Welsh Cakes

This is new territory for me, I've never done a traditional cake on the griddle before but I have always wanted to try them. My 3.5 year old absolutely loves Welsh Cakes and so I thought I would start with these because I knew if they were successful they would go down well at home.After flicking through my many recipe books I got the basis of a recipe but had to tweak a few ingredients - mainly due to us being in the middle of a pandemic and supplies and trips to the shops being limited - but also due to personal taste! Welsh Cakes are traditionally made with currants, of which I am not a fan of as I find them gritty, and, because of this, I don't have any in my cupboards but I do have a big jar of raisins and so this was my first adaptation. My second was that most recipes use mixed spice to flavour, another item I don't have in my cupboard, and so I used a mixture of ground ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. These little beauties are really quick to whip up and take virtually no time at all to cook and once you get the hang of it they are so easy, I'd confidently and happily whip these up again! When greasing my griddle pan (apparently you can use a heavy based non-stick frying pan if you do not have a griddle) I used butter for the first batch but I found this made them 'splodge' and lose their shape. So for the next batch I tried a little spritz of 1 Cal spray and they cooked perfectly at 4 minutes per side on a low heat. Welsh Cakes, like scones, are best eaten on the day they are made but we had some warmed up (under the grill for 1 minute) for breakfast the next day and they were still delicious. They also freeze really well too and I sometimes get one out for my eldest for breakfast or lunch, pop it straight in the toaster to defrost and warm through. This recipe made 18.

Ingredients

225g Self Raising Flour
100g Butter
75g Caster Sugar (plus extra for sprinkling if you wish)
75g Raisins
1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
A pinch of Nutmeg
1 Egg
1 tbsp Milk

How To Make

1. Rub together the butter and flour in a bowl (or in a mixer) until they resemble fine breadcrumbs.

2. Stir in the sugar, raisins and spices. Then beat the egg and milk together and pour into the dry mixture. Mix together until it comes together as a firm dough.

3. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and then roll to about 5mm thick. Cut into rounds using a 7.5cm cutter (I used the fluted edge for a nice shape).

4. Lightly grease and heat a griddle pan. Cook the Welsh Cakes for about 3-4 minutes per side on a low heat, if you cook them too fast they will be raw in the middle. 

5. Transfer to a wire rack to cool and then dust with caster sugar (optional) and serve.