The Sugar Bar

Think I made fish cakes? Or tiny burgers? Wrong again.

Never heard of Welsh Cakes? Well, if you’re not Welsh, you can still find out more about this teatime delicacy here. Originally cooked over a hot stone or bakestone over a fire instead of baked, they were a good alternative to bread (or when there was a shortage of bread). Not a surprise why it would have been labelled a poor man’s food. The welsh cake is similar to a scone and made pretty much the same way – with your hands. It is just as dense but more cake-like in texture and less crumbly. They are usually not eaten with anything else other than a bit of sugar and butter, warm or as it is, with a comforting cup of tea. What makes it so good is its unique flavour from the spices, rich butter and raisins in it.

It is so easy and quick to make this, although a note beforehand: you’ll have to get your hands dirty and greasy to make these lovely cakes. After they are made, you can wrap them up in a sandwich bag and keep them for a teatime snack whenever or breakfast the next day. The flavours will just keep getting better and stronger the next day.

Welsh cakes are usually quite light in colour. At first I thought I’d burnt mine but I think the dark brown colour of my cakes occurred mainly because I’d used dark brown sugar instead of caster. When you don’t have the right ingredients around, either go out and get some or find a suitable substitute! Don’t give up before the game’s over, is what I say. After these cakes are cooked, roll them about in caster sugar for extreme prettiness and subtle crunch as you bite into them. If you’re on a tight budget like me or am just very unprepared, leaving them as it is still works beautifully.

I’d been meaning to give this recipe a try for ages but had never bothered to get down to it. Very pleased I made them because they’re just so good. This really is about as close to one of the yummiest quick-fixes I’ve ever made. Bless Nigella for that! Recipe has been taken from Nigella’s How To Be A Domestic Goddess but I’ve halved it.

Welsh Cakes

Ingredients

250g cup self-raising flour
125g cold unsalted butter, diced
100g sultanas
1/4 tsp ground allspice
touch of cinnamon
75g caster sugar
1 egg, beaten

Right. To get started – sift your flour into a bowl. Add the cubed butter. Wash your hands, dry them. Plunge ‘em next into the bowl and start rubbing the butter into the flour. Raise your hands in an upward-downward motion as you do this to get some air into it. This will finally end up with a nice, light, crumbly mixture. Try not to leave any large pieces of butter because you want to really get it all into the flour to flavour it and get it altogether.
Next, add the spices in. You don’t usually need to add any cinnamon but I think it works beautifully with allspice. 3 good shakes is enough I reckon. Don’t forget the allspice. It’s really what makes welsh cakes welsh cakes. The sugar and sultanas goes in as well. Add the egg to make a soft but not sticky dough. Form a dough ball then press into a disc. If it’s a little too sticky, flour it a tiny bit. Cover with clingfilm and leave for a minimum of 20 minutes.

Put it in the fridge for a minimum of 20min. When the dough is easier to handle, flour your work surface. Get the dough out and flatten it to about 1 1/2cm thick. These cakes will rise slightly as they cook on the pan. Either using a cookie cutter or a round class, cut out the cakes. Preheat a frying pan – unoiled.
When it’s hot enough, place cakes gently onto pan and let cook about 3min each side. Careful not to let them get too brown and burnt or it’ll just ruin the flavours.

Remove from pan, roll about in caster sugar. Serve warm with butter.