Ingredients

Vanilla Butter Cake

  1. 2 cups (440g) caster sugar

  2. 2 tsp Queen Vanilla Bean Paste

  3. 560g butter, unsalted, room temperature

  4. 4 cups (600g) self raising flour

  5. 6 large eggs

  6. 1 cup (250ml) sour cream

  7. 1 cup (250ml) milk

Chocolate Icing

  1. 3 cups (450g) icing sugar, sifted

  2. 1/2 cup (60g) cocoa, sifted

  3. 2 tbsp (40g) butter, softened

  4. 1/2 cup (125ml) boiling water

Vanilla Buttercream

  1. 250g butter, softened

  2. 3 cups (450g) icing sugar, sifted

  3. 1 tbsp Natural Vanilla Extract

  4. 1/2 cup (125ml) cream, chilled

Assembly

  1. 1 cup (250ml) raspberry jam

  2. 1 cup (90g) desiccated coconut.

Method - Vanilla Butter Cake

  1. 1

    Pre-heat the oven to 180C (fan forced). Grease and line two 20cm deep round tins with baking paper.

  2. 2

    Using a stand mixer or hand held beaters, cream together butter, sugar, and Vanilla Bean Paste until mixture is fluffy and light in colour. Incorporate the eggs one at a time.

  3. 3

    In a large jug, gently mix together sour cream and milk. Add a third of the flour to mixer and mix until combined. Add half the sour cream and milk and mix well. Repeat, alternating between flour and the milk mixture until all the ingredients are incorporated.

  4. 4

    Bake for 30-35 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in tin for 15 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.

Method - Chocolate Icing

  1. 1

    Sift icing sugar and cocoa into a large bowl. Add softened butter and water from a just boiled kettle. Use hand held beaters to beat the mixture until well combined.

Method - Vanilla Buttercream

  1. 1

    Sift icing sugar into a large bowl. Place butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until pale and fluffy. Add icing sugar 1/4 cup at a time until all icing sugar is incorporated. Add Vanilla Extract and continue beating for 5 minutes. Add cream and beat well until icing is thick and creamy.

Method - Assembly

  1. 1

    When ready to assemble, chill cake in fridge for 15 minutes to firm it up and make it easier to handle. Pour desiccated coconut onto tray and set aside.

  2. 2

    Use a large bread knife to slice each cake in two, then use a small offset spatula or bread knife to ice only the edges of the cake with chocolate icing. Immediately roll the edge of the iced cake through the coconut. Leave to one side.

  3. 3

    Place a little chocolate icing on cake stand and secure the first layer of Lamington Cake on it. Spread the layer with a generous amount of jam, and top with buttercream. Repeat with remaining layers. Spread the top of the cake with chocolate icing and sprinkle with desiccated coconut.

This lovely recipe is from our friends at Sweet Magazine.

Comments & Reviews

Total disaster. First cake in years that was a total failure. Cake mixture was too moist for the cook time, and way too much batter for 2 tins. Then cakes fell apart when trying to spread icing, which was super runny. Will not be making this again and recommend others avoid at all costs.

Jay

Hi Jay, this recipe does take a few go’s to perfect and can be a bit challenging! We definitely recommend measuring ingredients out before starting to make things easier & wish you well if you attempt it again!

Queen

A delicious sponge that was nice and buttery and held up well to a few days in the fridge! This recipe does make a HUGE amount of cake. Designed to get 4 layers of 3-4cm thick I reckon.
I quartered the recipe when testing it and it still turned out well, fitting a 20cm 3cm high round tin.
Then I made the full recipe and filled a 28x36cm roasting tin, cooking it slowly (60 +mins) well wrapped in brown paper. Two of these slab cakes on top of each other made for an impressive lamington cake for a farewell party! 50 people had a go at it and still some leftovers!

Sarah

Haven’t made this yet but will take note if tin size when i do

Jennifer

What a disaster of a recipe! The ingredients make enough for four tins! Used 2 20cm tins and the mix is all through my oven and is not cooking. So disappointed and cross…

Deb

Hi Deb, oh no! We’re so sorry to hear it didn’t work out for you 🙁 This recipe was submitted by our friends at Sweet Magazine, so we’ll pass that feedback on to the team. In the meantime, we’ve checked the quantities against one of our Queen cakes, and amended the recipe method to use “deep” tins.

Queen Fine Foods