Australian Lamington Roll Cake

In honor of Australia Day (Jan 26) I whipped up a Lamington roll cake! Missed Australia Day? No worries, Lamington roll cake is delicious any day of the year.

What’s Lamington Roll Cake?

Lamington roll cake is a tender sponge cake filled with jam and whipped cream, rolled up, and then drenched in chocolate sauce and coconut.

Sounds delicious, right?

That’s because is!

This roll cake is a variation on the more traditional Australian Lamingtons, which are squares of sponge or butter cake dipped in chocolate sauce and coconut flakes, as you see in the photo below.

What makes this cake so delicious is that the jam inside the cake and chocolate sauce on the outside soak into the cake, giving it a delicious taste and texture.

This cake is easy to make from scratch. There are 3 primary steps to make this roll cake:

1. Make the sponge cake.

2. Whip the cream, make the chocolate sauce, grab the coconut.

3. Assemble the cake!

It only takes a few minutes to make the batter and a mere 10 minutes to bake the cake.

The cream is easy to whip, and the chocolate sauce only takes a few minutes to prepare on the stove.

The hardest part? Waiting for the rolled up cake to cool before assembling and then devouring it. 🙂

What You Need to Make This Recipe

Ingredients:

• eggs
• sugar
• flour
• corn starch
• heavy cream
• strawberry jam (or use your favorite flavor)
• shredded or desiccated unsweetened coconut
• powdered sugar
• cocoa powder
• butter
• milk

Kitchen Tools:

• mixing bowls
• sifter
• hand mixer or stand mixer
• spatula
• jelly roll pan
• parchment paper
• clean tea towel (for rolling up the cake)
• wire cooling rack
• palette knife
• serving platter

How to Make an Australian Lamington Roll Cake

Heat your oven to 400F.

Beat 3 eggs until they are light and foamy using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment (what I prefer to use) or a hand mixer. Then add the sugar one tablespoon at a time.

Sift the flour and 1 tablespoon of corn starch into a small bowl, then use a plastic spatula to fold into the cake batter.

Pour the cake batter into a 10 x 12 inch (25x30cm) jelly roll pan lined with parchment. Spread the cake batter so it covers the pan evenly.

Bake for about 10 minutes. The cake should be dry to the touch and spring back a bit.

While the cake is baking, lay a clean tea towel on the counter and sprinkle it liberally with powdered sugar (this will prevent the cake from sticking to the towel).

When the cake is finished baking, take it out of the oven and carefully turn it out onto the tea towel.

Then carefully peel off the parchment. Place the parchment back on the top of the cake. Carefully roll up the cake with the tea towel on the bottom of the cake and the parchment on the top. Doing this while the cake is warm will enable you to unroll and then re-roll the cake once it has cooled.

Let the rolled cake sit on the counter until completely cool.

While the cake is cooling, whip heavy cream to stiff peaks.

Once the cake has cooled, make the chocolate sauce by combining powdered sugar, cocoa powder, butter, and milk in a double boiler or a heat-proof bowl placed over a saucepan with simmering water. Stir the mixture until the butter has melted and everything is well combined.

Now for the fun part: cake assembly!

Carefully unroll the cake and spread the strawberry jam on the inside of the cake.

Then spread a nice thick layer of whipped cream on the jam.

Note; I added a little too much whipped cream to my roll and it spilled out after I rolled it up. It’s easy enough to fix – just wipe it off with a spatula. But it’s better to leave a whipped-cream-free border around the sides when you spread on the whipped cream.

Roll up your cake and place it seam side down on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet or sheets of wax or parchment paper(this will allow the chocolate sauce to drip off the cake).

Spoon chocolate sauce over the top and sides of the cake roll until it’s thoroughly coated.

Sprinkle the unsweetened shredded or desiccated coconut over the entire cake roll.

Note: I had shredded coconut, so that’s what I used but desiccated coconut seems to be used more frequently. Unfortunately for me, desiccated coconut is harder to find in my area.

Finally, slice and enjoy!

The verdict?

This cake is fun and easy to make, and I loved the combination of jam, whipped cream, chocolate, and coconut. I also liked that it’s a light cake that’s not sugary sweet.

If you give this cake a try, let me know how you like it!

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