neenish tart

Meaning

A small tart with a pastry base and gelatine-set cream filling, covered with icing in two colours, half and half.

Unknown. The oldest known reference is a September 1895 advertisement in the Sydney Sunday Times for Nenish cakes.
Derivation from a German or word has been suggested, and the early spellings nienich (1935) and nenische (1959) appear consistent with a German origin, but the "very English" spelling neenish has been common since even earlier, being in a January 1903 recipe in the Launceston Daily Telegraph, a May 1924 Melbourne Argus article, and a 1929 cookbook by Lucy Drake, suggesting the Germanic spellings may have developed later to give the dish a Continental feel.
A popular claim that the tarts were first made by a Ruby Neenish in Grong Grong, New South Wales circa 1913, when she ran low on cocoa preparing for an unexpected shower tea and made do with half-chocolate/half-white icing, was a hoax.

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