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The Great Australian Lamington

The Great Australian Lamington
Lord Lamington Governor of Queensland - creator of the world-famous Australian Lamington.

The Humble Australian Lamington - Created in Queensland in 1901


Australian Lamington
THE WORLD-FAMOUS AUSTRALIAN CULINARY ICON NAMED AFTER THE GOVERNOR OF QUEENSLAND - LORD LAMINGTON.

The world-famous Australian lamington is over a century old.

Despite some dubious claims from New Zealand, the lamington is as Australian as meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars, ranking alongside the other true Australian icons of the pavlova, peach melba and Vegemite.

This Australian culinary icon, which consists of sponge cake dipped in chocolate and liberally sprinkled with fine desiccated coconut, was created through an accident at work by a maid-servant to Lord Lamington, the thoroughly-British eighth Governor of Queensland.

The maid-servant was working at Government House in Brisbane when she accidentally dropped the Governor's favourite sponge cake into some melted chocolate.

Lord Lamington was not a person of wasteful habits and suggested that it be dipped in coconut to cover the chocolate to avoid messy fingers.

Paul Tully celebrates
the 100th anniversary
of the world renowned
Australian lamington
on 19 December 2001
Lord Lamington devoured this new taste sensation with great delight and the maid-servant's error was proclaimed a magnificent success by all! The Governor however is on the record as calling them "those bloody poofy woolly biscuits".

Lord Lamington was born in London, England on 29 July 1860 as Charles Wallace Alexander Napier COCHRANE-BAILLIE holding the aristocratic title of Baron Lamington.

He was Governor of Queensland from 9 April 1896 to 19 December 1901.

After leaving Queensland, he went on to become the Governor of Bombay in India for 4 years. He died at Lamington House, Lanarkshire, Scotland, in 1940.

According to Hansard page 728 at the Australian Constitutional Convention in Canberra on 11 February 1998, Cr Paul Tully, an elected delegate representing "Queenslanders for a Republic" suggested that his extensive research of the Governors of the 6 Australian colonies and states had produced evidence of only "one, single, solitary, positive achievement of any Governor since the First Fleet arrived in 1788" and that was Lord Lamington's contribution to the culinary delights of the Australian nation!

Lord Lamington served Queensland for 5 years but despite all of his colonial, aristocratic pomp and ceremony, the only thing which Charles Wallace Alexander Napier COCHRANE-BAILLIE will ever be remembered for in Australia is the creation of the world-famous lamington.

PAUL TULLY'S TRUE-BLUE DELICIOUS AUSSIE LAMINGTON RECIPE

INGREDIENTS
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup self-raising flour 1/2 cup milk.

Beat the eggs well, gradually adding the sugar until dissolved. Add the milk and vanilla essence and then stir in the self raising flour and whip the butter into the mixture. Pour the mixture into a cake tin or lamington baking dish and bake in a moderate oven of 180 degrees Celsius for 35 minutes. Allow the cake to cool for at least 10 minutes and then stand for 24 hours preferably in the refrigerator, before applying the icing.

THE CHOCOLATE ICING
4 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons boiling water
3 cups desiccated coconut.

Stir the cocoa and icing sugar vigorously in a large bowl, adding the milk, butter and boiling water, warming the chocolate mixture over a very low heat until it has a smooth creamy texture. Cut the sponge cake into equal squares about 5cm x 5cm and, using a fork or thin skewer, dip each piece into the chocolate mixture ensuring that the mixture is liberally and evenly applied. Dip each piece into the desiccated coconut, allowing the lamingtons to cool on a wire tray for several hours.

THEN SIT BACK, RELAX AND SAVOUR THE DELIGHTS OF YESTERYEAR COURTESY OF LORD LAMINGTON'S ABSENT-MINDED MAID-SERVANT!

THANK GOD, THE LAMINGTON WAS NOT CHRISTENED THE "COCHRANE-BAILLIE". IMAGINE ASKING FOR A "COCHRANE-BAILLIE" IN A CAKE SHOP!
© Paul Tully 2009


Do you have an interesting historical anecdote about the Australian lamington?
Please email the Australian Lamington Official Website.




Raspberry Lamington cake - a nice summer treat

Lamington cake a nice summer treat
Whether it was named after Lord Lamington or his wife, or created in New Zealand or Australia, is still debatable, but there is no question that this version with its raspberry filling and fresh raspberries is definitely delectable.

Preparation time: 45 minutes. Baking time: 40 minutes. Chilling time: two hours. Serves 12.


INGREDIENTS 

Sponge Cake 6 eggs, at room temperature 300 ml (1-1/4 cups) granulated sugar 5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla 45 ml (3 tbsp) butter, melted 15 ml (1 tbsp) milk 500 ml (2 cups) all-purpose flour 2 ml (1/2 tsp) baking powder 1 ml (1/4 tsp) salt Ganache 325 ml (1-1/3 cups) whipping cream 25 ml (2 tbsp) soft butter 500 ml (2 cups) semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips Raspberry Filling 300 ml (1-1/4 cups) loosely packed raspberries 150 ml (2/3 cup) granulated sugar 45 ml (3 tbsp) cold water 25 ml (2 tbsp) cornstarch 125 ml (1/2 cup) flaked coconut 750 ml (3 cups) raspberries


PREPARATION 
Line the bottoms of two 20-by-six centimetre (8-by-2-1/2 inch) round cake pans with parchment paper circles and set them aside.

To make the sponge cake, in large bowl, using electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs until they're foamy. Gradually beat in the sugar until it's pale and thickened -about three minutes. Next, beat in the vanilla.

In a small bowl, stir the melted butter with the milk. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Beat this mixture into the egg mixture alternately with the butter mixture just until blended. Spread batter in pans. Bake in a 160 C (325 F) oven for about 40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Let the pans cool on a rack for five minutes. Loosen the sides and invert the pans to remove cake. Peel the paper from the bottoms of the cakes. Let them cool completely on wire racks.

Ganache: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the cream and butter to a boil.

Pour over the chocolate in large bowl and let stand for a few minutes. Stir the mixture gently until it's smooth. Let it cool until it is a spreadable consistency.

Raspberry filling: In a medium saucepan, bring the raspberries with sugar to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

In a small bowl, mix the water with the cornstarch, then stir it into the raspberries and simmer for two minutes, stirring constantly. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl, cover and let cool.

Place one cake, top down, on a plate. Spread the filling over top, almost to the edge. Place second layer, bottom down, on the filling and press lightly. Spread ganache over the sides and top of the cake. Sprinkle the sides and top of the cake with coconut.

Blot the raspberries with a paper towel and place some of the raspberries on top of the cake, and save the remaining raspberries.

Chill the cake, uncovered, to set the ganache - about two hours. Serve sliced with remaining raspberries.

Foodland Ontario


10.7.14

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