Welsh cakes are easy to make and delicious to eat, using simple ingredients they can mixed and baked in less than 20 minutes. A quick recipe.
As traditional Welsh mid-morning reviver there is nothing better than a few fresh-from-the-griddle Welsh cakes (picau ar y maen) either sprinkled with sugar or spread with Welsh butter and perhaps a little honey from Welsh bees. This round griddled cake is eaten everywhere in Wales with a cup of strong tea it is a guaranteed pick-you-up.
One of my enduring childhood memories is of my pinafored mother stooping over a baking stone on an open coal fire turning the Welsh cakes until they became a golden colour.
I took delight at reaching for the table and in helping my mother to mix the ingredients while sneaking a handful of sweet and juicy currents for my own consumption. The real pleasure though was in taking the freshly baked, golden cakes from the griddle and sinking my teath into the firm gold-coloured outside and into the still soft inner cake.
When cooked the cakes are round about two inches in diameter and half-an-inch thick they can be eaten cold but are best straight from the griddle: warm, dusted in sugar and perhaps spread with slightly salty Welsh farmhouse butter.
Straight from the griddle Welsh cakes make the perfect companion to a cup of freshly brewed tea.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour (280 grams)
- 1/3 cup granulated white sugar (65 grams)
- 2.1/4/ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground mace
- ½ cup of cold unsalted butter (113 grams)
- 1/3 cup of dried currents – you can add raisons but they are not to my taste.
- ¼ cup of chopped mixed peel
- 1 lightly beaten large egg
- 3-4 tablespoons of milk.
Method
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon and mace, cut the butter into small pieces add to the mix and blend together with two knives (or mix by rubbing with your fingers) now the mixture should look like large crumbs. Add the currents/raisons and stir into the mix. Then add the beaten egg, and sufficient milk to make a light dough.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured flat surface, gently kneed the dough until it is flat and about ¼ inch (0.75 cm) thick then with a round pastry cutter or a glass will do, cut into 2.1/2 inch circles.
Lightly butter a bake stone (griddle) or heavy frying pan and heat, place the mixture on the griddle and bake on each side for about five minutes until golden brown in colour; they should still be soft on the inside.
Once baked sprinkle with granulated sugar and eat with Welsh butter, jam, honey or they are delicious plain as they come from the griddle.
Try this recipe you will want to make more Welsh cakes for yourself and friends.
