01/03/2023
Happy St David’s Day, wherever you are in the world! 💕
Welsh Cakes - Pice ar y maen (cakes on the stone)
The Welsh Cake is a small sweet cake, with a crisp outside and a soft, crumbly inside. It is a fine example of the unique and traditional food of Wales, that has been influenced historically by its predominant industries of agriculture and mining, as they are made from simple pantry items such as flour, sugar, milk and butter and are the perfect size to be slipped into the working man's coat pocket.
The modern day recipe dates from the introduction of baking powder in 1843. Traditionally they were made on a flat bakestone griddle (a portable flat stone placed on or next to a fire) and cooked with plain flour rather than self-raising flour and baking powder, which would have resulted in in a much flatter and crisper cake. The bakestone was replaced in the 19th century with a cast iron plate griddle, which in more recent times can also be made of aluminum, or carbon steel.