Welsh cake
Encyclopedia
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
snacks.
The cakes are also known as bakestones within Wales because they are traditionally cooked on a bakestone
Bakestone
Bakestones are flat stones that can be placed on or next to a fire or stove to cook cakes of various kinds. In Wales, A bakestone, 'maen' in Welsh 'gradell' in the north of the county and 'planc' is the name for the cast iron or steel griddle used for cakes , especially in South Wales.The...
(Welsh: maen), a cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
griddle
Griddle
A griddle is a cooking device consisting of a broad flat surface that can be heated using a variety of means, and is used in both residential and commercial applications for a variety of cooking operations. Most commonly, the griddle consists of a flat metal plate, but in the non-industrialized...
about 1.5 cm or more thick which is placed on the fire or cooker; on rare occasions, people may refer to them as griddle scones.
Welsh cakes are made from flour, sultanas, raisins, and/or currants, and may also include such spices as cinnamon and nutmeg. They are roughly circular, a couple of inches (4–6 cm) in diameter and about half an inch (1–1.5 cm) thick.
Welsh cakes are served hot or cold dusted with caster sugar. Unlike scones, they are not usually eaten with an accompaniment, though they are sometimes sold ready split and spread with jam, and they are sometimes buttered. They are often eaten accompanied by a pot of tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
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Variation
- Llech Cymreig: cooked with plain flour (particularly wholemeal flour) - rather than the standard self-raising flour, and baking powder, resulting in a much flatter and crisper cake. Typically, this variant is made as a slab on a bakestone, or nowadays on a baking tray, hence the name Llech Cymreig (literally, "Welsh slab").
- Jam Split: popular in the South Wales ValleysSouth Wales ValleysThe South Wales Valleys are a number of industrialised valleys in South Wales, stretching from eastern Carmarthenshire in the west to western Monmouthshire in the east and from the Heads of the Valleys in the north to the lower-lying, pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain...
. As the name suggests, this is a Welsh cake split horizontally, with jam (and sometimes butter) added, rather like a sandwich. - Adding grated apple to the mix helps to keep the cakes moist for longer.