Welsh Cakes

LadyBelle

LadyBelle

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Joined
2 Mar 2017
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498
Location
Wales - the Welsh bit
I love making and eating Welsh Cakes. I have won a few competitions where I have entered my Welsh cakes and I'm not normally a lucky person!

I use the recipe below (BBC Food website), but I also add half a teaspoon of mixed spice or a sprinkle of nutmeg (depending on my mood and kitchen stock). I also change the sultanas when I want different (non traditional flavours), so have added dried cranberries, coconut, chocolate, dried raspberries - the list is endless.

Ingredients
  • 225g/8oz SR, sieved
  • 110g/4oz (preferably Welsh) salted butter
  • 1 free-range egg
  • handful of sultanas
  • milk, if needed
  • 85g/3oz caster sugar
  • extra butter, for greasing
    Method
    1. Rub the fat into the sieved flour to make breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, dried fruit and then the egg. Mix to combine, then form a ball of dough, using a splash of milk if needed.

    2. Roll out the pastry until it is a 5mm/¼in thick and cut into rounds with a 7.5-10cm/3-4in fluted cutter.

    3. You now need a bakestone or a heavy iron griddle. Rub it with butter and wipe the excess away. Put it on to a direct heat and wait until it heats up, place the Welsh cakes on the griddle, turning once. They need about 2-3 minutes each side. Each side needs to be caramel brown before turning although some people I know like them almost burnt.

    4. Remove from the pan and dust with caster sugar while still warm. Some people leave out the dried fruit, and split them when cool and sandwich them together with jam.

    The cakes are a cross between a cookie, a scone, and a pancake but they are truly unlike any of these things when it comes to taste and texture. They are the size of chubby cookie, made from ingredients similar to a scone, but they are cooked like a pancake on a griddle, they are not baked. Sweet but not overly so, Welsh Cakes are an example of a unique and traditional food that reflects the resourceful, wholesome, and practical nature of the Welsh people. Made from simple pantry items like flour, sugar, milk and butter, Being griddled, they pretty much must be made by hand and this is why there are very few commercial makers of these cakes in the world. Traditionally they were cooked over a hot bake-stone but iron griddles were later used and are now the predominant method used to cook them. I have a bakestone passed down from my grandmother. In Welsh we call them "picau ar y maen" .
 
I forgot to say that you can change the cutter and size. I often make little hearts, and have even made Christmas tree shaped ones.
 
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Well, here is my interpretation of your recipe.

First off – and I apologize for this, but it's a character flaw of mine – I didn't follow your recipe exactly. For one, I decide to put baking powder in. This explains why my cakes might be thicker than yours. I also wasn't sure what consistency you were going for here. I guess something like a scone, which is a soft, sticky dough.

Secondly, you never said how hot the pan should be. I decided on medium, and that seem to work. And, I don't know how I could possibly get that much sugar only on the surface of the cakes. I decided to wet the surface to make sure at least some of the sugar would stick. I did both sides, and I still had plenty of sugar left over.

Having said all that, I love the results. And, my family devoured them. It does have a similarity to a scone, in that it's not primarily sugary in the dough. In fact, the only sweetness in the dough came from the raisins I put in. The softness is what sets it apart from a scone. Is it supposed to be like a soft cookie? That's how mine turned out.

Thank you again for this wonderful recipe. I will definitely make it again.

Now, my process. Here's the dough: the brown swirls are cinnamon.

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I did have a fluted cutter, which worked perfectly until I tried to unstick them from the Silpat. I did flour the surface, so it didn't mess up the shape too much.

IMG_0964.JPG


This seemed to be a good level of burn on the surface.

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Last edited:
They look fabulous!

Because we use Self raising flour we'd not add a raising agent. When you use a griddle it's difficult to judge the heat, so it's a bit trial and error. I normally get it really hot and then test until it's the right temperature for my mix. They aren't very sweet, as you say thin scone type of thing.

So glad you tried them and liked them!
 
morning glory said:
What type of flour did you use. In US you don't have SR flour do you?
Click to expand...
We do, but the funny thing is I didn't know what SR meant, so I assumed by the context that it had to be flour. And, my instincts were good to add baking powder, since SR flour = AP flour + baking powder. We got to the same place, but by slightly different paths. :laugh:
 
I went to Aldi today to buy sultanas for this recipe. I picked up mixed fruit instead, by mistake. Mixed (dried) fruit in the UK contains:
sultanas, raisins, currants and mixed peel (orange and lemon peel). I am going to use it anyway. I reckon it could work a treat.
 
Fantastic! (Said in a Rob Bryden accent for authenticity). Haven't eaten Welsh Cakes for years. Fond memories of tucking into a packet for "pudding", following barbecues of lamb burgers whilst working at the Royal Welsh Showground.

If I hadn't run out of eggs I would have a go at making some for breakfast!
 
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