

Pouring sponge batter into a 20 × 30 cm pan lined with paper — Pour the airy batter into the lined pan and level it gently

Pour the batter into the lined pan and level the surface gently. Get it into the oven without delay so the foam doesn't settle.

STEP 66 / 12

Bake for about 25 minutes and check by touch

Pressing the baked sponge lightly to check that the surface springs back — Press the centre lightly: a baked sponge springs back

Bake for about 25 minutes, avoiding opening the door often. Ovens vary, so judge by the cake rather than the timer alone: the sponge is done when the centre springs back when pressed lightly and the edges are starting to come away from the sides of the pan.

STEP 77 / 12

Cool completely

STEP 7

Turn the sponge out onto a wire rack and let it cool completely. A warm sponge crumbles when cut and falls apart in the icing. SBS suggests baking the sponge the day before or chilling it for a few hours, which firms it and makes coating easier. If you're short on time, about 20 minutes in the freezer also firms it up; this step is optional.

STEP 88 / 12

Cut into 20 pieces

Cutting the fully cooled sponge into even squares — Cut only once the sponge is completely cold, and keep the pieces a similar size

SBS cuts the sponge into 20 pieces of roughly 5 cm. A 20 × 30 cm slab would divide into 24 exact 5 cm squares, so treat 5 cm as a guide: trimming any dry edges and dividing the slab into 20 pieces of similar size matters more than an exact measurement. A ruler helps keep the pieces even, which in turn keeps the amount of icing and the finished look consistent. Brush off any large crumbs.

STEP 99 / 12

Make the chocolate icing over a water bath

Melting cocoa and dark chocolate over a water bath to make the icing — Keep the icing smooth and fluid over gently simmering water

In a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, combine the 200 ml boiling water, 20 g cocoa and 150 g caster sugar, then add the chopped dark chocolate and stir until melted. The icing is ready when it is smooth and fluid enough to coat a piece of cake. Take care with steam and boiling water, and keep the bowl stable on the pan.

STEP 1010 / 12

Dip briefly and let the excess drip off

Dipping a cooled sponge square into chocolate icing with forks — Dip briefly on two forks and let the excess icing drip back into the bowl

Using two forks, dip one piece of sponge briefly into the icing, then lift it and let the excess drip back into the bowl. Keep the dip short: a long soak lets the sponge absorb too much icing, so it loses its shape and sheds crumbs into the bowl. Support the piece from underneath with the forks. When the icing cools and thickens, return the bowl to the water bath to loosen it.

STEP 1111 / 12

Roll in coconut with a second pair of forks

Rolling a chocolate-coated sponge in desiccated coconut — Use a second pair of forks to roll the iced sponge in coconut while the icing is still wet

Transfer the iced piece to a shallow tray of desiccated coconut and, using a separate, clean pair of forks, roll it until every side is covered. Keeping the coconut forks out of the icing stops the coconut from clumping. Roll rather than pressing hard, and do it before the icing dries.

STEP 1212 / 12

Leave to set

STEP 12

Place the finished lamingtons on baking paper or a wire rack and leave them until the coating has settled. Then they're ready to serve, ideally with tea.

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Ingredients

1 / 3

Sponge

Ingredient	Amount	Role and how to choose
Eggs	4 (about 55–60 g each)	Bring to room temperature so they whip to a stable foam
Caster sugar (superfine sugar)	150 g	Whipped with the eggs; gives sweetness and helps the foam hold its shape
Self-raising flour	150 g	Australian flour with raising agent already added. Do not add extra baking powder on top
Cornflour (cornstarch)	35 g	Australian "cornflour" is cornstarch. Use cornstarch; do not swap in potato starch
Chilled butter	25 g	Chopped, then melted in the boiling water below
Boiling water	80 ml	Melts the butter so it can be folded evenly into the batter

2 / 3

Chocolate icing

Ingredient	Amount	Role and how to choose
Boiling water	200 ml	Loosens the icing so it coats smoothly. Handle with care
Cocoa powder	20 g	Unsweetened cocoa, for colour and bitterness
Caster sugar	150 g	Sweetness and body for the icing
Dark chocolate (about 70%)	260 g	Chopped. Bitterness and how firmly the coating sets

3 / 3

To finish

Ingredient	Amount	Role and how to choose
Desiccated or shredded coconut	216 g	Unsweetened dried coconut, for aroma and texture on the outside

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Lamingtons: A Thin Chocolate Coat, a Snow of Coconut, and a Cup of Tea

What these squares should keep

A light, airy sponge; a thin film of dark chocolate icing rather than a thick shell; and dry coconut on every side. Most of the work toward that result happens before the icing bowl comes out: the sponge has to be completely cool.

A square of pale sponge is lowered on two forks into glossy chocolate icing, lifted out, and left to drip for a moment. Then it goes into a tray of desiccated coconut and is turned until every face is covered. That is a lamington, a cake that Old Government House at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) describes as a favourite at school and sports-club fundraising sales for more than a century, and one eaten with a cup of tea.

