Who takes the cake? Three in mix as lamington inventor

FOR such a small cake, the humble lamington has served up a whole helping of controversy in Queensland.

Gemma Nell 5yrs,Imogen Burns 6yrs,Tayla Nell 7yrs and Lottie Burns 5yrs at Vanilla Pod in Ascot eat Lamingtons

FOR such a small cake, the humble lamington has served up a whole helping of controversy in Queensland.

And now, a Toowoomba history professor has spent 12 months researching the Australian icon and has again raised questions about where, and by whom, the chocolate-coconut treat was invented.

Professor Maurice French, who has self-published a definitive guide to the lamington, said the urban legend was fascinating.

"There's a lot of urban mythology about the lamington and the various places it was created - Brisbane, Ipswich, Cloncurry, New Zealand and even the remote possibility of a Polish lamington," Prof French said. "Our national interest really began in 1980, when people like Barry Humphries suggested that it was Australia's national symbol, and publications like the Australian Women's Weekly ran a lot of features on it. It became caught up with our national character.

"People started to say, 'Who was the genius that came up with it?' "

The professor combed more than 100 cookbooks, written between 1890 and 1910, and the cookery columns of newspapers.

While Prof French can't definitively say who invented it, he's narrowed it down to three contenders - Armand Gallad, the French chef to Queensland governor Lord Lamington; Fanny Young, a temporary cook at the governor's Toowoomba residence; or Amy Schauer, a cookery instructor at Brisbane's technical college.

Records indicate they all prepared a version of the cake between 1890 and 1910.

The original recipe called for butter cake, but was adapted for sponge cakes when the recipe became popular in the 1920s.

One thing he can confirm is that the long-held belief that the cake was named after Queensland governor Lord Lamington is untrue.

"It's always been argued that it was named for the Lord, but there is a strong case that it was in fact named after Lady May Lamington, especially as most cakes are named after women.

"Welcome news, considering Lord Lamington is widely quoted as referring to the treasured treat as 'those bloody poofy woolly biscuits'."

The University of Southern Queensland professor had no real interest in lamingtons before he wrote the book.

"I remember helping mum made them in the 1950s, but hadn't really touched them since then," he said.

"I eat quite a lot of them these days."