Yesterday was St David's Day and as I'm super proud to be welsh...and I do love a nice treat, I decided to try my hand at making Welsh Cakes as they are traditional in Wales. I hadn't realised how simple the ingredients were that you need to make welsh cakes or how quick and easy they would be to make. They are a tasty homely treat to enjoy with a nice cuppa and I'm so pleased I made them as they turned out perfect! Astronaut Tim Peake even wished the Welsh a Happy St David's Day from the international Space station which is pretty awesome, Check it out below...
Ingredients
500 g self-raising flour , plus extra for dusting
75 g caster sugar , plus extra to serve
1 heaped teaspoon mixed spice ( I used ground Cinnamon)
250 g cold, unsalted butter
a pinch of sea salt
150 g mixed raisins and sultanas
1 large free-range egg
a couple of splashes of milk
You literally don't need any special mixers or cutters or equipment to make these its so easy and you'll find everything you need to make the perfect Welsh Cake in your kitchen already.
First start by sifting the flour into a large mixing bowl, then add the caster sugar and the mixed spices and give it a good stir with a fork. Then cut up the butter into cubes and pop that into the dry mix with a pinch of salt.
This next bit gets a bit messy, you need to get your hands stuck right into the mix and combine all the ingredients together. Using your thumb and forefingers to rub it all together so that is becomes a fine breadcrumb consistency. Add the raisins and make a well in the middle of the mixture so that you can crack your egg into the middle. Keep the mixture light as you don't want to over work it too much.
Next use your hands to pat and squeeze the mixture to form a dough. I then formed a few dough balls and then pressed them down onto my floured surface until they where around 1cm thick. You could roll them out with a rolling pin but I didn't have one so I just used my hands.
You can then use a 5cm cookie or pastry cutter to cut out as many rounds as you can with your dough. I used a Ramekin as I also don't have any cutters just yet and it worked just as well. I made 20 with this mixture and I could have probably made more if id made the rounds a little thinner.
Then using a dry pan on a medium heat, test one Welsh Cake first to check the temperature is just right. If after a few minutes the surface of the underside of the welsh cake is blonde, you need to turn your heat up a little and if its grey/black you need to turn your heat down. I burnt a few a little as my pan was too hot but they still tasted yummy,
Once your temperature is perfect, you can now put a few in the pan at the same time so that you cook a batch. They only take around 5 minutes a side each and once they are golden they are done!
You can now remove them from the pan and place them on a plate or wire rack to cool and sprinkle them with some more caster sugar. Your Welsh cakes should be crisp on the outside and a slightly crumbly soft inside.
They only took me around 45 minutes to make the dough and cook them so its really quick. You can then serve them warm or wait for them to cool down a bit. Craig and I couldn't wait to try them so tested them when they were warm and they were delicious!! If I do say so myself.
Let me know if you have tried Welsh Cakes or if you think you'll be having a go at making them soon, id love to know what you think of them? They are so yummy and I cant wait to finish this post and go enjoy another one...or two.
