Lamington (Australian pastry shop) : The lamington is a cake traditional Australian made up of rectangles of sponge cake covered with a icing au chocolate (sometimes at Raspberry) and rolled in coconut dried.
La preparation applied in couche fine is absorbed from the outside of cake after a period of rest, which gives it a texture particular. The lamington remains a in case popular throughout the Australia and New Zealand . It is affectionately called “lammo” by Australians.
Composition: It is composed of sucre, butter,eggs, and then it is coated de chocolate as well as coconut. This cake very often has a forms square or rectangular, but rarely exceeds more than 5 cm in height. It is generally used at the end of the meal in dessert.
Origin: The name lamington comes from Baron Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington, Governor of Queensland between 1896 and 1901. Several more or less fanciful explanations explain the relationship between the baron and the dessert.
Maurice French, an emeritus professor of history at the University of Southern Queensland, who has studied the issue in depth, considers it certain that the lamington was named in honor of Lord Lamington, or in honor of his wife, Lady Lamington. Most sources favor the first option.
The name of the inventor of the recipe was also the subject of discussion. Most accounts attribute its creation to Chef of Lord Lamington of French origin, Armand Galland, who would have been brought to to cook in a hurry for last minute guests. Using only the ingredients at his disposal, Armand Galland would have divided of restes an sponge cake to the vanilla cooked the day before, hardened the slices in chocolate before passing them through coconut. Impressed by Armand Galland's creation, the Lamingtons' guests would have asked for the recipe later. The account of events is supported by the memoirs of Lady Lamington. There coconut was not in common use in European cuisine at that time, but Armand Galland would have been familiar with it, his wife coming from Tahiti where coconut is a common ingredient. One such account suggests that the lamington was first served in Toowoomba, when Lord Lamington took his entourage to Harlaxton House to escape the heat wet from Brisbane, while another states that it was created by Armand Galland at the Maison du Government du Queensland à Brisbane during the busy days preceding the founding of the Federation in 1901.
Another story assures that the cook of Lord Lamington, possibly Galland, would have accidentally dropped a piece de sponge cake in chocolate. We later realized that the coconut sprinkled over it made the cake more appetizing.
Another possible inventor of the recipe would be Amy Schauer, trainer in Food at Central College, Brisbane from 1897 to 1938.
The “lamington cake” is first mentioned in a newspaper in 1896 describing an event, a “Lamington Function” which was held in Laidley in Queensland. The event was held in honor of Lord Lamington (although he did not attend) and also included 'Lamington Tea' and 'Lamington Soup' etc., although the absence of a description specific of the cake suggests that nothing distinguished this cake apart from his name, linked to the event. A recipe of Lamington cake dating from 1900 was found in a newspaper, Queensland Country Life. Although the recipe originally from Queensland, it spread quickly, it was mentioned in a Sydney newspaper in 1901 and in a New Zealand newspaper in 1902. However, none of these recipes tells us either the name of its creator or the origin of the name cake. A 1927 document links the cake to Lord Lamington.
Variants : A common variation includes a couche de cream or jam de strawberry between two lamington halves. The ystervarkies (porcupine) is a dessert bySouth Africa similar but more small. In Cleveland in theOhio, they are called coconut bars. In Serbia, riding a Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, there is a similar cake called čupavci.
Celebration: July 21, 2006 was promoted to National Lamington Day in Australia. In 2009, during célébrations of Q150, the 150th anniversary of the separation of Queensland from New South Wales, the lamington has been heralded as one of the cultural icons of Queensland for his role as “innovation and invention” emblematique.