Welsh cake
 Home-made Welsh cakes | |
| Alternative names | Bakestones |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Wales |
| Serving temperature | Hot or cold |
| Main ingredients | Flour, sultanas, raisins, and/or currants |
| Variations | Llech Cymraeg, jam split |
Welsh cakes ([picau ar y maen, pice bach, cacen gri] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help) or teisen radell), also Welshcakes or pics, are traditional in Wales.[1][2] They have been popular since the late 19th Century with the addition of fat, sugar and dried fruit to a longer standing recipe for flat-bread baked on a griddle.[3]
The cakes are also known as bakestones within Wales because they are traditionally cooked on a bakestone (Welsh: maen), a cast iron griddle about 1.5 cm or more thick which is placed on the fire or cooker; on rare occasions, people may refer to them as griddle scones.[4]
Welsh cakes are made from flour, butter/lard, currants, eggs, milk, and spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg.[5] They are roughly circular, a few inches (7–8 cm) in diameter and about half an inch (1–1.5 cm) thick.
Welsh cakes are served hot or cold dusted with caster sugar. Unlike scones, they are not usually eaten with an accompaniment, though they are sometimes sold ready split and spread with jam, and they are sometimes buttered.
Variations
- Llech Cymraeg: cooked with plain flour (particularly wholemeal flour) - rather than the standard self-raising flour, and baking powder, resulting in a much flatter and crisper cake. Typically, this variant is made as a slab on a bakestone, or nowadays on a baking tray, hence the name Llech Cymraeg (literally, "Welsh slab").
- Jam Split: popular in South Wales. As the name suggests, this is a Welsh cake split horizontally, with jam (and sometimes butter) added, rather like a sandwich.
- Apple Dragon: Adding grated apple to the mix helps to keep the cakes moist for longer.
- The Newport Lovely: regional variant hand-crafted by the men of Newport for their women as either a wedding-gift, or engagement present.
- Mynydd Cymreig: (literally, Welsh Mountain): from North Wales, doubling the amount of baking powder results in their increased rising. They are also finely coated in icing sugar, symbolising the seasonal snow cap of some of the higher peaks in Snowdonia.
- The Kiwi Cake: exported by Welsh settlers, the Welsh cake has been produced in New Zealand for many years.
See also
- Heavy cake from Cornwall
- Singing hinny from northern England
References
- ^ "Food recipes -Welsh cakes". BBC. 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
- ^ "Welsh cakes". Visit Wales website. Welsh Government. 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
- ^ Encyclopaedia of Wales 2008 pp 931
- ^ "Fast facts about Welsh cakes - and a recipe". OnlineWales Internet Ltd. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
- ^ "Traditional Welsh cake recipe". Visit Wales, Welsh Government. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
External links
- The BBC's description
- Welsh cake/bakestone recipes
- Welsh Cakes (Picau ar y maen) Recipe
- Welsh tourist board Welsh cake recipe
- Welsh cake and other recipes on Wales.com food pages
