Welsh cakes

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This Welsh cakes recipe, which follows a classic recipe and is cooked on a griddle, is hard to beat. Whip up a batch for St. David's Day – they are incredibly easy to make and if you don’t have a traditional griddle, then a heavy cast iron frying pan can be used instead.

First published in 2017
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(Welsh cakes, in Welsh: picau ar y maen, pice bach, cacen gri or teisen radell)

1 March marks St David’s Day (the patron saint of Wales), so what better time to get my old griddle out and make a batch of Welsh cakes. I love baking on my old griddle, it is about sixty years old and was my grandmother's, and many a pancake, hot cake, Welsh cake or singin’ hinny I have seen my grandmother make on this much loved piece of vintage kitchen equipment.

Griddle cookery, or should I say Girdle cookery to use the Scottish and old fashioned English term for a griddle pan, used to be very popular all over the UK, with most housewives having a griddle to hand for easily made tea time treats.

With most people cooking on or over solid fuel, the heavy cast iron griddle pans were perfect for pancakes, quick breads and scone-like cakes, such as the Welsh cake and its North Eastern cousin, the singin’ hinny. In Wales, cast iron griddles are also known as bakestones, and so these wee fruited cakes are often known by the same name in certain parts of Wales, as well as griddle cakes.

Welsh cakes are incredibly easy to make and if you don’t have a traditional griddle, then a heavy cast iron frying pan can be used instead – but do not attempt to make them in a modern non-stick pan, as they can burn when cooked this way. They can be made in under half an hour and any that are not eaten on the day can be popped into the school or office lunch box as a treat the next day, although like all scone-style bakes, they are always better eaten on the same day, and when warm too.

You don’t have to be Welsh to enjoy these Welsh Cakes, and to all my Welsh friends out there, as well as all of the Welsh readers, all that remains for me to say is hapus Dydd Gŵyl Dewi, which is Happy Saint David’s Day in Welsh!

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Welsh cakes

  • 225g of self-raising flour, or 225g plain flour and 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 pinch of salt, ideally Welsh sea salt
  • 100g of butter, or margarine, plus extra for cooking (again, ideally Welsh)
  • 50g of caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
  • 50g of currants
  • 1 egg, beaten with 3 tbsp milk

Method

1
Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl and rub in the margarine or butter. Add the sugar and currants and stir well
2
Pour the egg mixture in and mix until you have a stiff dough
3
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured board until 5mm (1/4 inch) thickness and stamp out rounds with a pastry/biscuit cutter
4
Heat the griddle over a medium heat until hot and grease with a little butter – the baking griddle should be well-greased, and then heated until a little water sprinkled on the surface skips about in balls, evaporating. A heavy cast iron frying pan makes a good substitute. Cook the cakes for about 3 to 4 minutes each side, until they are golden brown and have risen slightly
5
Serve immediately sprinkled with a little extra caster sugar
First published in 2017
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Karen Burns-Booth is a freelance food & travel writer, recipe developer and food stylist with a passion for local, seasonal ingredients.

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