Jelly Cakes Recipe|Lamington Bites

Classic Jelly Cakes

The jelly cakes or lamington slices are small vanilla cakes prepared sandwiched with cream, coated in jelly, and tossed in coconut. These lamington bites are so heavenly and delectable that you enjoy a full yummy raspberry jell and crunchy coconut top with a delicate cream-filled sponge in each bite.

These lamington cakes are all-time loved old-fashioned Australian desserts. Classic jelly cakes are round in shape and baked using gem iron. Nowadays, gem iron is difficult to find. So, these cakes can be baked in a patty cake pan or muffin tray. The other alternative is to bake it in a cake pan and then cut it into squares like I used in this recipe.

These jelly cakes, lamington bites, jello cakes, and lamington slices are light, fluffy, taste yummy, and are perfect for any seasonal celebrations!!

Check out my other festive treats recipes like lunch special chicken biryani for Mother's Day, apple walnut crumble and puff pastry for Valentine's Day, kids scary treats for Halloween, chocolate-rich fudge stars, rocky road using Maltesers, and Christmas tree cakes for Christmas to celebrate special day with your special ones!

Ingredients for Lamington Bites

Self-raising flour: I use self-raising flour for making these yummy lamingtons. You can also use all-purpose flour but make sure to add baking powder.

Butter: Softened to room temperature. I use unsalted butter. The best is to keep it outside at room temperature for half an hour before baking a cake. You can also use a salted one.

Milk: Use full cream milk as it provides good moisture and texture.

Sugar: As per your taste

Eggs: Beat lightly to incorporate the air bubbles into it.

Vanilla essence/extract: I use essence in this recipe. But if you have Vanilla extract, please use that for the rich flavor and aroma. You required a teaspoon of this for a vanilla cake and frosting cream.

Raspberry Jelly crystals: To prepare raspberry lamingtons, you need a jelly that you can make using raspberry-flavored Jello crystals. Use any flavored jelly if raspberry is not your preference.

Thickened Cream: The thickened cream for this recipe contains 35% fat content. Make sure whatever cream you take must have at least 30 percent milkfat to get the whipped cream.

Icing sugar: if not available, you can use powdered sugar.

Desiccated coconut: Use unsweetened in sufficient quantity to roll these lamington slices.

See the recipe card for quantities.

Step-1 Jelly preparation

Pour the raspberry jelly crystals into a bowl. Add hot water while stirring to dissolve the crystals, followed by cold water. Keep the jelly in the fridge until half set.

It takes almost 1- 2 hours. Keep in check continuously. The consistency of jelly plays a crucial role in jelly cakes. If the right consistency is not met, you will end up in stained soggy, or uncoated cakes.

Step-2 Vanilla cake

Combine the softened butter, sugar, and vanilla with a spatula or electric mixer in a mixing bowl. Whisk in the eggs in batches.

Add milk and flour in batches. Gently stir together until just mixed. (as shown in the pictures below)

Grease the baking tray and preheat the oven to 180°C. Pour the batter into the greased tray. Bake it for 40-45 minutes. 

Cool the cake completely before removing it from the tray.

Step-3 Cream preparation

It's easy to prepare cream using a beater. Just whip together all the ingredients like thickened cream, vanilla, and icing sugar until the cream is thick.

But in this recipe, I whipped cream with a hand whisk. To make this whipped cream by hand, the foremost important thing to take care of is to keep the temperature of the whipped cream as low as possible.

For this:

• Use a chilled bowl and whisk by placing both in the freezer for about half an hour.
• Place the chilled bowl on the ice cubes while whisking the thickened cream.

In a chilled bowl, pour cream, vanilla, and icing sugar. Whisk with a chilled whisk until cream starts to thicken up. Make sure to keep your chilled bowl on an ice cube tray to avoid the risk of cream ending up with butter if its temperature is not maintained.

Step-4 Cake assembly

Remove the cake from the tin. I cut the cake into three equal parts by making two horizontal cuts. Spread the cream evenly on the second part of the cake, sandwich the first part on top, and cut it into squares.

Cut the third part into equal pieces, spread the cream on half of the slices, and sandwich the remaining slices on top. Now you should have one long and one short layer of cake sandwiched with cream. Again, cut into squares (pictures below).

Confession: I mistakenly cut the vanilla sponge into three equal parts in this Lamington recipe. Cut the vanilla sponge into four equal parts for more uniformity and easy cutting of the cake slices.

Coat the square cakes with raspberry jelly by dipping them and then placing the slices on a rack (dip one at a time). Toss the jelly-coated cakes in desiccated coconut (see pictures below).

Storage

Store in the fridge until you serve them. Enjoy super tasty jelly cakes/ lamington bites!

These lamingtons are best served the day you prepare them because the jelly and cream can spoil quickly. Keep these cakes in the fridge and store them for up to 2-3 days.

How many servings does the recipe make?

The serving size of these raspberry bites depends on how big you like to slice your lamington pieces. I cut big square slices of cake. It comes with around eight pieces of jelly cake slices

Variations

• If you like the variety of flavors, choose different flavored jelly for occasions.
• If you are a cream lover, pipe whipped cream onto the top of the cakes and enjoy!
• You can add coconut while preparing the cake batter and skip the latter part of tossing in the coconut.

Tips

• The right consistency of jelly should be thickened and viscous like egg whites.
• The cream should be cold, not frozen.
• Jelly cakes do not stay longer than 2-3 days due to cream and jelly.
• To save time, prepare the cake a day before. Make cream and jelly and assemble them as you require.
• Cut the Vanilla sponge into four equal parts instead of three as I did in the recipe. It will be easier to sandwich two layers with the other two.

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