WELSH CAKES Traditional Welsh biscuity cakes This is a very old traditional Welsh recipe from the contributor’s boyfriend’s family. It was passed on to his mother from his grandmother, whose family ran the village bakery in Ammanford, near Swansea, Wales. The family name is Morgan, of course. They claim to be related to Captain Morgan the pirate. The source gives the Welsh for Welsh cakes as teisen lap, meaning “plate cake.” They were traditionally cooked on a “maern” — pronounced “marn” — described as a half-inch, or 1.5-cm, thick piece of cast iron placed on the fire or cooker. A heavy frying pan or griddle will also do. Yield Makes 40-50. Ingredients 1/2 lb flour, 200 g 1/2 lb self-raising flour, 200 g 4 oz butter, 120 g 4 oz lard, 120 g 3 oz currants, 100 g 3/4 cup sugar, 175 g 1 tsp mixed spice, 5 ml 1 tsp ground nutmeg, 5 ml 1 large egg Milk, as needed to mix Method Sieve the flour and spices into a mixing bowl. Add the butter and lard. Rub or mix the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles pastry crumbs. Stir in the remaining dry ingredients. Break the egg into a separate bowl and beat it enough to combine. Add the egg to the dry mixture. Mix well until the dough begins to come together into a lump. If the mixture is not sticking together, add a little milk. The dough should be moister than pastry dough but should not be soggy. Roll the dough out on a floured board to about 1/4-1/2 inch, or approximately 1/2-1 cm, thick. Cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter. Heat a heavy frying pan, griddle, or traditional iron plate. Grease the cooking surface. When the fat has melted, wipe it off with absorbent paper. This should leave only a residue of fat; the cakes will then cook largely in their own fat. The source says the pan is hot enough when you can hold your hand just above it for about a minute. Place some of the cakes on the hot surface. Cook until the undersides become a speckled golden-brown color. Turn the cakes over and cook the other side in the same way. Cook them fairly slowly. The source describes the cooking time as about 3-5 minutes for each cake. Serve hot or cold. Notes The source describes mixed spice as a premixed English spice blend and gives its typical composition as approximately: 60% coriander 30% cinnamon 5% nutmeg Small traces of ginger and clove It also notes that some versions contain 10-15% caraway or about 10% cassia. For North American cooks, the source suggests a mixture of: 70% coriander 15% cinnamon 5% nutmeg 10% caraway Welsh cakes can be eaten hot or cold, with or without butter. The contributor says she does not normally use butter when serving them. The contributor usually makes a double batch because the cakes do not keep for very long. To store them, let the cakes cool completely and place them in an airtight container. The source says they will keep for up to a week. The contributor also sometimes adds a little more spice for a stronger flavor. Verified Recipe Note: The original ingredient markup uses “(12” for 1/2, “(34” for 3/4, and “(14” for 1/4. These have been converted here for readability. Verified Recipe Note: The source calls for equal weights of ordinary flour and self-raising flour. Verified Recipe Note: The cakes are cooked on a lightly greased griddle or heavy pan rather than baked in an oven. Verified Recipe Note: The original method says the cakes should be cooked slowly until speckled golden brown on both sides rather than deeply fried or heavily browned. Rating Difficulty: Easy Time: 5 minutes preparation, 20 minutes cooking Precision: Measure all ingredients Contributor Tina Coulson STC Telecomunications Ltd New Southgate, London tina@stc {root44, ukc,datlog, idec, stl, creed, iclbra, iclkid}!stc!tina Life is hard in the fast lane of life and slow in the fast lane of the M1 Origin Note This recipe comes from the USENET Cookbook project, a moderated electronic recipe collection distributed through early Internet newsgroups. The original was written in the project’s structured recipe markup, where WELSHCAKES was the recipe key and D marked it as a dessert. The preserved entry lists the recipe as last modified on 19 Jun 1986 and posted to mod.recipes on 15 Aug 1986. It was contributed by Tina Coulson of STC Telecomunications Ltd in New Southgate, London. The recipe presents traditional griddle-cooked Welsh cakes made from flour, self-raising flour, butter, lard, currants, sugar, mixed spice, nutmeg, egg, and a little milk. They are rolled, cut into rounds, and cooked slowly on a hot iron plate, griddle, or heavy frying pan until speckled golden brown. Original Header Code: Path: decwrl!recipes From: [tina@stc.uk](mailto:tina@stc.uk) (Tina Coulson) Newsgroups: mod.recipes Subject: RECIPE: Welshcakes Message-ID: [4817@decwrl.DEC.COM](mailto:4817@decwrl.DEC.COM) Date: 15 Aug 86 05:57:11 GMT Sender: [recipes@decwrl.DEC.COM](mailto:recipes@decwrl.DEC.COM) Organization: STC Telecomunications Ltd, New Southgate, London. Lines: 99 Approved: [reid@decwrl.UUCP](mailto:reid@decwrl.UUCP) submitted by /u/JLAFORUMSDOTCOM [link] [comments]
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