Welsh Shearing Cake (Cacen Gneifo) A traditional recipe for a Welsh seed cake, and one that would have been served to the sheep shearers during shearing season. This buttery cake would have originally used bacon fat in place of butter, although the caraway seeds and peel are authentic to older country recipes.
A Traditional Welsh Recipe
I have a deep-rooted love of baking, in all its forms, it stems from my early childhood whilst watching my maternal grandmother bake in her old cottage in Northumberland, and then subsequently being taught by my mother, who is also a great baker, and who taught me from a very early age how to make shortcrust pastry, crumble, apple pie and chocolate cake. My grandmother never knowingly under-catered, and she was known for her cakes, especially fresh orange and fresh lemon cakes, as well as fruit cake, sticky ginger loaves, crusty cottage loaves and many other types of bread, double crust pies – her meat and potato pies were legendary, as well as her amazing Yorkshire puddings. This type of home baking, and cooking, was instilled into me from a very early age, and my earliest memories are of cosy tea time meals, sat at an old scrubbed wooden table, with piles of freshly made sandwiches, boiled eggs, a plate of tender, pink sliced ham, be-jewelled fruit cake and a big platter of bread and butter with homemade jam – in the middle of the table taking pride of place, stood, beneath an old knitted tea cosy, an enormous Brown Betty tea-pot, probably what is classed as a 10 cup pot today……it’s not hard to see why food, and home baking is so important to me. Today’s recipe comes from the other side of the UK, it’s an old Welsh recipe that I have adapted, for Welsh Shearing Cake (Cacen Gneifo) or what I know as Seed Cake.
Welsh Shearing Cake, or Cacen Gneifo as it is known in Welsh, is exactly that, a cake that would have been made by way of refreshment for the shearers at shearing time; also known as Threshing Cake, when it was served to the workers at harvest time, the original recipe would probably been made with bacon fat and buttermilk with vinegar when the hens were not laying. As far as I can make out from research, the main flavouring ingredients are the caraway seeds and the mixed peel, although some recipes omit the peel and add fresh lemon zest and ground nutmeg. Welsh lamb is world-famous, and many sheep farmers are hill farmers, living in remote and inaccessible parts of Wales, so, at shearing time, all the neighbouring farms would get together to help each other out, from rounding up the sheep, bring them down from the mountains to shearing them, it was a collaborative enterprise with each farm helping the other farms on a rota basis. The host farm was expected to, and indeed wanted to, feed the helpers, so the farm kitchens were a hive of activity for days before shearing, with cooked meats, bread, tarts and cakes being made to feed the army of shearers, and, caraway seeds seem to feature very heavily in all original Welsh recipes for shearing and threshing cakes.
I love historical recipes like this one for Welsh Shearing Cake, they stand the test of time and are intrinsic to the region that they originate from; this cake is quite a robust cake, and I can see how the subtle aniseed flavouring of the caraway seeds and the added texture of the candied mixed peel would have appealed to the tired workers, although, the cake is elegant enough to be served at any afternoon tea time table, as well as being a very suitable cake for high tea too, maybe sliced and buttered. You could of course bake it in a loaf tin, for that sliced and buttered idea, and, for haters of mixed peel and caraway seeds, they could be left out, but that rather defeats the point of making a Welsh Shearing Cake! However, you could try one of the other recipes, where there is no peel, and fresh lemon zest is added as well as nutmeg – if you do go down that route, please let me know what you think, and I may yet try that recipe variation too. I hope you have enjoyed reading about this old Welsh recipe, now that I am living in beautiful North Wales, at the head of the Llyn Peninsula and next to the Snowdonia National Park, expect lots more Welsh inspired recipes to come…….have a wonderful week ahead, Karen
Welsh Shearing Cake (Cacen Gneifo)
Print recipe
| Serves | 8 to 10 slices |
| Prep time | 20 minutes |
| Cook time | 1 hour, 15 minutes |
| Total time | 1 hour, 35 minutes |
| Allergy | Egg, Milk, Wheat |
| Dietary | Vegetarian |
| Meal type | Dessert, Snack |
| Misc | Pre-preparable, Serve Cold |
| Occasion | Birthday Party, Casual Party, Christmas, Easter |
| Region | British |
| By author | Karen Burns-Booth |
Ingredients
- 225g self-raising flour
- 180g unsalted butter (softened)
- 150g caster sugar
- 3 free-range eggs (beaten with 2 tablespoons buttermilk or skimmed milk)
- 100g chopped candied peel
- 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
- extra buttermilk or skimmed milk if needed
Note
Welsh Shearing Cake (Cacen Gneifo) A traditional recipe for a Welsh seed cake, and one that would have been served to the sheep shearers during shearing season. This buttery cake would have originally used bacon fat in place of butter, although the caraway seeds and peel are authentic to older country recipes.
