Welsh Cakes

[kitwilliams]

What makes the perfect Welsh cake? All lard? All butter? 50/50?

Proportions of spice? (Speaking of spice, approximately what proportions of cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. make up British "mixed spice"?)

Any and all advice (and recipes too) very, very welcome!

[Carolyn Tillie]

The one I've been cooking for 20 years:

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

3 oz. mixed dried fruit (I use currants and/or golden raisins)

1 egg, beaten

TONS of butter for grilling...

1. Sift flower, baking powder, and nutmeg in bowl.

2. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs, then stir in the sugar and fruit.

3. Mix to a firm dough with the egg and knead on a lightly floured surface.

4. Roll out to 1/2 inch thick and cut into 3" rounds.

5. Heat griddle or large frying pan to medium, with a tablespoon or two of melted butter for each batch.

6. Cook the cakes in 2 batches for 5 to 7 minutes on each side, until evenly browned and firm to the touch.

6. Cool slightly, serve warm if possible with yet more butter and preserves.

[andiesenji]

I discovered this recipe about four years ago and have been very pleased with the results.

If you need to convert it, let me know and I will post a site that has all the conversions you might need.

I have a scale that shows metric as well as oz/pounds.

I use a little more of the sweet spice mix than called for. It is a personal taste thing.

My spice mixture is made up ahead of time as I grind my spices fresh, then store the mix in a little airtight jar.

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Sometimes I substitute cardamom for one of the first three.

I also sometimes add some grated orange peel, about 1/2 teaspoon, rounded.

Edited December 13, 2005 by andiesenji (log)

[gethin]

What makes the perfect Welsh cake?  All lard?  All butter?  50/50?

Proportions of spice?  (Speaking of spice, approximately what proportions of cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. make up British "mixed spice"?)

Any and all advice (and recipes too) very, very welcome!

←

Half butter, half lard ! Mixed spice has no place in a Welsh Cake! Sultanas are better than currants !

They need to be a decent size, 5 " diameter, not the tiny little things u get in South Wales . Serve hot, with plenty of butter.

Apple or gooseberries can be used instead of dried fruit.

Gethin

[andiesenji]

I have about 40 recipes for Welsh cakes and only about 10 or 12 do NOT list some sort of spice, many just list "mixed spice".

Here's another

Some of the old receipts in my great grandmother's journals list either nutmeg or cinnamon or sometimes "West Indies pepper" which is actually allspice.

You are correct that sultanas were preferred, however sometimes black raisins had to be substituted because sultanas were not available.

Edited December 13, 2005 by andiesenji (log)

[Adam Balic]

Here is a link to the recipe provided by The Welsh Development Agency which is a sponsored body of the Welsh Assembly Government. The will always be variation in a recipe like this.

[kitwilliams]

Thanks, all. Will report on my findings.

Keep those recipes coming!

[gethin]

I have about 40 recipes for Welsh cakes and only about 10 or 12 do NOT list some sort of spice, many just list "mixed spice". 

Here's another

←

You can of course put mixed spice in your Welsh cakes and I'm sure there are plenty of recipes that include it. However your Welsh cakes will be far nicer if you don't !

The recipe at this link looks perfectly serviceable (though it would be improved by ommiting both the mixed spice and the egg!) , but it has nothing to do with Teisen Lap, which a baked (not cooked on a griddle) cake flavoured with nutmeg. I think the writer is probably getting confused with Teisen Gri (which is what Welsh cakes are called in some parts of South West Wales ). Teisen Lap means Moist Cake , not plate cake.

The individual who posted the recipe admits to eating Welshcakes without butter and even suggests they can be eaten cold - s/he is clearly at least a little unbalanced and not to be trusted on anything as important as Welsh Cake recipe.

This is more like a proper Welsh cake though the dimensions are a bit mean.

The buttermilk is probably more traditional than whole milk.

Gethin

Edited December 14, 2005 by gethin (log)

[Basildog]

Of course Welsh Cakes can be eaten cold !! and you really need a bake stone, i'm waiting to inherit mine from my Grandmother, who coooked 300 mini welsh cakes for a wedding i was doing earlier this year.She is 80 and rocks!

[gethin]

Of course Welsh Cakes can be eaten cold !!

←

and peppers can be eaten raw, it just misses the whole point of the thing to do so !

Gethin

[andiesenji]

Of course Welsh Cakes can be eaten cold !! and you really need a bake stone, i'm waiting to inherit mine from my Grandmother, who coooked 300 mini welsh cakes for a wedding i was doing earlier this year.She is 80 and rocks!

←

I like mine baked on the griddle or sometimes I use my soapstone comal and occasionally I do bake them in the oven but we prefer the griddle (or spider) as my grandpa's cook called it.

We had a huge wood/coal kitchen range and one of my cousins from the UK, who stayed with us during part of the war, showed me how to split them, stab them on a fork and toast them over the coals when one of the lids was removed from the top.

If caught, I got scolded and he got paddled.

He was a Davies, from New Quay, however the way he pronounced it (Nikke) I could never figure out where it was on the map in our big old atlas until my grandpa pointed it out. When my grandfather came here from England, four of his older children stayed there as they had families and businesses. During the war, the kids such as Enoch, who lived near the coast, or other places that might be in danger, were sent to stay with our grandfather. In Kentucky. At first I couldn't understand them and they couldn't understand us.

I think they all went home with a bit of southern drawl grafted on to their own accents.

Some of our foods were odd to them but they took to grits, sausage or ham and eggs with biscuits readily, although we did have some confusion about the names of things.

Edited December 14, 2005 by andiesenji (log)

[kitwilliams]

This is more like a proper Welsh cake though the dimensions are a bit mean.

The buttermilk is probably more traditional than whole milk.

Gethin

←

I may be a Williams, Gethin, but my Welsh is not up to translating this recipe! Very funny. At least the ingredients are easily recognizable. But what is gymysgu? NEVER MIND! I just scrolled down and found the translation!

I have my lard (having gone to the market TWICE to get it and both times, came home with tons of other stuff, forgetting the lard!) so will give it a go and report back later.

iechyd da!

[kitwilliams]

First made the Welsh Cakes suggested by Gethin's link. Followed recipe exactly with one exception: I did add 1/4 tsp. mixed spice. I've only ever had them with a touch of spice, I know the people I'm making them for expect the spice, so I added the spice! Great sandy texture, nice and light, chewy currants, sprinkle of sugar on top. Cooled and buttered -- just lovely with a hot cup of milky, sweet tea. Very much what I remember being served my first night in Wales (in 1981) when meeting my then fiance's nine brothers and sisters, matching number of in-laws and 30-some nieces and nephews!