You should always make an effort to taste the local cuisine wherever you travel. Several well-known and historical desserts in Australia can satisfy your sweet tooth. Some of these favourites are unique, while others are English-inspired with an Aussie touch.
In Australia, desserts are typically offered during festivals, parties, and barbecues. Make sure you check out any small-town bakeries for the most genuine form of any Australian dessert. The tastiest handmade sweets are often found here. But the following classic desserts are available seven days a week at the majority of Australian bakeries and cake stores:
Pavlova
Pavlova is the ultimate summer dessert, as delicate as the dancer it was named after. Traditionally, fruit—ideally sour types that counterbalance the meringue's sweetness—is added as a splash of colour after dollops of whipped cream are placed on a fluffy meringue.
Although the precise creator of Pavlova is still up for debate, research indicates that it originated in the 1920s during Anna Pavlova's tour of Australia and New Zealand and is a descendant of the German torte. The original Pavlova recipe was published in a magazine in 1926, but it was for a multicoloured gelatin dish rather than the dessert you know today.
Lamington
The renowned Australian dessert, Lamington, is made of a sponge cake that has been coated in chocolate and dusted with finely chopped desiccated coconut. It's believed the cake was unintentionally made when Lord Lamington's maid slipped his favourite cake into some melted chocolate.
Lamington, the ninth Governor of Queensland, proposed that the cake be dusted with coconut to prevent messes while eating it; everyone declared the mistaken cake to be a great success. Due to its temperature adaptability, the cake is quite popular nowadays. When sliced into bite-sized squares and coated with coconut, it keeps well in the heat.
Hot Jam Doughnuts
Melbourne is the birthplace of the hot jam doughnut, an Australian speciality that is often referred to as the Melbourner. These doughnuts, which are often served hot from a street food truck window at Queen Vic Market, are not like most other doughnuts.
Before the doughnuts are placed in the fryer, they are filled with red jam and twice-proved. The doughnuts are covered in sugar and presented in white paper bags once they are fried, crispy on the exterior and pillowy on the inside. They are meant to be enjoyed hot and fresh.
Neenish Tart
A delicacy popular in Australia and New Zealand, neenish tarts are delicious pastries with a custard-like inside, topped with a thin coating of icing that is coloured differently on each half. Brown and white, pink and white, or brown and pink are the typical colour pairings.
The first known recorded account of the tart dates back to 1913 and can be found in an Australian newspaper named The Bunbury Herald. The earliest known recipes for the tart are titled Neinich tart, which may indicate that the delicacy originated in Europe.
Iced VoVo
A traditional wheat flour cookie from Australia, Iced VoVo, is garnished with two pink fondant strips and a strip of raspberry jam. The finishing touch is a dusting of coconut over these cookies. These famous cookies are widely available across the nation, and when Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd referenced them in his victory speech in 2007, Iced VoVo sales soared. Iced VoVos are typically consumed with a cup of tea on the side and are particularly well-liked at kids' birthday celebrations.
Fairy Bread
Fairy bread, which is synonymous with children's birthday parties in Australia, is an unusual dessert made up of triangle-shaped slices of white bread smeared with butter and topped with tiny, multi-coloured balls of sugar known as hundreds and thousands in Australia and sprinkles in the rest of the world.
Although the origin of fairy bread is a mystery, its closest cousin is a Dutch chocolate sprinkle known as hagelslag, which is used as a sandwich topper. The dish's first documented mention can be found in an article titled "Christmas Dinner with Toddlers" from the Sydney Morning Herald in 1934. In Australia and New Zealand, fairy bread is still a mainstay of birthday parties since it's simple to make, entertaining, and vibrant.
Anzac Biscuits
The ingredients for Anzac biscuits are flour, oats, butter, sugar, golden syrup, coconut, and baking soda. Both Australia and New Zealand claim to have originated the Anzac biscuits that you know today, yet the origins of these pastries remain unclear.
Even though early 1900s cookbooks had somewhat similar recipes, the original known recipe for the biscuits is far different from what is made now. Many think that the biscuits were supplied to soldiers serving in the Anzac campaign. However, the cookies have a connection to Anzac Day, which commemorates the arrival of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at Gallipoli.