By Besha Rodell
A couple of years ago, a great controversy erupted at my dinner table. My husband and I were dining at our home in Los Angeles with another couple, who – like us – are made up of one American spouse and one Australian.
The topic of lamingtons arose, and the Australians were asked to describe our great national treat. "It's a square of sponge or yellow cake" my well-meaning fellow countryman began, "that's coated in chocolate and rolled in coconut. And it has a layer of jam in the middle."
"JAM?!?" I cried. "There is no jam! Not in a proper lamington." If you'd asked me beforehand, I never would have guessed I had so much passion on the subject. But apparently I do, which is quite fitting.
The lamington has a long history of controversy, the main one being: what is the origin of this most Australian of treats?
That question has an answer so complex it prompted Maurice French, emeritus professor of history at the University of Southern Queensland, to write an entire book on the subject.
The Lamington Enigma: A survey of the evidence, traces the history of the lamington, its precursors and the personalities who surrounded its emergence, and comes up with the most probable answer to the question of who invented the thing, and why.
Much space is given to debunking competing theories of the sweet's origins, of which there are many.
What is known is that the lamington was named for Lord Lamington, who served as Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901, or perhaps his wife, Lady Lamington.
What isn't clear is who was the first to cook the treat and bestow it with the governor's name. The first known printed recipe for "lamington cake" appeared in the December 17, 1900, issue of Queensland Country Life, along with several other recipes, under the headline "Useful Recipes".