It looks simple, and the ingredient list is short. What decides whether it works is less the icing than the sponge underneath. A sponge that is still warm, or one whose air was knocked out during mixing, soaks up chocolate, sheds crumbs into the bowl and slumps on the fork. This recipe follows SBS Food's classic 20-piece lamington, built on a whisked-egg sponge and dark chocolate icing, and explains the signs to look for at each stage so you can judge by the state of the batter, cake and icing rather than by the clock alone.

Names

Lamington, lamingtons and the casual Australian "lammos" all refer to the same cake.

What a Lamington Is: Square Sponge, Chocolate Icing, Coconut

A lamington is a square of sponge cake coated in chocolate icing and then in desiccated coconut. The building blocks are the same across the recipes cited here: a cake square, a chocolate coating, and coconut on the outside.

Within that frame, recipes differ. SBS Food uses a whisked-egg sponge, lightened with cornflour and finished with a little melted butter. TAFE Queensland, by contrast, publishes a version based on a butter cake made by creaming butter, along with chocolate and vanilla icings and a raspberry jam option. Coles offers a version with jam or cream inside. These are treated below as separate variations; the ingredient table uses the SBS recipe only, without mixing in quantities from the others.

Origin Stories and a Recipe Printed in 1900

The question of who made the first lamington is still argued. According to the curator at QUT's Old Government House in Brisbane, the cake was created by the French chef Armand Galland for a large "At Home" held by Lady Lamington in June 1900, and was named after the Lamingtons. QUT presents this as the curator's view and also notes that other claims exist, including claims from elsewhere and from New Zealand. It is best read as one well-argued account rather than a settled fact.

What QUT can show more concretely is a printed record. It reprints a recipe titled "Lamington Cakes" that it says appeared in Queensland Country Life on 17 December 1900. Reading that early recipe beside a modern one is a reminder that the name has stayed while the method of making and assembling the cake has not stood still. Today's fully coated whisked sponge is one present-day way of making a cake whose name goes back more than a century.

Ingredients: 20 Pieces from a 20 × 30 cm Pan

Eggs, sugar, flour, cornstarch, butter, chocolate, cocoa and desiccated coconut laid out for lamingtons — The sponge, icing and coconut each need their own ingredients; weigh them using the table, not the photo

The quantities follow SBS Food's classic lamington. Weigh the dry ingredients and sugar rather than using cups. SBS's eggs are Australian standard eggs of about 55–60 g each, so choose eggs close to that size.

Reading Australian ingredient names

Cornflour in an Australian recipe means cornstarch. Potato starch is a different starch; don't treat the two as interchangeable at the same weight.
Self-raising flour already contains raising agent, and the blend varies by brand. This recipe has not confirmed a home-made substitute ratio, so use ready-made self-raising flour rather than guessing at a flour-plus-baking-powder mix.
Coconut: unsweetened desiccated coconut is the standard. Sweetened shredded coconut makes the whole cake sweeter and changes how the coconut clings.
Chocolate: about 70% dark chocolate gives bitterness and a coating that sets. Milk chocolate makes the icing sweeter and changes how it sets and how thick the coat feels.

Allergens

This recipe contains wheat, eggs and milk (butter). Check chocolate and cocoa labels for milk and other allergens, and keep in mind that coconut can be a concern for some eaters; check labelling on each product you use.

Pan and timing: a 20 × 30 cm (about 8 × 12 inch) rectangular pan. A dedicated lamington tin is just a pan of this size; any similar rectangular cake pan you already own will do. Allow about 30 minutes of preparation and about 25 minutes of baking, then extra time for cooling the sponge and for the coating to set. Give yourself a generous window rather than planning to finish in one hour.

Method: Whisk, Fold, Bake, Cool, Coat

The two places that decide the result

The thickness of the egg foam before the flour goes in, and the temperature of the sponge before it meets the icing. Everything else is careful handling.

Dense, Crumbling, Patchy: Fixing Common Problems

Problem	Likely cause	What to do
The sponge is dense and heavy	The eggs weren't beaten to a thick ribbon, or the batter was over-mixed after the flour went in	Check for the ribbon before adding flour. Fold rather than stir, and stop as soon as the dry flour disappears
The sponge falls apart in the icing	The sponge was still warm, or it sat in the icing too long	Cool it completely, and chill or briefly freeze it if needed. Dip briefly and support the piece from below with the forks
The icing is thick and the coat comes out heavy	The icing has cooled and thickened	Rewarm it over the water bath until fluid. Let each piece drip over the bowl before coating
The icing runs off and the coat is thin and patchy	The icing is too loose	Adjust the consistency and let it thicken slightly before dipping
The coconut won't stick	The icing has dried before rolling	Roll each piece in coconut straight after dipping. Spread the coconut in a shallow tray and turn the cake rather than pressing it in
Crumbs are floating in the icing	Loose crumbs on the cut pieces, or a soft, warm sponge	Brush crumbs off after cutting, and firm the sponge in the fridge or freezer before dipping

Storage

Once the lamingtons are completely cool and set, store them in an airtight container. They don't need reheating. Cream-filled versions must be refrigerated. How long they keep depends on your kitchen and the variation you make, and the recipes cited here differ, so this article doesn't give a fixed number of days; it is best to eat them soon.

