Key Lime Lamingtons
It’s the 27th of the month, which means it’s time for another Daring Bakers’ challenge! Before we get started, I would just like to say how happy I am to be apart of this fabulous online community. I started this blog to learn all the ins and outs about baking and pastry, but since joining the Daring Bakers I have learned so much about desserts from all around the world. Today’s challenge has been issued by Marcellina from the lovely site Macellina In Cucina. We were asked to make Lamingtons, a very popular, Australian dessert. Traditionally, the Lamington is a genoise cake cut into squares, covered with a thin layer of chocolate icing, and rolled in shredded coconut. The coconut helps keep your fingers clean while you eat, and the tiny portion size helps keep you from feeling guilty about eating so many at once! I decided to do a variation on the original. I made a Key Lime Pie for Mother’s Day, and I had some ingredients left over, so I made Key Lime Lamingtons–key lime butter cake drenched in white chocolate/key lime ganache, and covered with coconut. Yummy!
I made the Illustrated Step-By-Step Baking’s high-ratio lemon-butter cake, and added lime zest and key lime juice in place of the lemon juice. High-ratio cake is basically a cake that has a high sugar content in relation to the flour, and the wet ingredients are added at the end (usually in two stages, but not in this case). To make the cake, you sift the dry ingredients into a bowl, add the butter, and mix until it looks like fine bread crumbs. In another bowl, mix the milk and eggs and then add that to the butter mixture. Finally, add your lime zest and juice. Pour into your prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. The cake didn’t rise too much (I’m not sure if it was the cake pan I chose or the recipe), but it worked since it would be topped with ganache and covered in coconut.
When the cake has baked and cooled cut it up into squares. I used a ruler and a serrated knife for this part.
To make the white chocolate ganache, bring heavy cream and corn syrup to a boil. Then pour over the chopped white chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted, then add lime juice and sifted powdered sugar. Mix until smooth.
To assemble, take a large baking sheet, line it with parchment paper, then place a wire rack over top. Put the cake squares on the rack, and then drizzle each with the ganache. Use an off-set spatula to smooth it out on each side.
Roll each ganache-coated square in the coconut. Then place back on the rack. I refrigerated the Lamingtons until ready to serve.
Voila!
- 1 1/2 cups (156 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1 cup (199 g) Sugar
- 1/2 tsp. Salt
- 7 TBS (98 g) Unsalted Butter, softened
- 3 Large Eggs, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup Milk
- 3 TBS Key Lime Juice (I used Nellie & Joe's Famous Key Lime juice)
- Finely grated zest of 1 lime
- 1 cup Heavy Cream
- 1 TBS Corn Syrup
- 1 cup (125 g) White Chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 2 TBS Key Lime Juice (I used Nellie & Joe's Famous Key Lime juice)
- 1 Cup ( 63 g) Powdered Sugar, sifted (you might need to use more if you want a thicker consistency)
- 3 cups Desecrated Coconut
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13-inch cake pan and line with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, sift together the flour and baking powder. Add the sugar, salt and butter. Mix until it resembles fine bread crumbs. In another bowl, whisk the eggs and milk until well blended.
- Pour in the egg mixture to the butter mixture and combine. Add the lime zest and all the key lime juice. Mix gently until smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 25 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean when inserted. Let cool on wire rack.
- Place white chocolate in a large, heat-proof bowl. Set aside. In a saucepan, bring the heavy cream and corn syrup to a boil. Once boiled, pour the cream mixture over the chopped white chocolate and let sit for one minute. Slowly stir the white chocolate mixture until smooth, about 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in the key lime juice, then the powdered sugar. Add more powdered sugar to get the consistency you desire. Set aside to cool for about an hour or so.
- Using a ruler and a serrated knife, cut the cake into 1-inch squares. Place each square on a wire rack over parchment paper. Drizzle the ganache over top and sides. Use a off-set spatula to smooth it out on each side. Roll each ganache-coated square in coconut. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Standing mixer
- 9x13-inch cake pan
- Parchment paper
- Large cookie sheet
- Wire rack
- Off-set spatula
- Zester
- Serrated knife
- Ruler
