Welsh Cakes

Before you start

Welsh cakes sit somewhere between a scone and a shortbread cookie. The dough is a rubbed-in mix of flour, butter, sugar, spice and currants, bound with a single egg, rolled thin and cooked on a dry griddle or bakestone instead of in the oven. The result is a flat round with browned faces, a soft, crumbly middle and a light dusting of sugar.

Pan heat is the whole game. Too hot and the outsides scorch while the center stays raw and pasty; too cool and the cakes dry out before they color. Aim for a steady medium-low heat where a test cake takes about 3 minutes per side to turn the color of a digestive biscuit, and adjust the burner between batches rather than rushing.

Ingredients

• 250 g (2 cups, spooned and leveled) all-purpose flour — plus more for rolling
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp fine salt
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg or mixed spice
• 75 g (⅓ cup) granulated or caster sugar — plus 2 tbsp for dusting
• 125 g (½ cup + 1 tbsp) cold unsalted butter — cubed
• 75 g (½ cup) dried currants — or raisins, chopped
• 1 large egg — beaten
• 1 to 2 tbsp milk — only if the dough is dry
• 1 tsp butter or neutral oil — for wiping the griddle

Method

1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and 75 g sugar in a large bowl.
2. Rub the cold butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs with no pieces larger than a lentil. Unlike biscuits, Welsh cakes want the butter worked in fully for a short, tender crumb.
3. Stir in the currants, then the beaten egg. Bring the dough together with your hand; it should feel like soft pastry. Add milk a teaspoon at a time only if dry crumbs remain at the bottom of the bowl.
4. On a floured counter, roll the dough to 6 mm (¼ in) thick. Cut rounds straight down, gather the scraps once, re-roll and cut again.
5. Heat the griddle over medium-low for 5 minutes and wipe it with a trace of butter on a paper towel. A drop of water should sizzle gently, not skitter and vanish instantly.
6. Cook a single test cake for 3 minutes, until the underside is an even golden brown and the edges look slightly dry. Flip and cook 2 to 3 minutes more. Break it open: the center should be set and fluffy, not wet. Adjust the heat, then cook the rest in batches with space between them.
7. Move each cake to a plate of sugar and turn it to coat both sides while still warm, then cool on a rack. Wipe the griddle with a dry towel between batches if loose flour starts to burn.

Tips for success

• Roll an even 6 mm. Thicker cakes need lower heat and longer cooking, and their centers can stay doughy.
• Currants scorch where they touch the hot metal. If many sit on the surface, press them slightly into the dough before cooking.
• A heavy pan with good heat retention gives even color. Thin nonstick pans tend to brown in a ring and leave a pale middle.

Substitutions

All-purpose flour and baking powder

Use 250 g self-rising flour and omit the baking powder and salt, as many British recipes do. The texture is almost identical.

Butter

Replace up to half with cold lard for a more traditional, slightly shorter and crumblier cake. All lard loses the buttery flavor.

Currants

Dried cranberries, chopped dried apricots or chocolate chips all work at the same weight. Chocolate chips melt on contact with the griddle, so keep them inside the dough.

Variations

Lemon and sultana

Swap the currants for sultanas and add the finely grated zest of one lemon with the sugar.

Jam sandwiches

Split cooled cakes horizontally and fill with a thin layer of raspberry jam, a version sometimes called jam split.

Troubleshooting

Dark outside, raw center

The griddle is too hot or the dough is rolled too thick. Lower the heat, roll to 6 mm and give each side the full 3 minutes.

Cakes are dry and hard

The heat was too low so they cooked too long, or too much flour went into the dough during rolling. Raise the heat slightly and dust the counter lightly.

Dough crumbles when rolled

It needs a little more moisture. Work in milk a teaspoon at a time until it holds together like soft pastry.

Storage

Keep cooled Welsh cakes in a tin or airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Freeze for up to 2 months and refresh in a dry skillet over low heat for a minute per side.

Safety notes

The uncooked dough contains raw egg and flour, so cook a test cake through instead of tasting the dough. Contains wheat, egg and milk.