These rainbow fairy bread lamingtons are the ultimate marriage between two classic Aussie desserts. Perfect for any day you need some sunshine and sprinkles in your life.
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Lamingtons and fairy bread are two classic, iconic deserts Australia is known for the world over. On the one hand, light sponge cake dipped in chocolate icing and coconut (with or without jam and cream!). On the other, a simple kids party food with lots of fun, color and most importantly sprinkles!
As an Aussie I grew up eating both of these regularly. I wanted to see if I could combine these two Aussie icons into one epic dessert. And I'm so happy with the results!
Light sponge cake coated with a delicious white chocolate icing, covered with lots of fabulous rainbow hundreds and thousands. The result is a dessert that is bright, colorful and so much fun. I challenge you not to smile when eating them 🙂
They are perfect to celebrate Australia Day, for a kid's party or any day you need some sunshine and sprinkles in your life.
Looking for traditional lamingtons? Check out my recipe including lots more info on the history of this Aussie icon.
Ingredients
White self-raising flour: white self-raising flour is best for this recipe, I haven't tried it with wholemeal flour. You could also use all-purpose flour mixed with baking powder if you prefer to make your own.
Corn flour: also known as corn starch and can be labeled as wheaten cornflour or corn (maize). The cornflour makes the cake crumb softer and makes for a lighter sponge cake.
White sugar: white sugar is best in this recipe. You could use castor sugar if you prefer. I don't recommend using other types of sugar, they will be hard to dissolve and will interfere with the flavor and your cake rising.
Eggs: I use large eggs in this recipe, approx. 55 gms each with shells before cracking. Your egg should be at room temperature before you start baking. Usually leaving the eggs on the countertop for thirty minutes before baking is sufficient.
Butter: I used unsalted butter in this recipe. It's important your butter is a room temperature before you start baking so your batter comes together and your cake rises. It can take anywhere from thirty minutes to one hour for the butter on the countertop to come to room temperature.
Milk: I use full cream milk in pretty much all my recipes because it tastes better. In this recipe you could try using reduced fat, but it's cake! Low-fat milk won't make much difference 🙂
Vanilla essence: sometimes also called vanilla extract, depending on where you live. You can use either, or imitation vanilla essence, depending on your preference and budget.
Icing sugar: also known as powdered sugar. You need the fine sugar to dissolve properly in the icing. At a pinch you could try blending regular white sugar into powdered sugar with a powerful blender, although I haven't tried this.
White chocolate: white chocolate keeps the chocolate element in these lamingtons, without competing with the color of the sprinkles. Chocolate melts or baking white chocolate is fine, you don't need to use premium chocolate unless you want to.
Hundreds and thousands: an essential ingredient in any fairy bread. Also known as nonpareils or jimmies, they are small round sprinkles. Look for bright rainbow colors that will really make your cakes pop!
How to make fairy bread lamingtons
Preheat your oven to 160°C fan-forced (180°C/355°F conventional/non-fan forced).
Grease and line the cake tin. Lamingtons are usually made in a 9" x 12" slice pan, however I find they work well in a square cake tin which gives them extra height.
Sift your flour and cornflour together three times to aerate the flour and help make your sponge cake nice and fluffy.
Add the butter, sugar, and vanilla essence to a mixing bowl. Mix together with electric hand beaters or in a stand mixer until pale. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well in between each addition. If you are using a stand mixer at this point I recommend switching to hand mixing from here.
Add half the flour and cornflour mix and gently fold in using a spatula or spoon. To fold run the spatula around the end of the mix, then drag it through the middle, turning the spatula over as you pull through. Repeat, in roughly figure of eight motions in the batter, scooping round the edge and folding through the middle until the flour is mixed in, in a slow and steady motion.
Add the milk and fold into the mix. Add the rest of the flour and cornflour and fold in. Scrap the batter into the prepared cake tin and smooth it down around the edges. Bake for 30 minutes or until cake is cooked through, is golden brown on top. The cake should spring back when lightly pressed and a skewer inserted into the center to come out clean and not covered in sticky batter.
Allow the cake to cool completely. Remove from the pan, then trim the smooth cooked edges to expose the rough cake surface underneath. Using a large serrated knife cut the cake into large squares. If you want perfect squares you can use a ruler if you really want.
Return the cake pieces to the cake tin and freeze for one hour before coating. Some recipes say to make the cake the day before to make it easier to coat. You can do this, but also means you end up eating day-old cake. Freezing the cake is quicker, and makes it less crumbly and easier to coat in chocolate.
About twenty minutes before the cake is ready make the white chocolate icing. Sift the icing sugar. Do not skip this step, especially if you are in Australia or a humid climate as you icing will be lumpy!
Add the icing sugar, white chocolate buttons and milk to the top of the double boiler. If you don't have a double boiler you can use a heat-proof bowl that will fit snugly into a medium to a large pot of boiling water, taking care not to burn yourself on the edge of the bowl. Reduce heat to low and stir icing until mixture thickens slightly.
