The lamington has one of those histories that sound like folklore – where an accident becomes a longstanding Australian staple. But just what is it about this classic combination of sponge cake, chocolate icing and coconut that we just can’t get enough of?

Like many great baked creations, there is debate surrounding the creation of the lamington. It has been linked to various Queensland cities including Brisbane, Toowoomba and Ipswich, as well as Cloncurry. Other countries like Scotland, where there’s a village by the same name, say it’s theirs and New Zealand even hilariously laid claim to them in a 2014 April Fool’s Day hoax where they said they were actually called Wellingtons.

The history

One of the most popular stories links the lamington to the second Baron Lamington – Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane Baillie – who served as the eighth Governor of Queensland from 1896-1901.

As one tale goes, a maid serving in Government House in Brisbane accidentally dropped Lord Lamington’s favourite sponge cake into melted chocolate. When shown, he suggested covering the cake in coconut to hide the chocolate, thus creating the lamington. Another version of the story has the maid instead making the decision to cover stale cake with chocolate and coconut in an effort to disguise it before serving it.

The State Library of Queensland notes yet another plausible creator was in fact French-born chef Armand Galland, who worked for Lord and Lady Lamington as their chef de cuisine.

Old Government House curator Dr Katie McConel said she believed he was the brains behind the creation that was born out of necessity.

“[The lamington] was Monsieur Galland’s answer to the great number of visitors that came to Lady Lamington’s ‘At Home’ event in June 1900 – an event that an estimated 1200 people attended,” she said.

“To accommodate such a large number of guests, Galland would have relied on something he was very familiar with and made large quantities.

“It proved so popular that Lady Lamington was inundated with requests for the recipe and thus Galland named his delectable treat in honour of his patrons, the Lamingtons.”

This fact, Dr McConnel said, was backed up by a speech made by Lord and Lady Lamington’s granddaughters, Bridget Leigh and Felicity Scrimgeour, who while visiting Queensland said, “it was created by the chef at Government House and [was a] favourite of our grandfather, hence named after him”.

A lamington by Tokyo Lamington

What makes a lamington

The question of what makes a lamington a true lamington is somewhat contentious. Is there a specific size each piece needs to be cut to? Should jam be included? Is there any room for movement when it comes to flavour and cake variations?

For Eddie Stewart of Tokyo Lamington and Kirin ‘Kiki’ Tippin from LusciousKiki Cakes, both of whom have created successful businesses from the item, the answers are far from black and white. However, there is one point the two agree on – there is plenty of scope for creativity when it comes to lamingtons.

When Eddie Stewart and his business partner, Min Chai, first opened their café in Tokyo, Japan, they knew they needed a truly iconic Australian product to cement the business offering.

“A bakery-café is not an Aussie-style business without the Aussie lamington. When you think of Australian pastry there’s not actually much there besides finger buns and that kind of thing,” he said.

“In Japan they love sponge [cake] so we thought we’d do the lamington, but make it a bit more Japanese-style, like an angel cake.”

Eddie said for most people who grew up in Australia, a trip to the local bakery for a lamington was a quintessential part of the experience. Drawing on this, what he and Min decided to do was to recreate the product and make them new again.

“We’ve come out with inventive and different flavours that people know and like. We’ve tried to make them a bit more fashionable, and also more achievable for people travelling from overseas with flavours that they know,” he said.

“A lot of our inspiration comes from our staff and our own travels, but the flavour [ideas] also come from our staff. We’ve got Filipino flavours, we’ll do Indonesian flavours like halo-halo, or tres-leches. Really interesting flavours.”

Included in that list is an onion-flavoured lamington Eddie created recently for a convention.

“They asked if I’d like to come to the event and I put my foot in it and said ‘look I’ll make you an onion lamington’ – I didn’t really think it through. But then straight away, for me, when I think of onion and savoury I just think of strawberry, onion and balsamic. So we made a strawberry, balsamic and onion lamington and it was delicious,” he said.

“We like to play with the flavours and textures a bit. We do get a bit of flack sometimes because we do a yuzu meringue. A lot of people come back and say that’s not a lamington because there’s not coconut. But a lot of people don’t like coconut, so we do coconut alternatives.”

So, what does it take to make a true lamington? For Eddie it all comes down to the unique cubed shape.

“In-house we do try to make them that perfect square,” he said.

“A lamington, at the end of the day, it can either be two bits of sponge, or one big bit, and then jam or cream in the middle – which is another controversy. Our OG lamington have got jam and cream in the middle because my grandmother always made them like that. But everyone had a different lamington growing up.”

LusciousKiki Cakes draws inspiration from ingredients on offer for their lamingtons

Kirin agrees, saying the Country Women’s Association (CWA) has some very firm ideas about the dimensions a lamington ‘should’ be – but is quick to say she does not fall in that category.

Instead, Kirin says she instead draws most of her inspiration for her lamington range from the ingredients she uses, which can vary from native ingredients to various fruits, to cakes that can range from caramel to chocolate to red velvet.

“Ninety-five per cent of the time it’s from the ingredients, and sometimes the girls [Kirin’s nieces] will give me ideas or I’ll have a weird dream or someone will say something and that will trigger an idea,” she said.

“I’ve done a few unusual ones over the years. A friend of mine works at a boys’ high school teaching cooking skills. She asked me if I could come up and have a conversation with the students about baking in particular. One of the boys, being a bit of a smarty-pants, said ‘have you ever made one with dirt?’.

“I said no, because that would be against food safety standards, but in true fashion that kicked off an idea that became a dirty chai lamington. That was made with a topping of Oreo crumbs, which was made to look like dirt.”

A lamington portrait competition, where Kirin has a chat with the winner – covering their likes and dislikes – before creating a lamington that reflects their personality has also resulted in some truly unique varieties.

“Everybody’s got different experiences – where they were born, where they were raised, whether they’ve travelled – that kind of thing,” Kirin said.

“The most curious one that came out of it was a coconut caramel curry with coriander. The winner loved it!”

Beyond the debate about the correct ingredients or even size, Kirin said she believed the most important aspect when it comes to creating anything is just to have a good time.

“I think it’s interesting, because a lot of people put a lot of pressure on themselves when they’re baking at home. You’re supposed to be having a good time whilst you’re doing it because that translates into the product that you’re making,” she said.

“It’s happiness and love and enjoyment, and all of that sort of stuff that is evident, I think, in the finished product.”