Welsh Cakes - Picau Ar Y Maen

To explain my life-long love affair with Welsh Cakes, I'll start with a bit of family history to set the scene!

My mother's family come from Pontypridd in South Wales (photo of Pontypridd showing the road where my grandmother lived, used under Creative Commons from Irregular Shed).

My family were coal miners and my mother's father and older brothers all worked in the Albion Colliery in Cilfynydd, a village near Pontypridd. My grandfather was seriously injured in a coal mining accident and eventually died as a result.

When another mining accident injured one of my uncles, my grandmother vowed that the mines would not claim any more victims from amongst her family and almost overnight she moved her family lock, stock and barrel virtually as far away as she could travel.

The only means of travel available to her was the railway and she got as far away as she could. Not feeling she could cope with a big city after life in the Welsh Valleys, she got off the train at the furthest point away from Wales before the railway entered London - the town of Slough in Berkshire about 20 miles west of London.

Slough is an industrial town and there were plenty of (safer) jobs there for her older children and best of all, many other Welsh people who had moved for economic reasons.

So it was that I was brought up many years later amongst a community of "Welsh ex-patriots" who kept their roots and traditions very much alive...and that included the cooking, of which making Welsh Cakes was a regular part.

My mother's electric cooker was specifically chosen because instead of the usual four rings on the hob, it had a rectangular griddle - perfect for Welsh Cakes (or "bakestones" as they were known in my family). My aunts all had cast iron bakestones, either inherited, sent or brought back from Wales on visits "home". Wales WAS still their home...in their hearts, if not physically.

Just seeing a Welsh Cake now brings back so many memories of people and times long since gone.

I eventually married a Welsh man who is as much of a Welsh Cake fan as I am :)

I think also that for anyone with Welsh origins, Welsh Cakes are a symbol of Wales, every bit as much as the Welsh flag, Y Ddraig Goch (the Red Dragon), daffodils or leeks :D

Doing research for this page brought up time and time again, people recounting fond memories associated with Welsh Cakes - just look at the Twitter feed at the bottom of the page - there's usually someone who's recently Tweeted about happy memories associated with eating Welsh Cakes!

Welsh Cakes - Celtic Comfort Food...read on and enjoy...and I hope you're inspired to try some Welsh Cakes yourself!

Makes approx 20 Welsh Cakes

Ingredients:

8oz (225g) self-raising flour
1 teaspoon salt (optional- and certainly if you use salted butter you don't need any more salt!)
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice (optional)
4oz (110g) butter or margarine, softened & cut into pieces
3oz (75g) caster sugar
3oz (75g) dried fruit - currants, raisins or sultanas (or a mixture)
1 medium egg
A little milk
Oil or fat to grease the griddle or pan

Caster sugar for sprinkling over the Welsh Cakes after they are cooked

Method:

1) Sift flour into a large mixing bowl.

2) Rub in butter/margarine until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.

3) Stir in the caster sugar, dried fruit, mixed spice and salt (if used).

4) In a separate bowl or jug, beat the egg lightly.

5) Stir the beaten egg into the flour mixture to form a soft dough. Gradually add milk a little at a time if the mixture is too dry.

6) Using a rolling pin, roll the mixture out on to a floured board to a thickness of about 1/4 inch (5mm).

7) Cut into rounds with a cutter of about 2.5 - 3 inches (6-7cm) diameter.

8) Grease griddle/frying pan/skillet and allow to heat up gently for a few minutes.

9) Using a fish slice or pallet knife, carefully place Welsh Cakes one at at time onto the hot cooking surface.

10) Cook the Welsh Cakes for about 3 minutes each side, or until they are golden brown.

11) Allow to cool and then sprinkle with sugar.

12) Serve hot or cold. Welsh Cakes can be eaten plain or split and spread with jam/butter/honey etc.

RYSÁIT PICAU AR Y MAEN / CACENNI CRI
(250g) 8owns blawd codi
(75g) 3owns menyn
Pinsiad o halen
(75g) 3owns cyrens
(75g) 3owns siwgr mân
1 wy
Ychydig bach o laeth (er mwyn cymysgu)
Siwgr mân ychwanegol (ar gyfer ysgeintio)
(1/4 llwy de) sbeisys cymysg (dewisol)

DULL

Rhwbiwch y braster i mewn i'r blawd.
Ychwanegwch y cynhwysion sych, yna'r wy a'r llaeth.
Cymysgwch i ffurfio past trwchus, anystwyth.
Rholiwch e allan, yna torrwch gylchoedd a'u pobi ar y maen uwchben gwres cymedrol.
Pan yn oer, gwasgarwch y siwgr mân ychwanegol drostynt.

Welsh Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

(250g) 8oz self-raising flour
(75g) 3 oz butter
(1/4 tsp) pinch of salt
(75g) 3 oz currants
(75g) 3oz caster sugar
1 egg
little milk (to mix)
extra caster sugar (to sprinkle)
¼ tsp of spice (optional)

Cooking Instructions:

Rub the fat into the flour.
Add the dry ingredients, then the egg the milk.
Mix into a stiff paste.
Roll out, cut into rounds and bake on a griddle over medium heat.
When cold, sprinkle with extra caster sugar.