Welsh Cakes

On Wednesday I found myself sat on a train with Lac Léman speeding past. A wispy mist clung to the water, clouding the horizon so the lake looked endless if you looked backwards. The mountains majestically rose in the distance, huddling around my destination.

As I sat on the train, basking in the glow of the bright sun, I was consumed with joy, brimming with possibility and hope.



I had Ben Howard's beautiful song Old Pine streaming though my headphones, these words echoing in my ears:

"We stood
Steady as the stars in the woods
So happy-hearted
And the warmth rang true inside these bones
...
We grow, grow, happy as a new dawn
We grow, grow, older still"



Writing and editing my last post swallowed an entire afternoon and evening. I finally finished at past midnight. I couldn't sleep for hours, constantly checking my phone to see if anybody had reacted yet. I woke up aching with a nasty cold and spent the rest of the weekend feeling grim and exhausted.

On Monday afternoon I watched Steve Jobs's speech on TED. I lay on the sofa, throat lozenges, DVDs, empty bowls and mugs strewn around me, and thought. If this was my last day, what would I do? The answer was resoundingly, loudly obvious. I would go to the mountains and see my family.



Writing that post drew a line underneath my choice. My heart wasn't in it any more. Your insightful comments cemented my resolve. I wasn't excited about the subject of any of the remaining practicals and the thought of the exams put me into a pointless cold sweat. I had tutoring jobs waiting for me at home. I had already chosen the path - hopping from foot to foot at the junction was only giving me sore feet.

And so I jumped. I booked a one-way flight and packed my bags.



In the midst of all of this I've tried to make three separate things this week- some little cakes, a pudding and a sorbet. Every one has been off the mark. I thought about using some of the photos for this post but I just don't feel the same way about photos of foods I didn't enjoy, even if they're of the ingredients.

So I went back to drawing board. Take Four.



I chose to make a recipe that I'm amazed I've never posted before. Mum has been making welsh cakes regularly since I was little - often for tea after school, cooked directly onto the Aga hotplates. They're comforting, easy and delicious. Mum usually makes them in a food processor but I like to feel the dough with my hands. I knew they would never fail me.

We have specific ways of eating these. I butter the top of mine then cut it into segments and like them cooked medium rare. Mum splits hers and the butters both sides before segmenting and likes them well done. We both, inexplicably, always eat them off the flat side of the knife. I took the photo below in between cooking two batches, quickly snapping it over mum's shoulder. No staging at all - just a captured moment, a shared habit in my home.



Welsh Cakes
(adapted from Delia's Book of Cakes)

225g plain white flour
75g light brown sugar (or caster)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
good grind of fresh nutmeg - about 1/4 tsp
1 clove, freshly ground
big pinch of sea salt
110g unsalted butter
75g sultanas (or raisins)
1 egg
a dash of milk, if needed
butter, to fry and serve (salted is best)

Sift the flour, sugar, baking power, spices and salt together into a mixing bowl. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until everything is even and has the texture of fine breadcrumbs - just like making pastry. Stir in the sultanas. Add the egg and bring together into a dough - adding a dash of milk if needed. Bring into a ball.

Dust a work surface with flour. Roll out the dough to about a centimeter thickness. Cut rounds out with a fluted or smooth cutter. Place onto a plate. At this point you can chill them for up to a few days - we usually eat a batch over three or so days, cooking them as we go.

Heat up the frying or griddle pan with the heaviest bottom you can find - or the hotplate of an Aga. Grease with some butter. Fry the cakes in batches (I tend to do two at a time), turning over when well browned. Try a few at various cooking times to decide how you like yours - medium rare to well done.

Serve immediately (we tend to eat them in batches as they're ready, though I hear they're also good warm or cold - ours have never got that far), slathered in butter.

(Makes about 16)

Old Fashioned Sponge Cake

I adore this cake. It's an old family favourite and has so many memories attached to it. It was my 18th birthday cake, for example. Served with softly whipped cream and fresh fruit, it's truly divine.



When my mum came to visit me she brought a present with her: a box of duck eggs. She bought them from a farm stall near home to give me something exciting to bake with. Bless her.

I decided that this was the perfect recipe - the quality of the eggs really shines through, and it was easy to scale to the different size.



Having never used duck eggs before, I was surprised to see how massive the yolks are - at least double the size of chicken yolks. The egg whites seemed clearer too.

