Welsh Cakes Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

Why are my Welsh cakes so dry? ›

If your Welsh Cakes turned out hard, dry or crumbly, your mixture was probably not wet enough. Next time, add a little bit of milk so the mix is softer.

Welsh cakes are made with plain flour, eggs and shortening and don't rise much. Scones are made with self-raising flour, no eggs, no shortening and rise a lot if done right. Welsh cakes tend to be flatter, more like thick pancakes.

Welsh Cakes or Pice ar y maen are a Welsh teatime treat. The recipe has been passed down through generations and is still as popular as ever. In Wales welsh cakes are also known as griddle cakes or bakestones because they are traditionally cooked on a bakestone (Welsh: maen, lit. 'stone' or Welsh: planc, lit.

Adding extra wet ingredients like yoghurt or sour cream can really help your cake retain moisture, especially if you're cooking with chocolate which is notorious for drying out a bake.

Add Sour Cream

To help prevent a dry, dense cake, let's add a creamy and light wet ingredient. Milk is usually required in a cake recipe to thin out the batter and lighten up the crumb, but sour cream is often overlooked. In addition to milk, add a Tablespoon or 2 of sour cream.

While they can be eaten cold, for the perfect experience try and get Welsh cakes warm off the griddle (accompanied by a mug of hot tea, obviously).

Pica Bach or Pice Bach

These were general terms used for Welsh cakes, and refer to the food as being 'small cakes'. They can also be called 'pican' or 'picen' and were called these in Carmarthenshire, Aberystwyth and the old West Glamorgan (Swansea and Neath Port Talbot today).

Welsh cakes are served hot or cold, sometimes dusted with caster sugar. 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.

Cakes may be eaten straight from the package however most people prefer them warmed. Warming takes 8-10 seconds for one cake in a 1500W microwave, 10-12 seconds for a whole pack. If heating in an oven, 2-3 mins @ 275 will usually do. Some folks tell us they toast the cakes and we like that too.

What is a Welsh Cake? It's like a cross between a pancake, cookie, or a scone but they are nothing like it. These are somewhat similar in appearance to Eccles Cakes but Welsh Cakes are a bit flatter than an Eccles Cake and unlike an Eccles Cake, Welsh Cakes are not filled.

What is the most popular dessert in Wales? ›

Picau ar y maen — also known as Welsh cakes, Welsh miner cakes, pice bach, cacennau cri, and teisennau gradell — are thick-ish, round tea cakes traditionally made on a baking stone or griddle, studded with dried fruit, possibly sprinkled in caster sugar, served warm or cold, butter and jam optional.

Did you know that the of eating fruitcake around the holidays stemmed from Great Britain? The traditional Christmas dessert isn't at all similar to the candied peel and citron cakes you might think of when “fruitcake” is mentioned. Called Christmas cake or plum cake in Great Britain, the dessert dates to Roman times!

kaka, Dan. kage, a cake (O.N. has it in kokukorn (Torp)).]

They were usually cooked on a bakestone and the Welsh names given to these cakes were usually based on the different regional Welsh name for the bakestone. These included pice bach, tishan lechwan or tishan ar y mân (bakestone cakes), but in English they became known generally as Welsh Cakes.

Formulate a cake soak: You can make a cake soak using simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water), evaporated milk, buttermilk, or a liqueur. With a wooden skewer or toothpick, pole holes in the cake. Then use a pastry brush to blot the liquid over the surface of the cake layers to moisten the cake.

Now my cake is too dry

Maybe you've over baked it, or didn't use enough liquid/ not enough eggs, if the recipe says use large eggs and you haven't got large, use an extra egg, size matters! Using too much raising agents will also make for a dry cake.

The most common cake soak is simple syrup, equal parts sugar and water cooked until the sugar is dissolved. This added bit of liquid and sweetness help make the cake more moist, and stay moist longer. Professional bakers also use a milk soak, which is milk or cream dabbed onto the cake.