Directions
| Step 1 | Line and grease a round cake tin, 8"/20cm in diameter; pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4. |
| Step 2 | In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until it is light, fluffy and pale yellow in colour - a wooden spoon is best if you need a workout, or for ease, use a hand held mixer. |
| Step 3 | Add the beaten eggs and milk along with the flour, spoon by spoon, using a metal spoon now, gently mixing it into the butter and sugar mixture until combined; continue until the egg mixture and flour has all be used. |
| Step 4 | Add the mixed candied peel and the caraway seeds, and mix - if the mixture is too stiff, add a little buttermilk or skimmed milk to the cake batter, you want a soft batter. |
| Step 5 | Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin , level the surface and bake in the pre-heated oven for between 1 to 1 1/4 hrs, or, until the cake is well risen, golden brown and is firm to the touch. (To double check, insert a skewer into the middle of the cake, it should come out clean of the cake is cooked) |
| Step 6 | Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack; leave to cool completely. Serve the cake in wedges and store any uneaten cake in a covered tin for up to a week. |
Kate - gluten free alchemist says
The history of bakes and other recipes is so fascinating! I imagine that shearing was very hungry work and it’s no surprise that there would be a cake to share at the end of it. Love this post Karen x
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thank you so much Kate, I’m loving discovering some new regional recipes here in North Wales…..and, this cake was delicious! Karen
Ron says
Karen, I so enjoyed your post today. Your accounts of learning to bake when a child was wonderful. Oh, and your description of the “old scrubbed wooden table” placed a large smile on my face. Yes, I know of such a wooden table from a summer long ago when I spent many days in a friend’s cottage in the Lake District. I hadn’t thought of that time in ages. Thanks for the memory and the cake looks grand.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thank you Ron! I’m so pleased you enjoyed my post and recipe, and I’m also delighted that the description of the “old scrubbed wooden table” brought back happy memories of the Lake District, one of my favourite parts of the UK. Karen
Jean | DelightfulRepast.com says
Karen, this looks delightful! And I loved reading the story of the Welsh shearing cake as well as your own family baking story. My mother’s family came from the Lake District, and I can just imagine an old scrubbed wooden table in the kitchen. The hardworking kitchen table of my early childhood was a yellow Formica “chrome set.”
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Jean,
It seems that the old scrubbed wooden table in the kitchen has resonated with lots of readers, as I have had emails too!
I also love the old Formica sets, with steel tubular legs etc. Lovely old memories of warm, family kitchens.
Karen
Tracey says
This looks like a lovely cake! I love finding out about regional and traditional British recipes and am slowly baking & cooking my way round all the counties in Britain on my blog.Can´t wait to try this one out!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thank you Tracey,
It is a lovely cake and I am also researching into long forgotten cakes and bakes, as well as general food of the UK too!
Karen
Shelagh says
I made this today, and it’s gorgeous! The simple and subtle flavour goes very well with a cup of tea. I used candied orange peel, and it’s lovely to get those little bursts of extra flavour.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Hi Shelagh,
I am so pleased that you enjoyed this cake, and like you, we love the little bursts of citrus flavour you get with the candied peel!
Karen
2pots2cook says
You really do special posts here ! Thank you so much for this one !
Lesley says
In Cardiff in the 50s, my paternal grandmother had an old timber dining table in her kitchen/sitting room in front of the fire. It was where the family ate and it was scrubbed or bleached every day so it was almost white in colour.
Karen Burns-Booth says
What a wonderful memory to have Lesley, thanks for sharing it here. Karen
Mrs H A Peters says
What is the original manuscript source for this recipe, please? Was it found in the Ntional Library of wales?
Karen Burns-Booth says
It is a recipe I’ve adapted after seeing numerous recipes in old recipe books and newspaper cuttings I found in my late mother’s recipe folder. So, no, it wasn’t sourced from the National Library of Wales, is that an online resource? Can anyone access it? It’s almost exactly the same recipe as my grandmother’s Victorian seed cake recipe, and I suspect that there are many variations throughout the UK. Hope this was of interest, Karen
Kate says
My son choose this recipe for his international cake sale. We loved it and for added meaning we used candied Dragon Fruit to symbolise the Welsh and candied Kiwi for New Zealand. Every slice was rippled with red and green and to top it off it was decorated with fondant sheep and daffodils. So much fun!
Karen Burns-Booth says
THANK YOU so much for letting me know! I am so pleased that your son was able to make something that symbolises Wales and New Zealand. Karen