Tomorrow the start of meteorological Spring and St David’s Day coincide, so I thought the perfect bake to celebrate would be Welsh cakes. If you’ve never had them before, they’re like a buttery, fried scone coated in caster sugar – and about as delicious as they sound. Here, to give a Rosie twist, I added lemon zest to the dough and dipped them in cardamom sugar once cooked (which was also a tasty addition to last month’s pancakes!). To make them, you will need:
225g self-raising flour
110g butter
50g sugar
50g sultanas (optional)
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
Zest of half a lemon
For the cardamom sugar:
2 tbsp caster sugar
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
Mix the flour and lemon zest and rub in the butter. You can do this by hand or in a food processor. Stir in the sugar and sultanas (if using).
Add the egg and milk and mix into a fairly stiff dough. Roll the mixture out on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of around 5 mm and cut into rounds. Re-roll and cut out again, repeating until you’ve used up all the mixture.
Heat a griddle or frying pan until moderately hot. Grease the pan lightly, then cook the Welsh cakes for about 3 minutes on each side until golden brown.
Make the cardamom sugar by mixing 2 tbsp caster sugar with 1/4 tsp ground cardamom in a flat dish. When the Welsh cakes are still warm, coat in the spiced sugar.
Delicious served still warm with butter.
Recipe based on traditional quantities from the Bero book.