Remove from heat and set up your assembly area with the frozen cake on the left, white chocolate icing in the double boiler, shallow cake tin with hundreds and thousands and a cooling rack on top of a baking tray to catch the drips of coconut. Make sure you put something heatproof underneath the double boiler to protect the bench surface.
One at a time drop each piece of cake into the white chocolate icing, using a fork to flip it over and make sure it's well coated. Lift the cake out of the icing with the fork, holding it above the icing and allowing the extra to drip off well.
Put the cake carefully into the tray of hundreds and thousands. Using Different forks, roll the cake around ensuring its well coated. You can also pile the sprinkles up around the sides and top the cake and gently pat it down to help the sprinkles stick. Transfer the coated cake to the cooling rack and repeat until all slices are done.
Hot tip: You will end up with extra white chocolate icing and sprinkles at the end. I found if I reduced the amounts too much it make it harder to coat the cake. The leftover sprinkles can be transferred to another container to use another time.
Wait at least thirty minutes to allow the icing to set before transferring onto a plate. You can speed this process up by putting the tray into the fridge if you have space.
If you are making plan lamingtons you can stop here. If you want to make filled lamingtons cut then in half, spread one side with jam and add whipped cream, then put the other side on top.
How to serve
To serve put the kettle on to make a cuppa, put the lamingtons, either filled or unfilled onto a plate and enjoy!
How to store
These fun colourful lamingtons are best eaten on the day they are made, but will store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.
If you have added jam and cream then any leftover cakes will need to be refrigerated in a covered container in the fridge.
Have you made this recipe? Tell me how it went in the comments below!
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📖 Recipe
Fairy bread lamingtons
Equipment
- 20 cm (8 inch) square cake tin or rectangular 9' x 12' slice tin.
- Double boiler or a heat proof bowl you can put over a pot of boiling water.
- electric hand beaters or stand mixer
Ingredients
Sponge cake
- 1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (125gms) room temperature butter
- ¾ cup (165gms) white sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 & ½ cups (225gms) self raising flour
- ¼ cup (35gms) cornflour
- ½ cup (125mls) full cream milk
White chocolate icing
- 2 & ½ cups (400gms) icing sugar or powdered sugar
- 1 cup (150gms) white chocolate melts
- ½ cup full cream milk
Coating
- 2 - 3 packets (190gms each/570gms total) rainbow hundreds and thousands
Optional filling
- ¼ cup strawberry jam
- ½ cup whipped cream
Instructions
Sponge cake
- Pre-heat your oven to 160°C fan forced (180°C/355°F conventional/non fan forced). Grease and line the cake tin.
- Sift the flour and cornflour together three times. This helps ensure a light fluffy sponge.
- Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together with electric hand beaters or stand mixer until pale.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition.
- Add half the flour and corn flour in the butter and sugar mix. Fold in gently. Add the milk, fold in gently.
- Add the rest of the flour and corn flour, fold in gently. You want to make sure its all mixed together properly, but be gentle with the mix.
- Transfer to lined cake tin and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool at least ten minutes before removing from the tin. Allow cake to cool completely before cutting and moving onto the next step.
- Cut cake into squares. Transfer back to cake tin and freeze for one hour.
White chocolate icing
- Sift the icing sugar. Add the sugar, white chocolate melts and milk to the top of the double boiler. Put the pan on low and stir until icing is mixed in well and melted together. Stir on medium low until the mix thickens slightly.
To assemble the lamingtons
- Put the hundreds and thousands into a shallow baking tray.
- Set up your assembly area with sponge cake on the left, white chocolate icing in the middle (put something heatproof under the pot to protect the work surface), then tray with hundreds and thousands, then cooling rack on a tray.
- Drop the sponge cake pieces into the icing one at a time. Flip the cake piece over with a fork, ensuring the all of the cake is coated. Carefully lift the cake on the fork, allowing the excess icing to drain off.
- Place the cake onto the tray of hundreds and thousands. Using two different forks to the one you used to dip the cake, carefully move around the cake, ensuring it's coated on all sides. You can pile the sprinkles on and around the cake and gently pat it down to help with this process.
- Transfer the sprinkles coated cake to the cooling rack. Repeat with the other pieces of cake.
- Allow to set for at least 30 mins before transfer to a plate. You can speed up the setting process by putting the tray into the fridge if you have space.
Optional filling
- Cut the lamingtons in half, add a spoon full of jam and whipped cream, then close.
- Transfer to a plate, dig in and enjoy!
Notes
- The time in the recipe includes hand on preparation time and cooking time. It does not include cooling or setting time.
- I used a 20cm (8 inch) square cake tin and cut my lamingtons into 9 slices as I like them nice and big and high. You could also use a rectangular 9' x 12' slice tin and/or cut them into smaller pieces.
- Use brightly colored rainbow hundreds and thousands. If you can't get hundreds and thousands you could use rainbow round nonpareils.
- These rainbow lamingtons are perfect to celebrate Australia Day or a fun kid's party (and the grown-ups love them too!)
- You will end up with extra white chocolate icing and sprinkles at the end. I found if I reduced the amounts too much it make it harder to coat the cake. The leftover sprinkles can be transferred to another container to use another time.
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