Variations: Jam, Cream and a Butter-Cake Base

Keep the base recipe intact

Try the plain chocolate-and-coconut version first, then change one thing at a time.

A thin layer of jam. Coles shows a version with jam inside, and TAFE Queensland's recipe includes raspberry jam. To try it with this sponge, wait until the sponge is completely cool, then spread jam thinly between layers before coating. Keep the jam thin so the pieces still hold together on the forks.
Cream-filled. Coles also suggests cream as a filling. Treat this as a separate cake from the base recipe: once cream goes in, the lamingtons need to be kept in the fridge.
A butter-cake base. TAFE Queensland's "best-ever" lamingtons use a cake made by creaming butter rather than whisking eggs, which gives a different texture and workflow from the light SBS sponge. Both are examples of how home recipes differ; follow one recipe's quantities rather than combining them.
Different icings. Alongside chocolate, TAFE Queensland offers a vanilla icing option, so the outer coat is another place where recipes vary.

Fundraising Sales and Afternoon Tea

Lamingtons served with tea as an afternoon treat — Lamingtons are often described as a cake to share alongside a cup of tea

QUT's Old Government House describes lamingtons as a cake that has been baked for school and sports-club fundraising sales for more than 100 years, and as something eaten with a cup of tea. The shape suits that role well: a single slab cut into squares makes many even pieces that can be coated, set and handed out one at a time, with no slicing at the table.

That description is about how the cake has been shared, not a rule for every Australian table. At home, a plate of lamingtons next to a pot of tea is a natural way to serve them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use potato starch instead of cornflour?

It's better not to. In an Australian recipe, cornflour means cornstarch, and it helps keep this sponge light. Potato starch is a different starch, so swapping it in at the same weight is not a like-for-like replacement. Use cornstarch.

I don't have self-raising flour. What should I do?

Self-raising flour already contains raising agent, and the blend differs by brand. A substitute ratio has not been confirmed for this recipe, so the most reliable choice is ready-made self-raising flour. If you use it, don't add extra baking powder.

Why does my sponge collapse into the chocolate?

Check three things in order: whether the sponge was completely cool, whether the egg foam was knocked out during folding, and whether each piece stayed in the icing too long. Chilling the sponge before coating, dipping briefly and supporting each piece from below with the forks all help.

Can I bake the sponge the day before?

Yes. SBS recommends baking the sponge the day before or chilling it for a few hours, because a firmer sponge is easier to coat. Wrap it or keep it in an airtight container so it doesn't dry out.

Can I add jam?

Yes, as a variation. Spread a thin layer of jam between layers of the completely cooled sponge before coating. If you use cream instead, keep the lamingtons in the fridge.

What should I serve them with?

Tea. QUT describes lamingtons as a cake eaten with a cup of tea, as well as a long-standing fundraising bake. That's how they have been shared, not the only way people eat them.

For more dishes from the same country, see recipes from Australia.

Sources

SBS Food, "Classic lamington recipe." Used for the 20-piece recipe and its quantities, the 20 × 30 cm pan, oven temperatures of 180°C conventional / 160°C fan, the baking time of about 25 minutes, whisking the eggs and sugar and folding in the flour and butter liquid, cooling and chilling the sponge before coating, cutting into about 5 cm pieces, the water-bath chocolate icing, and dipping with forks before rolling in coconut. https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/classic-lamington/z49b7cotq
TAFE Queensland, "Best-ever lamingtons." Used as a comparison only: a separate recipe with a creamed-butter cake, chocolate and vanilla icings, and a raspberry jam option. Its quantities are not combined with the SBS recipe. https://tafeqld.edu.au/news-and-events/blogs/best-ever-lamingtons
Old Government House, Queensland University of Technology, "Battle of the Lamington." Used for lamingtons as a fundraising bake and a cake eaten with tea, the curator's account of the cake's origin and the existence of other claims, and the "Lamington Cakes" recipe it reprints from the 17 December 1900 Queensland Country Life. https://www.ogh.qut.edu.au/history/house-bites/house-bites2/battle-of-the-lamington
Coles, "Basic chocolate lamingtons." Used as supporting guidance on not over-folding the flour, checking that the baked sponge springs back, handling the icing with forks, and jam or cream fillings. Not used for cultural history, and its storage suggestions are not treated as a guaranteed shelf life. https://www.coles.com.au/recipes-inspiration/recipes/basic-chocolate-lamingtons