To scale the recipe so it wasn't an enormous cake with 5 duck eggs, I used the ratio to work out how much I would need of flour for 3 eggs - it's 1.6 recurring. Therefore as my three eggs weighed 267g, I had 167g of flour. Just for interest, I weighed 5 chicken eggs - they came out as 335g.



I think the bigger yolk:white ratio gave a slightly different texture to the cake (although this could also be because I mildly overcooked this one) and the general agreement was that chicken eggs are preferable. Which is useful - you don't need to be searching out duck eggs to make the perfect version!

It has quite an unusual texture in the cake itself - I can't quite describe it - and the outside is all crusty and crisp with sugar. The crust really is so yummy.

I'd quite like to see how this worked out as a loaf. My mum used to sometimes sprinkle the top with a little extra caster sugar to give extra crispy crunchiness. I wouldn't bother adding any other flavouring like vanilla - the flavour is quite wonderful on its own.  We used to always split it in half and sandwich with the cream and berries/jam but unless you know you're going to be eating it that day, it's much nicer with fresh cream. I also really love it plain and this means you can have a nice slice without fancy bits.



Old Fashioned Sponge Cake
(Family recipe - I think it may be Mrs Beeton in origin I've recently discovered it's actually from Constance Spry, p.820, where it has plain flour and a tablespoon of orange flower water)

5 eggs
their weight in caster sugar
3 eggs weight of self raising flour

Preheat the oven to 180C. Fully line a 20cm/8" tin. If you have a balance scale, just use the eggs as weights for the other ingredients. If not, then weigh the eggs and divide the weight by five and then times by three for the flour. Beat the egg yolks together with the sugar until pale and thick and a ribbon of mixture from the whisk stays on the surface for the count of five. Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl into stiff peaks. Carefully fold a quarter of the flour into the fluffy egg yolks, followed by a spoonful of whites, then repeat until the flour is folded in. Finish by folding in the remaining egg whites. Transfer to the tin. Bake for about 45-50 minutes - it should be crisp on top and a toothpick should come out cleanly. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

(Makes one 8" cake)

'Emma' Biscuits

These are more traditionally know as Fork Biscuits in my family. My flatmates re-christened them 'Emma' Biscuits as apparently that is a more appropriate name as I make them (this could get confusing - Emma Cake, Emma Cheesecake...)

The other day I was having lunch with three friends, including my two flatmates. They decided to write a 'To do' list for me with all the baked goods they desire on a napkin. They're so cute.

There were two capitalised entries - Treacle Tart and these biscuits.

Several of the things on the list have already been made - see Chocolate Cheesecake, Cinnamon Rolls - but the others are all things you can expect to see fairly soon. Any other requests?



And so here they are - Emma Biscuits. I've tried to make them for this blog several times but never got the photographs right - and I usually only make one flavour. This time I went a bit mental and did all three variations I use. There's the dark brooding cocoa one, the mellow and unusual hot chocolate one, and then the plain - but still quite stunning in its simplicity - vanilla.

This is a family recipe, scribbled in my 7 yr old hand in the notes section of my mum's copy of Delia's Book of Cakes. It also has a big cat sticker stuck on the back, dating from the same period. They're definitely one of the things I clearly remember making throughout my childhood. I also remember eating the majority of a half-dough mix multiple times - it just tastes so good. Oops.

I've noticed that it bears a lot of resemblance to Nigella's recipe for Granny Boyd's Biscuits in Domestic Goddess. Perhaps Granny Boyd and my Granny got together to create them!

Fork 'Emma' Biscuits

250g butter
120g golden caster sugar
315g self raising flour
15g dark cocoa powder
15g hot chocolate powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 170C. Cream the butter and sugar together. Split into three. Whizz one third with 100g of the flour and the dark cocoa until it comes together - it won't seem like it will, but don't worry. Form into small balls with your hands and place on a greased baking sheet with a bit of space. Use a fork to squish each ball. Put into the oven for about 10-15 minutes - the cocoa ones won't really change colour, but should be slightly firm to the touch. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the next third with the hot chocolate powder and another 100g of flour, then with the final third and the remaining flour and vanilla.

Makes about 50 or so.

{Edit} For the smaller version I usually make:

85g butter
40g caster sugar
and
115g plain flour
1 tsp vanilla
or
100g plain flour
15g dark cocoa or hot chocolate powder