6 things you didn’t know about lamingtons
Australia’s favourite cake has a dark side – here are some surprising lammo facts. Plus some of the best places in Australia to get a taste.
- July 2018
Lamingtons have a murky past
From whence the lamington? History doesn’t have a definitive answer. One popular theory holds that it was the result of a happy accident, invented when the cook at Brisbane’s Government House dropped the Governor’s favourite sponge cake into a pot of melted chocolate. The thrifty Governor suggested it be dusted in coconut and served for afternoon tea anyway. That Governor’s name? Charles Cochrane-Baillie, aka the Right Honourable Lord Lamington.
Another theory says the cake was invented by a cookery teacher and cookbook writer at Brisbane Technical College, and actually named after the Governor’s wife, Lady Lamington. These uncertain beginnings have led to a fierce cake-based rivalry that endures today…
They’re the subject of a custody dispute
And it’s a messy one: Brisbane vs Toowoomba vs Ipswich. All three cities claim the title of birthplace of the lamington, with Toowoomba and Ipswich both claiming to be the place where the coconut-bedecked sweet was first publicly served (during a visit by sponge-loving Lord Lamington, of course).
To be fair, Brisbane probably has history on its side, but Toowoomba has made some gallant attempts at lamington supremacy, including being home of one of the country’s biggest lammo producers and holding the Guinness Book of Records title for the world’s largest lamington, wrestling the title back from Ipswich in 2011. At over 2300 kg, it was the equivalent of 45,000 normal sized lamingtons.
(Despite some highly suspicious research, New Zealand has no claim to the lamington and will have to content itself with pavlova, Phar Lap and Russell Crowe.)
We’re going to get a Big Lamington!
Well, maybe. As part of the ongoing tit-for-tat lamington battle between Toowoomba and Ipswich, both sides have threatened to construct lammo-related landmarks. (Brisbane is maintaining a dignified silence.) Most recently in 2015, a coalition of Toowoomba councillors and business figures proposed a Big Lamington, to attract hordes of tourists like the Big Prawn does to Ballina and the Big Pineapple to Woombye.
It’s hard to visualise. Undeniably delicious, the lammo is not the most beautiful of cakes and the idea of a big white-speckled brown square plopped down somewhere in their town may be what’s holding the Toowoombians back from their tourism masterstroke.
Their own namesake attacked them with a homophobic insult
Did he grow sick of having to eat them for elevenses every day? Did he get a glimpse of a future where the cake’s fame outlived his own? Is there truth to the rumour that it was in fact named after his wife, and did this incite him to a fit of jealousy? We can never know what drove Lord Lamington to call lammos ‘bloody poofy woolly biscuits’, but we can reflect that this would not count as appropriate language for a political figure nowadays, no matter what their contribution to the nation’s teatime enjoyment.
States are divided on a key ingredient
Should there be jam in a lamington? It’s a subject that rouses passions and while you might think it’s a matter of personal taste, according to Kirin Tipping of lamington hotspot LusciousKiki Cakes in Sydney’s northern beaches, we’re divided geographically. “They’re big jam fans in Victoria: go to the AFL and you can get a doughnut stuffed with jam – at the footy! I have heard South Australians do jam in their lammies too.”
She also points out, “from historical reports the original ‘poofy biscuit’ as Lord Lamington called them did not have a jam centre. I am obviously not a traditionalist so I don't pay much mind, but the original just had the chocolate dip and coconut.”
So there you go: if you’re a stickler for jam you’re probably from Victoria, whereas in NSW and Queensland, there is no place for jam in a lammo (or a lammie).
They’re getting a makeover
Far from the humble milieu of CWA cookbooks and traditional lamington drives, we now find ourselves in a world that includes the glamington, invented by Melbourne’s Birch & Purchese. White chocolate sponge soaked in Malibu with a dusting of gold lustre: this is a lammo pimped almost beyond recognition. (Being from Victoria, it includes jam.)
Golden Gaytime, passionfruit and white chocolate, red velvet, salted caramel – the modern lamington has been deconstructed to the sum of a couple of its parts: if it includes sponge and is rolled in coconut, one can call it a lamington. For her new-wave lammies, Tipping even rejects the traditional sponge, instead using butter or mud cake. “I believe that the make-or-break of a good lammie is the dip – I use either dark chocolate or white chocolate and they have to be the correct consistency: not too thin and not too thick!” She also uses ‘long thread fancy shred’ (yes that’s a thing) as opposed to desiccated coconut, for both texture and looks. We can only imagine what Lord Lamington would have said about that.
Australia’s most remarkable lamingtons
Adriano Zumbo, Sydney
The celebrity patissier has a long history of lamington experimentation, with flavours equally WTF and nom nom nom, like eucalyptus and macadamia, and apple pie. The stayer is a chocoholic’s fantasy, the double chocolate lamington: chocolate cake supercharged with a layer of chocolate ganache, coated in chocolate sauce and rolled in regulation desiccated coconut. Jam: no, but given all that chocolate, it’s probably for the best.
Tivoli Road Bakery, Melbourne
Credit where it’s due: the recipe for these next-level lammos originally came from Sydney’s Flour and Stone. But Melbourne definitely needed some of these babies: vanilla sponge soaked in pannacotta, a berry compote filling, dark chocolate and toasted flaked coconut. Flour and Stone and Tivoli Road: bridging the great NSW-Victoria jam divide.
Reid Street Kitchen, Gold Coast
It has to be said, the first most-loved thing about RSK's lamingtons is their size: GINORMOUS. But that’s immediately followed by their delicious fluffiness and excellent flavours. Yes you could stick with ultra-trad chocolate but why would you when passionfruit, raspberry and salted caramel are on offer? (All sans jam: this is Queensland.) Find them at Miami Marketta every Friday and Saturday night.