Forget Frosting and Give Your Cupcakes the Lamington Treatment

A mighty glob of buttercream frosting looks appealing on a cupcake, but my quick hack for eating such a cupcake is to remove the liner off the bottom, use the liner to pull off the frosting, then throw the liner and frosting into a burning trash can. This keeps your fingers clean. Or, if you are similarly buttercream avoidant, you can avoid that wasteful business and decorate your cupcakes with a sweet—but not cloying—lamington-style topping.

The lamington is a delightful Australian butter cake that is cut into single-serving squares and usually dunked in chocolate icing, though adding a layer of jam inside, or even coating the cake in jam instead of chocolate, is also common. After coating the cake in a thin layer of your chosen topping, the entire cube is rolled in shredded, desiccated coconut. The combination of buttery cake, nudge of chocolate icing, and subtle accent of coconut is much more balanced than a heavy smear of buttercream frosting.

Giving cupcakes the lamington treatment is surprisingly fast, and requires no decorating skills because the coconut covers up your errors. Lamingtons also travel well without getting banged up. To make your own, bake a batch of vanilla, butter, or yellow cake cupcakes. Once they’re cool, pop them in the freezer for about 45 minutes. This chill time makes decorating them three times faster, and a world neater. If you frost them at room temperature, you have to handle them carefully to prevent any accidental rips and tears. (This goes for most cakes.)

Using a butter knife or small offset spatula, spread a thin layer of chocolate lamington icing, raspberry jam, or Nutella (my preferred chocolate coating) on top of the semi-frozen cupcake. The topping should be mostly opaque, about ⅛-inch thick or less. (You should be able to feel the cake through the frosting layer if you were to touch it.) The chocolate or jam topping will chill on contact, slowing it down and making it less gooey. This is helpful for the next step. Roll the cupcake tops in a small bowl of shredded, desiccated coconut flakes. The chilled icing will pick up a thin layer of coconut, giving your cupcake a flawless finish.

Chocolate icing is classic for a lamington, but red jam would be pretty darn cute for Valentine’s Day. Let the cupcakes come to room temperature, and enjoy a balanced, refined dessert, perfect for a discerning palate. Once you’ve consumed your cupcakes, try giving the lamington treatment to sheet cakes, and snack cakes too. It’s hard to go wrong with chocolate and coconut.