WELSH CAKES

Welsh Cakes

We had Welsh Cakes in a hotel near Stoke-on-rent last year and, ever since, Juno has been mentioning them. She was craving them at the weekend so we decided to make them. I adapted the recipe to gluten free from a BBC Good Food one.

They turned out great and are so quick and easy. They are like mildly spiced, pan-fried, fruit scones. Serve warm with butter and jam, or just butter.

WELSH CAKES

Ingredients

225g plain flour

85g caster sugar

½ tsp mixed spice

½ tsp baking powder

100g butter, cut into small pieces, plus extra for frying

50g currants/raisins

1 egg, beaten

splash milk

Method

• Mix the flour, sugar, mixed spice, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a bowl.
• Then, with your fingers, rub in the butter until crumbly.
• Mix in the currants/raisins.
• Work the egg into the mixture until you have soft dough, adding a splash of milk if it seems dry – it should be the same consistency as shortcrust pastry.
• Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to the thickness of your little finger.
• Cut out rounds using a 6cm cutter, re-rolling any trimmings.
• Grease a pan and put over a medium heat.
• Cook the Welsh Cakes in batches, for about 3 mins each side, until golden brown, crisp and cooked through.

EMILY DICKINSON’S BLACK CAKE

Black Cake - with a chunk taken out :)

This cake features in my forthcoming novel Miss Emily (out July in USA and Canada, August in UK and Ireland) so it was about time I actually made it. In the book Emily makes it for her December birthday and shares it with her Irish maid Ada.

Juno beating the eggs and sugar

Emily's version of this calls for 19 eggs and 5 lbs of currants!! I made a quarter sized version. The finished cake certainly looks black and it tastes more like a plum pudding than cake to me. It's rich and very fruity. I have no clue how Emily baked hers at 120°C in three hours. My much-reduced cake took three hours and forty minutes and still looked a bit moist around the middle.

Treacle marbling the batter - Emily used molasses in her version

I had a lump of it hot from the oven last night - I am looking forward to having a piece today with soya custard or that lovely Alpro Lemon and Lime 'yogurt'.

INGREDIENTS

•           225g self-raising flour

•           225g butter

•           225g sugar

•           half teaspoon baking soda (bread soda in Ireland)

•           quarter teaspoon ground nutmeg

•           1.25 teaspoons total: cloves, mace, cinnamon (or mixed spice)

•           5 eggs

•           550g raisins

•           150g citron (candied peel)

•           150g currants

•           60ml brandy (or whiskey)

•           60ml treacle

METHOD

•           Preheat oven to 120°C

•           Grease and line the bottom of a round baking tin (8”)

•           Sift together flour, bread soda and spices

•           In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar

•           Add eggs one at a time and beating after each one

•           Add brandy (or whiskey), mix well

•           Add flour mixture, mix well.

•           Add treacle and sprinkle in fruit as you stir

•           Pour into greased tin

•           Bake for 2 hours at 120°C

•           Bake for a further 1 hour 30 mins at 160°C then remove cake from tin to cool

•           Store in an air-tight container. Douse with whiskey/brandy once a week.

RAISIN SODA BREAD - Great Irish Bake 2

Kneaded dough

This is our second Great Irish Bake for Temple Street baking session. Lately I've been craving my mother's soda bread with raisins but as she lives 90 miles away, I've had to resort to making it myself. In my novel out next year, Miss Emily, Emily Dickinson's maid, Ada, shows her how to make soda bread. Dickinson was a good baker in her own right. (Which may be where my craving stems from - I am editing the book at the moment.)

The Odlums Baking site calls soda bread with raisins in it 'Station Bread'. I haven't heard this before - is this something to do with the stations of the cross, I wonder? Where is Regina Sexton when you need her?! I shall go and consult her history of Irish food and see if it mentions Station Bread.

This bread has about 99 calories per serving. (Adding butter means extra kcals!)

Cutting the cross - to keep the devil out of the bread

Ingredients

450g plain flour
1 level tsp bread soda
2 level tsps cream of tartar
big pinch of salt
1 tblsp white sugar
25g margarine
half pint milk 
a handful of raisins

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 400°F/200°C/Gas 6
2. Sprinkle flour onto a round baking tray
3. Sieve flour, bread soda, cream of tartar and salt into a bowl. Add sugar after sieving and mix through
4. Rub in the margarine until it's like breadcrumbs
5. Add milk and mix to make a soft dough.
6. Turn onto a lightly floured board and knead a little
7. Turn over and shape into a round. Place the dough on a floured tin
8. Cut a deepish cross into the loaf
9. Bake for 45 minutes
10. Tap underneath, if there's a hollow sound, the loaf is done
11. Cool on a wire tray, covering with a tea towel to give a softer crust 
12. Slather with butter and eat. Yum!

The finished bread