Sunday, and day 24 of Cupcake a Day May. Time for some Lamington Cupcakes.

Lamingtons are the classic Australian and New Zealand bakery treat – a cube of sponge cake, usually coated in chocolate icing and tossed in coconut, then filled with whipped cream and decorated with a little dab of jam. You can also get “pink lamingtons” – where the sponge is tossed in raspberry jelly. They are pretty hard to resist!

I really like options when it comes to Lamingtons, so there are two flavours here – Classic Chocolate, and Raspberry Pinot Noir. White chocolate ganache Lamingtons are good too – something for another blog!

The Raspberry Pinot Noir flavour is my own thing. I love raspberry jelly lamingtons, but really love it when the jelly has that extra edge. Plus then they are the perfect flavour match with red wine, great for a cooler evening! Who says Lamingtons are all about afternoon tea?

I’m tired today and I have to confess that I had three sponge fails before I got these cupcakes. There shouldn’t have been so many fails – the first recipe should have worked fine… but I was tired, so I switched recipes. The second was too dense. The third I maybe forgot the baking powder, or maybe I didn’t fill the cases up enough, but finally, the fourth one stayed up! (Sounds like a scene from Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail…). Anyway, I am really happy with the sponge recipe – it’s beautifully light and has just a little richness from the addition of custard powder in the mixture.

Anyway, these cupcakes are light as air and just scrumptious – and so much less messy to make than dipping a full cube of sponge to make a square lamington!

Here’s how to make them.

Lamington Cupcakes

makes 12

Sponge cupcakes

ingredients

3 eggs
pinch of salt
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup minus 1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp custard powder
1 tsp baking powder
50g salted butter, melted

1 1/2 cups shredded coconut, for the topping
Classic Chocolate Icing, for topping half the cupcakes
Raspberry Pinot Noir Jelly, for topping the other half of the cupcakes
200mL cream, whipped until stiff peaks form, filling the cupcakes
a few teaspoons of raspberry jam, for decoration

mixing

Line a 12 hole muffin pan with cupcake cases, spray well with non-stick spray.

Gather all your ingredients and measure them out so that they are all ready to add into the mixture – this is important with sponge cakes! Make sure the oven is preheated – 190 degrees Celsius.

Beat the eggs and salt until very foamy. Add the sugar and beat until all the sugar has dissolved and the mixture forms a ribbon when you pour it from a spoon. Sift over the flour, custard powder and baking powder, using the back of a large metal spoon to fold the flour into the egg mixture. Fold in the butter. Be gentle and deliberate during the folding process to ensure you keep all the air in your mixture.

Immediately spoon the sponge mixture into the cupcake cases, filling them almost to the top. Bake for about 15-18 minutes at 190 degrees Celsius, or until the sponges are well risen, and lightly touching the top with your finger will cause a small indentation which does not bounce back. The sponges will be very “whispery” when you take them out – that’s okay.

Let the cupcakes cool completely. While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the chocolate and raspberry toppings.

When the cupcakes are cold, poke them all over with a chopstick, to make holes for the toppings to seep into.

Paint half the cupcakes with the chocolate topping, and half with the runny raspberry jelly topping and let it sink in a while. Put the raspberry jelly back into the refrigerator to let it set until it starts to gel.

While the jelly is starting to set, dip the chocolate cupcakes. Pour half the coconut into a shallow bowl. Dip a cupcake in the chocolate icing up to the edge of the cupcake case. Immediately dip the top of the cupcake into the coconut, making sure to get the coconut all around the edges of the cupcake.

When the jelly has begun to gel (it will be runny but thick), repeat the dipping process for the raspberry cupcakes, using the other half of the coconut. For these cupcakes, when you have completed the first dip and coconut coat for each cupcake, repeat the process again, so that there is a good jelly/coconut layer.

Let the cupcakes set at room temperature – about half an hour.

When the cupcakes are set, load the whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with a narrow (about 3 mm) star nozzle. Push the nozzle all the way into the center of each cupcake and squeeze the piping bag to fill the center of the cupcake with cream. You will see the top of the cupcake swell a little when there is a good amount of cream inside. Withdraw the nozzle, and pipe a rosette of cream on top of the hole.  Place a dab of raspberry jam on top of the cream rosette – about 1/8 tsp.

Classic Chocolate Icing

if you want to make 12 chocolate cupcakes, double this recipe

1 cup icing sugar
4 tsp cocoa powder
1/4 cup hot water
10g melted butter

Combine all ingredients and stir until very smooth.

Raspberry Pinot Noir Jelly

if you want to make 12 raspberry cupcakes, double this recipe

1/2 package (40g) raspberry jelly crystals
50mL hot water
50mL pinot noir
1 tsp freeze dried raspberry powder (I use Fresh As Raspberry Powder), optional

Add the hot water to the jelly crystals and stir until the gelatin has all dissolved. You may need to heat the mixture gently during this process, a few seconds in the microwave at a time – don’t let it boil! Stir in the Pinot noir and the raspberry powder, if you are using it. Let the mixture cool a little.

Enjoy!xxx