Australian Lamington Official Website: Lamington Choc Tops

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.

Lamington Choc Tops! The Recipe That Combines Your Childhood Faves!

Raspberry, Coconut, Biscuit and Ice Cream Together... Yummm...

Lamington Choc Top.

If you're anything like us you're gripping onto summer like your life depends on it. The next few weeks are probably your last chance to indulge in summer desserts so you might as well make the most of them!

Our wonderful friend Phoodie has created this incredible Lamington Choc-top recipe and it's so, so, easy! Including chocolate, coconut, raspeberry and ice cream this is a choc-top far better than any you'll pick up at the cinema!

INGREDIENTS

Makes approx. 8 cones (depending on cone size, scoop size and how much you eat while you are making them!)

1.8 litres Raspberry ripple ice cream

6 x 45g Bounty Bars – roughly chopped.

200g Chocolate

80g copha

1 – 2 cups shredded coconut (depending on how much you like to sprinkle on!)

8 large waffle cones

METHOD (Make sure to read this in full before starting!)

1) Scoop the ice cream into a bowl and fold the chopped up bounty bars through it. Quickly place back into freezer in a baking dish so that it sets again faster.

RED ALERT – in the pictures you will see that I let my ice cream get too soft before folding the bounty pieces through, DO NOT DO THIS as it will take 10000000 years to set again. Although it will require much more muscle action, it is better to mix the bounty pieces through firmer ice cream.

2) Just prior to removing ice cream from freezer to make your scoops, you will need to make your chocolate ‘dip.’ Combine the chocolate and copha in a bowl and place in the microwave until melted. Do this in 10-15 second bursts, stirring in between each one. It should only take a minute or 2 in total. Set aside and allow to cool.

3) Scoop a large, neat ball of ice cream into a waffle cone. Push down gently so that it doesn’t come out! Dip into chocolate/copha topping and then QUICKLY sprinkle with as much or as little coconut as you like as the chocolate sets fast! Place in ice cream holder to set. RED ALERT AGAIN – I didn’t have an ice cream holder and one very clever Facebook follower suggested that I use plastic champagne flutes – worked a treat!

4) Serve straight away or keep in freezer for up to a week (they actually last longer but definitely taste better in the first few days!)