Welsh Cakes
Mikey Offline
Member
#1
As an aficionado of the Welsh Cake, I’m going to share my recipe with you lovely people. 

9oz Self Raising Flour
4oz Salted Butter (no margarine, bleugh!)
4oz Sultanas
4oz Caster Sugar (plus extra for dusting)
1 egg (beaten)
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
Splash of milk if needed.

The recipe is simple, the method however I have honed over many thousand cakes!!! 

First in a bowl soak the fruit in boiling water (this ensures moist not dry cakes for at least a week, but they won’t last that long) and a splash of orange juice if you have some. Then put a large flat frying pan which is thoroughly cleaned, (I have an egg pan only eggs and Welsh cakes may enter!!) you don’t want it smelling of yesterday sausages or spag Bol, bleugh!!! Sorry, put the pan on the hob on its lowest setting, this is an art to find. My sweet spot is just above 1, on my ceramic rangemaster, you’ll have to play with your own cookers.!

Then sieve the flour into a large bowl, cut the butter into cubes and rub together until fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and mixed spice, then stir to evenly distribute. Sieve the plump fruit and leave to drain for a minute or two. Add the fruit, stir, then add the egg, stirring with a knife it’s easier than a spoon and bring together to just form a dough, don’t overwork it. If you find the mix too dry at this point add a tiny splash of milk. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about a centimetre thick. You should get 18-20 cakes from this mix. Cut into circles about 7-8 cm in diameter. (I’ve not measured my cutter sorry!!) and place on a tray separated. Don’t worry if you cut through a sultana pull it out if loose. 
Put 4-5 cakes in the heated pan, at this temperature it should take about 5-6 minutes to cook the cakes on each side. They should roughly double in thickness and be a golden brown colour. Any quicker and they won’t cook in the centre and any hotter and they will burn before cooked. You will have to play with your hob to find the sweet spot.

Leave to cool slightly on a grill, normally until you are ready to turn the next batch of 4-5 cakes. Dust with sugar both sides and place in a kitchen towel lined box with the lid loosely placed on top, I have a plastic one which holds 6 cakes a layer 3x2. Continue until all cakes are baked. Place another sheet of kitchen towel on top of the box and seal the lid after about 15 minutes. This allows the cakes to continue to steam a little but, don’t worry they will reabsorb their own moisture. 

You can eat them hot but, personally I prefer them the following day when they are light as a feather and not in the slightest way dry.

Follow this recipe and I can guarantee you will have WI winning welsh cakes. Big Grin Tongue
A pocket knife is not a weapon in the right hands it’s an essential garden tool.
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Mikey Offline
Member
#2
Wink 
And shusshhh!!! Keep it secret, it’s not for everyone you know!  Wink In fact it’s so secret it isn’t written down anywhere other than inside my own head, until now...

I generally have to make a double batch as they do not not last.
A pocket knife is not a weapon in the right hands it’s an essential garden tool.
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Small chilli Offline
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#3
We have relatively new welsh neighbours that keep making them for Bob when he helps them out .
Are they supposed to be the same density of lead !?!
I don’t eat them, not a fan of rabbit **it (currants & raisins) in my cakes  Big Grin .
Builder that would like to go play in the garden.
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PyreneesPlot Offline
Mountain Dweller
#4
Thank you Smile We love Welsh cakes!

Back in the mists of time, I had a summer job as a tour guide at the Dolaucothi Gold Mines and Welsh cakes were essential to get me through working seven days a week for a month. Despite consuming my weight in them I stll love 'em.
Has Anyone Seen the Plot?

Hautes-Pyrénées (65), France
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Bren Offline
Member
#5
Thanks for sharing your recipe Mikey up to now I've used my Be-Ro book one but will try yours next time Smile
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Veggie Offline
Super Pest Controller
#6
I can vouch for Mikey's recipe - they're just the thing you want to eat on a trip to a forest to identify fungi.Wink
The Moneyless Chicken says:- 
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.
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Jay Offline
Member
#7
SC.... Big Grin. Big Grin Big Grin
West of Scotland
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JJB Offline
Moonraker
#8
And just how do these fit in with Vinny's diet and our 'healthy eating'? Why oh why is everything so nice on the 'shouldn't' list? Thank you Mikey, I might just give them a try and stuff the diet, which isn't working, by the way. Well it would if I stuck to it, but I don't, so therein lies the reason for failure Smile.
Gardening is an excuse not to do housework
Greetings from Salisbury
Qualified member of the Confused Nutter's Club 
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Mikey Offline
Member
#9
(03-03-2021, 10:05 AM)Small chilli Wrote: Are they supposed to be the same density of lead !?!
I don’t eat them, not a fan of rabbit **it (currants & raisins) in my cakes  Big Grin .

Absolutely not, that’s like saying do all Cornish pasties taste like Ginsters... basically your neighbour are cooking them at too high a heat so they look cooked on the outside but are still raw inside, yuck. Make a batch of these and offer them one next time you see them. Big Grin most commercial bakes like Ginsters make a poor cake too. There’s only one commercial manufacturer I’ve come across who make a proper welsh cake and that’s Maddocks of Gower and they cost £18 for a pack of 20!!! 

My MIL doesn’t like currants either, so I simply omit the currants for her or substitute with some lemon or orange zest. Still tasty, but not the same.
A pocket knife is not a weapon in the right hands it’s an essential garden tool.
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Mikey Offline
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#10
JJB doesn’t diet basically means what I ate today, so why can’t snack be 5-6 Welsh cakes Tongue
A pocket knife is not a weapon in the right hands it’s an essential garden tool.
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