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Sweet as! Australia’s party cake hits supermarket shelves
M&S version of classic coconut-dusted lamington is ruffling Aussie feathers
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‘Genuinely shocked’: traditional lamingtons have vanilla sponge inside
(Image credit: Tim Gainey / Alamy)
Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK
22 September 2025
Traditional British desserts are “struggling for survival” but could an Australian sweet treat be the answer to the UK’s pudding woes? Tim Tams, “a sort of antipodean Penguin”, hit UK supermarket shelves last year, and now, “a new contender, the lamington, is coming for our tea tables”, said Xanthe Clay in The Telegraph.
A staple of “countless children’s birthday parties and grown-up afternoon teas” in Oz, a typical lamington should follow a “strict formula”: a fluffy cube of vanilla sponge cake, sandwiched with jam, rolled in a “sticky” chocolate sauce and dusted with desiccated coconut.
M&S has caused quite a stir, though, with the launch of its two lamington “varieties”: classic coconut and chocolate, and a caramelised biscuit version. Both veer away from Aussie tradition: adorned with a “leaden swirl of icing on top”, they are made with chocolate cake instead of vanilla sponge.
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“As an Australian living in London”, I was surprised to discover my British colleagues hadn’t even heard of lamingtons, said Rose Johnstone in The Guardian. So I gathered a group of fellow Aussies to taste the new M&S offerings.
The “artfully-piped buttercream” is “unconventional” but it does look appealing. We were “genuinely shocked”, though, to discover the chocolate cake inside. “I can’t fully convey just how wrong this made us feel; like shucking an oyster to reveal a piece of popcorn instead of a pearl.” Still, all tasters “somewhat guiltily” enjoyed the balance of the jam’s “tartness” with the “rich density” of the chocolate centre. “Just don’t call it a lamington.”
“My Aussie heart skipped a beat” when I heard about the M&S lamingtons, said Mel Evans in Metro. I grew up on the “staple” dessert, which was served at “every party I was ever invited to”. Unfortunately, the M&S version didn’t quite bring back the memories I was hoping for. “I’d call this a twist. A take. A tribute, if you will.” But a very “tasty” one at that.
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Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK
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Irenie Forshaw is a features writer at The Week, covering arts, culture and travel. She began her career in journalism at Leeds University, where she wrote for the student newspaper, The Gryphon, before working at The Guardian and The New Statesman Group. Irenie then became a senior writer at Elite Traveler, where she oversaw The Experts column.
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