One of my fondest childhood food memories is of eating freshly baked Welsh cakes straight from the cooling rack, after my mum had made up a fresh batch. Her Welsh cakes are always delicious, but especially so, when still warm from the pan. Today, mum taught me how to make them myself – a major rite of passage, in Lewis family terms.
- Ingredients:
- 8oz self-raising flour
- 2oz margarine
- 2oz lard
- 4oz castor sugar
- 2oz currants
- 1tsp mixed spice
- 1/3tsp salt
- 1 egg
- Splash milk.
First, slice the lard and margarine into small cubes and rub it into the flour. A light touch is required, to achieve a mixture with the consistency of fine breadcrumbs. Next, add the sugar, currants, mixed spice and salt and mix in well. Beat the egg, stir it into the mix with a fork, then use your hands to continue mixing, once the egg has soaked in. The mixture should reach the consistency of short patry. If it is too dry to form a ball, add just a dribble of milk.
On a surface dusted with flour, form the pastry into a flat circle, then roll out until it is a half-centimetre thick. Use a cake cutter to cut out individual rounds. Take a strip of the lard’s wrapping paper and smear a tiny amount of lard around a heavy pan set on a medium heat. Add the cakes and adjust heat so you can hear a very quiet sizzle.
Three minutes on each side should suffice. Once cooked, the cakes will be a rich gold on both sides. Et voila!
See below for the various stages of the process.
Filed under: About me, food history, Ingredients, Recipes to try Tagged: | currants, lard, margarine, welsh cakes
