Griddles, Girdles and Hot Cakes: Traditional Welsh Cakes

Griddles, Girdles and Hot Cakes: Traditional Welsh Cakes: The recipe I am sharing today comes from one of my old Be-Ro cookbooks and is the ONLY recipe I use when I make a batch of Welsh Cakes; it’s the very same recipe that my grandmother used, as well as my mum, and the recipe never fails.

Welsh Cakes in Welsh:

picau ar y maen, pice bach, cacen gri or teisen radell

With St David’s day (the patron saint of Wales) approaching fast on the 1^st March, it seemed fitting to get my old griddle out and make a batch of Welsh Cakes one wet and miserable afternoon. I love baking on my old griddle, it is about sixty years old and was my grandmothers, and many a pancake, hot cake, Welsh cake or “Singin’ Hinny” I have seen my grandmother make on this much loved piece of vintage kitchen equipment.

Griddle cookery, or should I say Girdle cookery to use the Scottish and old fashioned English term for a griddle pan, used to be very popular all over the UK, with most housewives having a griddle to hand for easily made tea time treats. With most people cooking on or over solid fuel, the heavy cast iron griddle pans were perfect for pancakes, quick breads and scone-like cakes, such as the Welsh cake and its North Eastern cousin, the Singin’ Hinny. In Wales, cast iron griddles are also known as “Bakestones”, and so these wee fruited cakes are often known by the same name in certain parts of Wales, as well as griddle cakes.

Welsh cakes are incredibly easy to make and if you don’t have a traditional griddle, then a heavy cast iron frying pan can be used instead – but do not attempt to make them in a modern non-stick pan, they can burn when cooked this way. They can be made in under half an hour and any that are not eaten on the day can be popped into the school or office lunch box as a treat the next day, although like all “scone style” bakes they are always better eaten on the same day, and when warm and spread with butter too.

The recipe I am sharing today comes from one of my old Be-Ro cookbooks and is the ONLY recipe I use when I make a batch of Welsh Cakes; it’s the very same recipe that my grandmother used, as well as my mum, and the recipe never fails. I use my Be-Ro cookbooks a lot and I have a collection of most of the editions going right back to the 1930’s.  It’s interesting to note that in some of the older Be-Ro cookbooks I have in my collection, that Welsh Cakes were called Girdle Cakes, and we often used to refer to them that way when I was growing up, a term that is still used in North East England and Scotland.

You don’t have to be Welsh to enjoy these Welsh Cakes, and to all my Welsh friends out there, as well as all of the Welsh readers, all that remains for me to say is “hapus Dydd Gŵyl Dewi”, which is Happy Saint David’s Day in Welsh, Karen 

WELSH CAKES RECIPE

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Traditional Welsh Cakes

Yield: 8 Welsh Cakes

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Welsh cakes are incredibly easy to make and if you don’t have a traditional griddle, then a heavy cast iron frying pan can be used instead. Sometimes called Bakestones, this recipe was taken from an old Be-Ro cookbook and I've changed the measurements into metric for today's bakers.

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Ingredients

• 225g SR Flour (or 225g plain flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder)
• Pinch of salt
• 100g margarine (we always used butter)
• 50g caster sugar
• 50g currants
• 1 egg beaten with 3 tablespoons milk
• A little butter for cooking
• Caster sugar to serve

Instructions

1. Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl and rub
in the margarine or butter.

2. Add the sugar and currants and stir well.

3. Pour the egg mixture in and mix until you have a stiff dough.

4. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured board until 5mm (1/4 inch) thickness and stamp out rounds with a pastry/biscuit cutter.

5. Heat the griddle over a medium heat until hot and grease with a little butter; cook the cakes for about 3 to 4 minutes each side, until they are golden brown and have risen slightly.

6. Serve immediately sprinkled with a little extra caster sugar.

Notes

N.B Tip from my Be-Ro book – the baking griddle should be well-greased, and then heated until a little water sprinkled on the surface skips about in balls, evaporating. A heavy cast iron frying pan makes a good substitute. Serve these straight from the griddle, spread with butter and a cup of tea.

Nutrition Information

Yield 8 Welsh Cakes Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 261Total Fat 13gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 2gUnsaturated Fat 9gCholesterol 28mgSodium 41mgCarbohydrates 33gFiber 1gSugar 11gProtein 4g

Nutrition information is an approximate calculation based on the ingredients listed and it can vary according to portion sizes and when different ingredients are used.

Welsh Cakes as enjoyed at Llangoed Hall in the Brecon Beacons

Romantic Welsh Griddle Cakes for Tea Time Treats

Romantic Welsh Griddle Cakes

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Serves	15 to 18 Welsh Ca
Prep time	5 minutes
Cook time	6 minutes
Total time	11 minutes
Region	British
By author	Karen S Burns-Booth

Delicious little griddle cakes that are easy to make with handy pantry ingredients.

Ingredients

• 225g self-raising flour
• pinch salt
• 110g butter (or margarine)
• 50g caster sugar
• 75g currants
• 1 medium free-range egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• butter or oil (for greasing)

Note

The baking griddle should be well-greased and then heated until a little water sprinkled on the surface skips about in balls, evaporating. A frying pan makes a good substitute, but make sure it is a heavy based pan for even and good heat retention.

Directions

Step 1	Mix flour and salt together, rub in butter/margarine, then stir in sugar and currants. Mix to a fairly stiff dough with the egg and milk.
Step 2	Roll out about 5 mm (¼ inch) in thickness and cut into rounds, or as I have done, stamp out heart shapes with a biscuit cutter, re-roll the trimmings to make more griddle cakes.
Step 3	Cook on a moderately hot greased griddle for about 3 minutes on each side. Remove from the pan and dust with caster sugar while still warm. Serve buttered, hot or cold.