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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.




World Record Lamington

WORLD'S LONGEST LAMINGTON IN ADELAIDE AUSTRALIA


More than 20,000 lamingtons create 1km world's longest line of cakes in Adelaide.

World's longest lamington in Adelaide, Australia..
20,000 lamingtons went into creating the world's longest line of cakes at the Adelaide Convention Centre.

The world record for the longest line of cakes has been set in Adelaide, with more than a kilometre of the most iconic of Australian cakes, the lamington, taking the crown.

As part of celebrations for the opening of the new wing of the Adelaide Convention Centre, 20,000 pieces of lamington snaked its way through the ballroom, meeting rooms and foyers and into the new western building.

Once ratified by the Guinness Book of Records, Adelaide will take the title from England, with an official measurement of 1073.869 metres, compared to the previous record of 885m.

Adelaide Convention Centre chief executive Alec Gilbert said it took a team of 150 people more than 600 hours to create the lamingtons which included more than 400 kilograms of flour, 8kg of baking powder, 330kg of milk chocolate, 4560 eggs, 5 litres of vanilla essence and 550kg of desiccated coconut.

The lamingtons were made using a recipe based on the traditional Country Women's Association recipe, Mr Gilbert said, and would now be sold to raise money for charity.


12 March 2015



WORLD RECORD LAMINGTON IN TOOWOOMBA

Largest Lamington ever produced weighing 2361kg













THERE was more than just excitement in the air when the world's biggest lamington came home to Toowoomba.

Celebrating their success in creating the world’s
 biggest lamington are (from left) Geoff McDonald,
 Julie Lancaster-Smith, Julian Lancaster-Smith
 and Brad Smith.Dave Noonan
Kylan Dunemann was among those who caught “lamington fever” when Toowoomba smashed the Guinness World Record and stole the crown from Ipswich's World Record Academy Largest Lamington (weighing 1320kg) at the weekend.

“I like lamingtons a bit too much,” he said.

The seven-year-old boasted he could eat 10 of the 2361kg giant lamingtons, made by the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce and Quality Desserts, the second biggest producer of lamingtons in the country.

Quality Desserts managing director Julian Lancaster-Smith said the attempt certainly attracted a lot of attention.

“It's brilliant,” he said.

“We wanted the record back and we wanted to raise the profile of Toowoomba.”

Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce president Geoff McDonald said he was a bit anxious when the bottom of the lamington began to bulge.

“We had to use our heads to make sure it didn't collapse,” he said. “We took it steady for a while and then it was all hands on deck.”

The world's biggest lamington weighed in at 2361kg and was the equivalent to 45,000 normal sized lamingtons.


11 June 2011


















IPSWICH CLAIMS WORLD LAMINGTON RECORD

Seven years' old James Tully from St Augustine's College
 at Augustine Heights in Ipswich about to savour the
 delights of the world's largest lamington.
It's official.

Ipswich has won the title for the largest lamington in the world.

The monster lamington weighed in this morning at the Ipswich Turf Club at a whopping 1.32 tonnes, eclipsing the previous one tonne record set in Melbourne in 2005.

The super-sized lamington is equivalent to 20,894 standard lamingtons.

The giant lamington, named after Lord Lamington Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901, was made from 230 litres of water, 200 litres of eggs, 535 kg of sponge mix, plus 68kg of desiccated coconut, 75kg of jam, and 150 kg of chocolate lamington mix.

The unveiling of the lamington was witnessed by Lord Lamington's great grandchildren Alex Scrimgeour and Belinda Leigh who had travelled from the UK for the event.

Celebrity chef Ipswich Councillor Paul Tully said the gigantic lamington was a work of art which had taken three days to prepare.

"This record will be difficult to break given the culinary dexterity needed to put this giant lamington together," Cr Tully said.

The creator of the Australian icon Lord Lamington once described them as "those bloody poofy woolly biscuits".

21 July 2009

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