Recipe: Spabbit’s Welsh Cakes

This is my slight variation on many of the Welsh Cake recipes which can be found on the interwebs – it has been tried, tested and approved by many hungry people 🙂

Ingredients

  • 500g Plain Flour (Sieved)
  • 170g Caster Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 & 1/2 tsp Mixed Spice
  • 1/2 Nutmeg
  • Pinch of salt
  • 250g Cold Unsalted Butter cut into cubes
  • 1 Egg
  • Splash of Milk (Around 1-2 tbsp)
  • 200g Sultanas

Method

  • Crack the egg into a bowl, add in the milk, whisk until mixed.
  • In a bowl, mix in the flour, Sugar, Cinnamon, Mixed Spice, Salt, Baking Powder (Use a hand whisk for this).
  • Put the cubes of butter in the flour mixture, then rub into the flour until the texture becomes similar to bread-crumbs.
  • Throw in the fruit, mixing well.
  • Make a well in the middle, then pour in the liquid.
  • Make a dough from the mixture, this will take a while as there isn’t a lot of liquid, when the liquid has been absorbed, you can tip out onto a work-surface to kneed and finish off the dough.
  • Roll out the dough on a floured surface util 0.5-0.75 CM thick, and cut out Welsh Cake shapes.
  • Cook the Welsh Cakes until sufficiently browned on each side. Use a flat non-stick cooking surface for this, either non-stick, or conditioned iron / steel. The heat required should be medium-low, around 150 / 160 degrees. Flip every few mins or so to ensure they’re cooking OK.
  • Cool on a rack, and apply a sprinkle of Caster Sugar to each side whist the cakes are hot.

Tips

The ingredients here are a guide, refinements can (and should) be made to your preference – this is just to get you into the target zone, items can be swapped out, examples sultanas for desiccated coconut; leave out the sultanas adding in an extra egg and more baking powder for a thicker cake / better rise – slice them in half and spread jam in the middle!

If they come out too dry, add more milk into your recipe next time.

The spice Mace can also be used, however this is sometimes difficult to get hold of. Don’t be afraid to use so much spice – they’re supposed to be tasty, not bland 🙂