Lamingtons. So New Zealand. Kiwifruit. Completely New Zealand. And yet as far as I know, the two have never met each other! Let me tell you the story of how Kiwifruit Lamingtons were born.
For those not in the antipodes, a lamington is a cube of sponge cake, dipped in runny chocolate icing and coated in coconut. The other classic variation is the “pink” lamington, where the sponge is dipped in a barely-set raspberry jelly (habitually made from jelly crystals, but see my post on Lamington Cupcakes for a classier take: Raspberry Pinot Noir Lamingtons). Lamingtons are generally split in half and filled with whipped cream, then decorated with a little splodge of raspberry jam. To my mind, the cream and jam are essential, not only for taste and texture, but because your standard bakery lamington can be a bit dry. I think this is because they were traditionally made with day old sponge cake (not sure if this was a bakery “cake extending” feat or not). Never fear – my lamington sponge cake recipe is anything but, and you certainly won’t be using old sponge cake! Having said that, you could cheat by buying a slab of sponge cake from the supermarket if you are short on time.
I had a slab of raspberry lamington in the Koru Lounge at Queenstown airport last week which was decorated with the regulation whipped cream, but instead of regulation raspberry jam decoration, it had a little piece of kiwifruit on it. Very Air New Zealand. Of course, cream and kiwifruit go together amazingly. It is not for nothing that the traditional New Zealand topping for pavlova is cream and sliced green kiwifruit. But I discovered in a few short bites that cream and coconut and sponge cake and kiwifruit are also amazing. And kiwifruit have that bright green colour… perfect for a lamington, bright enough to look beautiful with a coconut coating. I took off from the Land of the Long White Cloud knowing that a Kiwifruit Lamington would be the next baking task.
The theory was simple enough. Make a kiwifruit puree to be the jelly base. Small issue though – kiwifruit is full of protein destroying enzymes which could counteract the gelling properties of the gelatine. Two solutions: use a different setting agent, like agar agar, or heat up the puree to destroy the enzymes. As I only had gelatine in the house, I went for the latter. Heating the puree above 80 degrees Celsius worked perfectly, although it did destroy the green colour a little, a problem easily fixed with a touch of green colouring.
I find in this blog as the baking experiments unfold that I am starting to run out of superlatives but I have to say, Kiwifruit Lamingtons are simply sensational! Tart, sweet, tropical, and impossibly soft and moist. Unbelievably good! Oh yeah, and sooooo pretty.
Kiwifruit Lamingtons
makes 20
Lamington Sponge Cake
ingredients
4 eggs
2/3 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
40g potato starch or cornflour
40g flour
40g self raising flour
mixing
Line a 20×25 cm rectangular cake pan with bake paper. The easiest way to do this is to fold a single sheet of paper up at the edges, like wrapping half a present. Secure the corners with a staple.
Beat the eggs until very foamy and pale. Beat in the sugar in a thin stream, add vanilla, beat until the sugar is dissolved. Sift over the flours and fold in to the mixture.
Spread into prepared pan, smooth gently and bang the pan a few times on the bench to release any bubbles.
Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 23 minutes. The sponge will be risen, golden, and will have slightly shrunk away form the sides of the pan. Let cool on a wire rack. When cold, trim the sides of the cake so they are vertical and cut into 20 even cubes (they will be about 3.5cm along each edge). Set aside.
Kiwifruit jelly
ingredients
7 leaves gelatine (14g)
600g kiwifruit (about 6 large kiwifruit) , to yield 390g sieved kiwifruit purée
60g sugar
90g water
A touch of green food colouring gel, optional
mixing
Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 10 minutes.
Peel, dice and purée the kiwifruit (taking care to remove all the woody stem attachment from the fruit – this can make sieving a pain!). Pass the purée through a sieve to remove the seeds (a few but might get through, that’s okay). Transfer 390g of the purée into a small saucepan and add the sugar and the water. Heat the mixture to 85 degrees Celsius – or just until the mixture starts to simmer – remove immediately when you see it start to bubble! Let cool a little, then squeeze the excess water from the gelatine leaves and add to the hot kiwifruit mixture. Stir until the gelatine has completely dissolved.
Tint the mixture a brighter green if desired. Let the mixture cool, stirring occasionally, until it just begins to gel. You can speed up the process by refrigerating the mixture. As soon as the jelly starts to gel, you are ready to dip and roll!
Assembly
20 sponge cake cubes, about 3.5cm each side
Kiwifruit Jelly, just starting to gel
3-4 cups shredded coconut, for coating
180 mL whipping cream, for filling
2 tbsp raspberry jam, to decorate
1 kiwifruit, peeled sliced and cut into 1cm triangles, to decorate
Place the coconut and kiwifruit jelly into shallow dishes. Working as quickly as you are able, dip each sponge cube into the kiwifruit jelly until well coated, then roll in the coconut, patting the coconut into the jellied sides of the sponge cubes.
Set on a wire rack or a tray lined with bake paper. Let the Lamingtons set in the refrigerator for about an hour.
Whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Load the cream into a piping bag fitted with a narrow star nozzle. Make a deep slit in the centre of each Lamington and gently squeeze cream into the centre of the sponge. Decorate the top of each cake with a scroll of cream.
Top each Lamington with a little triangle of kiwifruit and a blob of raspberry jam.
Enjoy! xxx
