Guest Post Friday ~ Welsh Cakes

Most people outside of Wales don’t really know what Welsh cakes are.  Well, here’s a Welsh cake recipe for you from a Welsh person who happens to absolutely love Welsh cakes!

You will need:

8 oz self-raising flour, sieved (*1 cup)
4 oz salted butter (preferably Welsh, but it’s fine if that’s not possible) (* 1/2 cup)
1 egg
A handful of sultanas (optional) (*known as “golden raisins” in U.S.)
Milk, if needed
3 oz caster sugar (* 1/2 cup) (Castor sugar is superfine white sugar)
Extra butter, for greasing

What to do:

Rub the butter into the sieved flour to make crumbs.

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.

Roll out the pastry until it is about 5mm/¼in thick and cut into rounds with a fluted cutter.

You now need a bakestone or a heavy iron griddle, though I have known people use an ordinary frying pan successfully.  Whichever you use, rub it with butter and wipe the excess away, then put it on to a direct heat and wait until it heats up.

Place the Welsh cakes on the griddle, turning once.  Each side needs to be caramel brown before turning, although some people I know like them almost burnt.  They need about 2 – 3 minutes each side.

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. You can also leave out the dry fruit but just leave them as they are.  However you do it, they’re great plain or with a bit of butter on them.

You can eat them warm or cold, but in my opinion they’re best slightly warm.  Make sure you have one still warm from cooking, because – just like freshly made bread – there’s not much that can beat that first taste when it’s still warm from being cooked!