Blackcurrant and Coconut Lamingtons

It’s day three of my Australia Day recipe special and I’m very excited to share with you all my Blackcurrant and Coconut Lamingtons! I’ve been so surprised this year to see so many people recreating and sharing photos of lamingtons. They seem to be all over social media. Seeing this humble, classic Australian dessert being featured, inspired me to create my own version.

In this recipe, I take two squares of butter cake, dip them in a white chocolate and blackcurrant ganache and roll them in shredded coconut. I add a nice thick layer of whipped coconut ganache, some blackcurrant jam, then sandwich the two layers together. It’s divine!

In my ganache, I use freeze-dried blackcurrant powder. It’s available to purchase here, or you can simply omit it and have a plain white chocolate ganache.

Print Recipe

Blackcurrant and Coconut Lamingtons

Prep Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 55 minutes mins

Servings: 4 -6

Ingredients

For the Coconut Whipped Ganache (make the night before)

• • 160g of couverture white chocolate chopped into small pieces
• • 180g of coconut cream
• • 200g of pure cream cold

For the Butter Cake

• • 125g of butter at room temperature
• • 150g of caster sugar
• • 2 eggs
• • 1 vanilla bean seeds scraped
• • 250g of flour
• • 2 tsp of baking powder
• • 160ml of milk at room temperature

For the white Chocolate & Blackcurrant Ganache

• • 200g of white chocolate
• • 200ml of cream
• • 2tbsp of freeze-dried blackcurrant powder

To Assemble

• • 150g of shredded coconut
• • Some blackcurrant jam

Instructions

The Coconut Whipped Ganache

• Place the white chocolate in a bowl and set aside.
• In a small saucepan, gently heat the coconut cream until it starts to boil. Be careful not to heat it too quickly as it can stick the bottom of the pan and easily burn. Once it starts to boil, pour half over the chocolate. Whisk the coconut cream and chocolate together until almost all the chocolate has melted. Add the second half of the coconut cream and whisk again. Finally add the cold, pure cream and place in the fridge for at least 12 hours.
• The next day, whip the coconut ganache with an electric beater until stiff peaks form. Transfer into a piping bag fitted with a star tip and set aside in the fridge.

The Butter Cake

• Preheat oven to 180°C & line a baking tray, roughly 20cm x 30cm with baking paper.
• Beat together the butter and sugar for 5 mins. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla.
• Sift the flour and baking powder. Add 1/3 to the eggs and butter. Mix for a couple of seconds, then add ½ the milk. Mix again and add 1/3 more flour, the rest of milk, followed by the remaining flour. Mix until just incorporated. If you over-mix the batter, the cake will be dense and hard.
• Pour the cake batter into the prepared tray and bake for 25 minutes or until you can insert a knife and it comes out clean.
• Allow to cool then cut into 8-10 squares, depending on how large you would like your lamingtons. Set aside.

The white Chocolate & Blackcurrant Ganache

• Chop up the chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl. Place the cream in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk well, then add the blackcurrant powder. Allow to cool slightly.

To Assemble

• Take the squares of butter cake and dip them in the ganache, then roll them in coconut. Pipe blobs of ganache on one side of the lamington squares then use a teaspoon or piping bag to add some blackcurrant jam. Add the top layer of cake and place in the fridge for half an hour to allow the ganache to firm up.