Welsh cakes ( cy, picau ar y maen, pice bach, cacennau cri or '), also bakestones or pics, are a traditional
sweet bread in
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
.
They have been popular since the late 19th century with the addition of fat, sugar and dried fruit to a longer standing recipe for
flat-bread baked on a griddle.
The cakes are also known as griddle cakes or bakestones within Wales because they are traditionally cooked on a
bakestone ( cy, maen, lit=stone or ), a
cast-iron
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
griddle
A griddle, in the UK also called a girdle, is a cooking device consisting mainly of a broad, usually flat cooking surface. Nowadays it can be either a movable metal pan- or plate-like utensil, a flat heated cooking surface built into a stove or ...
about ½" (1.5 cm) or more thick which is placed on the fire or cooker; on rare occasions, people may refer to them as
griddle scones.
Welsh cakes are made from flour, butter or lard, currants, eggs, milk, and spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg.
They are roughly circular, a few inches (7–8 cm) in diameter and about half an inch (1–1.5 cm) thick.
Welsh cakes are served hot or cold, sometimes dusted with
caster sugar
Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula .
For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refi ...
. Unlike
scones, they are not usually eaten with an accompaniment, though they are sometimes sold ready split and spread with
jam, and they are sometimes buttered.
See also
*
Heavy cake from Cornwall
*
Singing hinny from northern England
References
External links
The BBC's descriptionWelsh tourist board Welsh cake recipe
{{Cakes
Welsh cuisine
Sweet breads
British cakes