…to talk like this and act like that.

Stop# 5

We left England and are now headed over to Wales for stop #5 on our global food trip.

Welsh Cakes

Despite how they might look, these are not breakfast pancakes as you may know them, they are a bit more like a hearty, lightly sweet dessert than anything. You can still have them with breakfast, just don’t expect buttermilk pancakes to drown with maple syrup. I was a little excited to make this because I seem to really be partial to dark fruit and berries like blackberries or currants. Currants are an awesome accent (I love the flavor in a good strong black tea) and they aren’t difficult to find.

Again, I referenced two recipes that took different approaches. One was pretty much straight-forward batter, and the other called for caster sugar and lard…so of course I went with the lardy one. I didn’t have any caster sugar, so I made some. The process is very simple, dump granulated sugar in the blender, set to medium high, pulse until powdery. Do not confuse this with powdered sugar!

2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup caster sugar (not powdered)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground mace
1/4 tsp of salt
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
2 oz chilled lard
2 oz chilled butter
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup dried currants
cold milk - a couple Tbsp
granulated sugar for coating

Notes

• Sources of inspiration: Most of the process and planning comes from The Daring Gourmet, but I also referenced King Arthur flour.
• Some recipes use Nutmeg, but Mace is traditional. I might have used a hint more.
• Currants can be found with the raisins at your supermarket. Sun-Maid makes some that I have seen fairly frequently, but I bought mine in bulk at Whole Foods.
• Chill the lard first for sure. It makes it way easier to mix into the flour.

Process

• Mix the flour, caster sugar, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and mace in a bowl.
• Mix in chilled butter and lard until it is a coarse, crumbly texture.
• Stir in currants.
• Add egg, and enough milk to mix and make a soft, smooth dough.

• Wrap dough, refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Roll out chilled dough to 1/4 in. thick.
• Cut into 3-4 in. rounds.
• Hot buttered pan.

• Fry for a few minutes per side til golden brown.
• Coat with granulated sugar.
• Cool and eat.

Results and Adjustments

These little cakes were amazing. It was surprised how many of them I wanted to eat right out of the pan. A few notes to make them better. Don’t roll out the dough too thinly, you want enough for a nice thick cake. Cook over a slightly cooler burner. It is a bit easy to burn these guys because of the fine sugar in the mix. I cooked them a bit higher than medium, so my net result was a quickly cooked crust…close to burning…then the inside was every so slightly under-done. The cakes that I cooked slower had a far better consistency and looked incredible.

Don’t be stingy with the granulated sugar coating, it makes them look great and gives them a fun extra crunch. Cook them in butter…not oil, just because it is better. Spice mix was pretty good, and the mace gives them an interesting flavor. If anything I would probably bump up the cinnamon a little bit, but only slightly. Maybe a drop of vanilla.

How to eat them? Plain is great! I tried a couple different things and think that melted butter is good, but trying with fruit jam seemed to be my favorite way to enjoy them. We had a nice blueberry jam that turned out the best.

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So, what’s next? I have another dish to try from Wales; cheese and leeks, what could go wrong?