Welsh Cakes

This post was written by Catholic Cuisine contributor, Charlotte from Waltzing Matilda. 

A sweet friend called my attention to this recipe and we decided to give it a try a little early to see if we wanted to add it to our St. David's Day feast. The kids loved them and begged me to make some more tomorrow! My husband's family has some Welsh heritage so we've found ourselves with a special, little devotion to this Welsh saint. This Welsh prince turned priest was responsible for founding many monasteries and condemning the Pelegian heresy. The original recipe is written using British cooking terminology, so I've made some changes to make it easier to understand for us 'mericans! ;)

Welsh Cakes

2 C. all purpose flour, sifted

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 stick (4 Tbl.) of salted (preferably Welsh) butter

1 egg

1/4 C. milk, (more if needed)

1/4 - 1/2 cup golden raisins (optional)

1/3 C. caster sugar* (plus extra for dusting; see note below)

1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1/8 tsp. allspice** (see note below)

extra butter for greasing

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a mixing bowl. Rub or cut the butter into the flour mixture until it forms crumbs. Add the sugar, raisins and egg. Mix to combine into a ball using a splash of the milk if you need to get it to hold together.

Roll out dough until it's about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 3-4 inch rounds. Use extra butter to grease a heavy griddle. Heat griddle to medium heat and cook cakes 2-3 minutes per side.  Turn only once.

 They should be a caramel brown, like pancakes, when cooked, although, some people prefer them almost burnt. Remove from pan and dust while still warm with the extra caster sugar.  Enjoy!

*Caster sugar is regular white sugar that has been processed to a finer texture. If you don't have any, just take a clean food processor or clean coffee grinder and process some regular white sugar until fine but not powdery. If you don't have any way to make your own, you can use powdered sugar but it's a different texture and usually includes some cornstarch. I used a coffee grinder for mine and in the picture below you can see that the homemade caster sugar is lighter and fluffier.

Homemade caster sugar on the left and regular white sugar on the right

** I read in other recipes that you could add some "mixed spice" for a more authentic flavor. British "mixed spice" is basically pumpkin pie spice but since I don't use pumpkin pie spice, I added my own blend of spices.

(Just to clarify… I don't use pre-made pumpkin pie spice because it usually has cloves and ginger in it. My family doesn't care for the taste of cloves and only tolerates ginger in small quantities. I mix my own spice blend only so I can control the flavorings. No other reason. If you want to use pumpkin pie spice, I would think a teaspoon would be all you need.)

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