So what are Welsh Cakes? It is not this - one of my other favourite deserts - a dairy free sugar free frozen yoghurt - but it is an authentic Welsh receipt for a cake made on a Bakestone or griddle. They are flat scone like cakes made of butter sugar flour and currents not raisins to be authentic (I think the term is Zante current in the US) they have a binder of egg, a little mixed spice too - and the secret ingredient, a few drops of Orange Flower Water. This secret ingredient is one passed down to me from my Great Aunty in Wales who make these cakes weekly and kept them in a tin like other people would keep biscuits (cookies) for children. Really, there were no biscuits (cookies) in my childhood. Biscuits were even frowned upon as what other people (by that we meant English) ate. There were in fact two tins in my Great Aunties house one for the Welsh Cakes and one for the Farmhouse Fruit Cake that could be eaten with Cheshire Cheese or spread with butter. But the Welsh Cakes were not split, spread with butter and jam in the same way or treated like a scone, rather they were their own food item. To be eaten either as one or as two, with tea. Swansea Market now has stalls of sellers making Welsh Cakes on griddles and selling them hot but hot was not the tradition. It is the griddle however, this is what really distinguishes the Welsh Cake from the scone. They are not cooked in the oven. The are cooked on top of the store on a thick iron griddle. A Welsh griddle. An essential item of Welsh cookery.
Ingredients
2 cups self-raising flour
1 stick/4oz Welsh salted butter (Welsh butter is saltier than other varieties)
1 free-range egg.
1/4 cup Zante currents (do not use raisins)
milk, if needed.
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp Orange Flower Water
extra butter, for greasing.
Method
Rub butter into flour to form soft crumbs, add sugar, currents, mixed spice, beaten egg and Orange Flower Water. Mix to form soft dough using a little milk if necessary. Roll out and use a circular cookie cutter to make 4 inch rounds.
Warm the griddle and grease if necessary (I use an electric tortilla maker)
Bake the Welsh Cakes on each side.
These will be soft and absolutely delicious. They can be sprinkled with a little sugar too.