Lamington
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Current revision JackofOz (Talk | contribs) some tweaks; named after an Australian connection, so Oz should appear first |
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- For other uses, see Lamington (disambiguation).
Lamingtons are a type of sponge cake (or more traditionally, butter cake) squares, coated in a layer of flavoured gelatin (or traditionally chocolate icing or strawberry jam), then desiccated coconut. They are sometimes served as two halves with a layer of cream between them, and are commonly found in Australian and New Zealand bakeries. The strawberry variety is more common in New Zealand, while sightings of a lemon variety have occurred in Australia.
The gelatin is a thin mixture, into which squares of sponge (one cookbook states 4 cm per side) are dipped, and the gelatin is absorbed into the outermost layers of the sponge where it sets. (Similarly, the strawberry jam or chocolate icing is absorbed into the sponge.) The squares are then dipped into the coconut and left to dry.
Name
Like many recipes common to both countries, there is dispute about the origin of the lamington's recipe and name.
Lamingtons are most likely named after Charles Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington, who served as Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901. However, the precise reasoning behind this is not known, and stories vary. According to one account, the dessert resembled the homburg hats favoured by Lord Lamington. Another tells of a banquet in Cloncurry during which the governor accidentally dropped a block of sponge cake into a dish of gravy, and then threw it over his shoulder, causing it to land in a bowl of desiccated coconut or peanut butter. A diner thought of replacing the gravy with chocolate and thusly created the lamington as we know it today.Template:Fact
Ironically, Lord Lamington was known to have hated the dessert that had been named in his honour, once referring to them as "those bloody poofy woolly biscuits".