Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Australia, obsolete A Homburg hat.
  • noun A small square Australian/New Zealand cake made with sponge cake covered on all sides (including top and bottom) with chocolate and desiccated coconut.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Lamington ("place name"). After Charles Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington, who was governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901 and apparently wore such a hat.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Uncertain. Although current dictionaries all associate it with the Baron, the earliest publication of this derivation is by John Hepworth in the Nation Review of July 1977. An earlier (1966) reference gives the cake but does not associate it with the Baron, suggesting the theory was not current in the 1960s.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Oh man, I LOVED these... They are not well known in the United States...

    July 16, 2008

  • What IS it?

    July 16, 2008

  • A kind of cake. I don't like coconut, or it doesn't like me.

    Seems to be an Oz thing.

    July 16, 2008

  • yummy wikilink

    I particularly enjoyed the following wikifacts:

    Ironically, Lord Lamington was known to have hated the dessert that had been named in his honour, once referring to them as "those bloody poofy woolly biscuits".

    Tea and lamingtons are part of the festivities that follow Australian Citizenship ceremonies.

    July 16, 2008

  • "Epigram--Divine Service In The Kirk Of Lamington" -

    Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, 1791

    July 16, 2008

  • *clicks on sionnach's link* Ohhh.... ohhhh... *quivering*

    July 16, 2008

  • Yum!

    I used to have a lamington for recess every day in primary school. I haven't had one in ages, though. Maybe I'll make some...

    July 16, 2008

  • I can't believe I've never heard of these...can't wait to make them! Also they sound so cute -- kind of like "lambykins" which is a variation on a word found in this list:Nicknames you shouldn't give to an axe-wielding, loincloth-wearing barbarian warrior with bulging thews.

    July 17, 2008

  • Hmm. Looks like a fancypants whoopie pie. Yum!

    July 22, 2008

  • BARF!! No! No marshmallow in lamingtons. No!

    July 22, 2008

  • No whoopie pie I've ever eaten has had marshmallow in it. Nosiree.

    July 29, 2008

  • Isn't the filling of whoopie pies made of Crisco and powdered sugar?

    July 29, 2008

  • Moon Pie's and Mallomars have marshmallow in them. A Whoopie Pie has a creamy center.

    July 29, 2008

  • Oh, that's it then. Thanks dontcry. I must have been thinking of Moon Pies.

    Is Crisco and powdered sugar any different than modern marshmallow? *ponders*

    July 29, 2008

  • Yes. I know this because I won't touch marshmallow with a 10-foot pole, whereas I'll gladly eat the creamy Crisco-and-powdered-sugar filling of a whoopie pie. :-)

    July 29, 2008

  • They don't call it a "Whoopie" Pie for nothing, do they reesetee?

    July 29, 2008

  • Mmmphph.

    *swallows*

    No, they don't. :-D

    July 29, 2008

  • Who's Crisco and why is he invading your sweetbreads?

    July 29, 2008

  • Crisco is vegetable shortening. Like lard. Sounds yummy, eh?

    July 29, 2008

  • Bilby, have you never heard Frank Zappa's genius work? Or perhaps Frankie Goes to Hollywood's?

    p.s. they weren't talking about its usage in baked goods.

    July 30, 2008

  • Sheik Yerbouti. A classic for the title alone--not to mention Crisco Wristwatch.

    July 30, 2008

  • You know, we were doing so well on this page....

    July 30, 2008

  • Wordievolution...

    July 30, 2008

  • I thought it was Wristwatch Crisco...? *reminiscing* Or the ever-popular love song, "Krisco Kisses."

    July 30, 2008

  • Oops. I must have dallied too long at the psychedelicatessen, I guess. You're correct.

    July 30, 2008

  • Ooh, yes, I do remember the Frankie song. Never understood it though.

    July 30, 2008

  • You're better off, then, bilby.

    July 30, 2008

  • Quite possibly the best cheap bakery cake you can buy. They sell these things here (in Perth, Western Australia) for fundraisers at about four dollars for a box of eight or more. Great stuff.

    July 31, 2008

  • Ooh, yes, my school has lamington drives. I don't know what they use the money for, but they must get a lot, lamingtons sell fast.

    July 31, 2008

  • Perhaps they use the money to make more lamingtons, contributing to a vicious, yet very tasty cycle of production.

    July 31, 2008

  • I made small ones once when I was living in the States and feeling homesick. They were 1.5" cubes and I put cointreau in the chocolate icing, so you could say they were on the sophisticated side. It was extremely difficult to find dessicated coconut in the local supermarkets, however. Could only find the flaked coconut, which is too coarse. Spent a good half an hour with a mezzaluna knife cutting the flakes into crumbs. At which point you understand why I only did it once and thereafter stuck to making pavlova.

    August 2, 2008

  • Lol, great story frin!

    August 2, 2008