Photos around East Mainland of Orkney, which is off the North coast of Scotland
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Click on pictures to see them enlarged in a photo stream. Comments: word verification on to allow anyone to comment but try and deter excessive amounts of spam! I LOVE getting comments!
Monday 27 February 2012
Welsh Cakes....
Today the house is filled with the smell of freshly baked Welsh Cakes and memories of childhood. I am connecting with my "inner baker" this winter and trying various cake recipes old and new. For various reasons I haven't baked welsh cakes for over 20 years. The old planc (Welsh for a cast iron baking stone) went rusty years ago and was discarded when I moved to Orkney. This week I bought a new one via Amazon for £15. Oooh my joy when it arrived! When Mick the postman delivered the package he said "I think there's a lump of metal in this" - without even opening it I knew what it was and shrieked "Oooh goody it's arrived!" - his opinion that I am bonkers deepened.
The preparation of a new planc is like a pagan ritual - wash in hot water, bake in the oven for 20 minutes, wash again, then rub in salt and butter and heat on the hob (hotplate) till it goes black, wash again in hot water, and leave to dry. It still needs much more usage to make it a truly seasoned baking stone but after completing this yesterday I was ready this morning to start on the dough for the welsh cakes.
Most Welsh women will know how to make welsh cakes. The recipe I used was my mother's, an English woman, who learned to bake these iconic cakes from her mother-in-law in South Wales during the War (WWII). She lived with her In-laws while my dad was serving in the RAF.
Back to today - it was a wonderful feeling working the butter into the flour, the softness of the crumbs drew me back down the years. Adding the raisins, sugar, egg and just enough milk to make a soft dough, but not enough to make it sticky... I could hear my mothers voice telling me what to do. I was pleased with my attempt and cut out the rounds, enough to make 20. I used to make batches of 50, but I was afraid I'd lost the skill so wanted to start small.
The tricky bit was baking them on the planc. I'd only ever used a plan on an electric hob, so had to try and judge it right on a gas ring. Three minutes each side, flipping over, moving them around the stone. The first ones on the plate looked so inviting, but I resisted. I wouldn't eat one till all were done, sprinkled with sugar and then I would make a cup of tea and taste.
I was pleased with how they looked when ready - the test would be eating. I'd cheated slightly - well adapted the recipe. Instead of using lard and margarine I'd used only butter. Oooh I think that was an improvement and one that Mum and Granny would have approved of - in their day butter was a real luxury and not used for baking. The taste was worth waiting for. Buttery crumbly texture, juicy raisins, and the sweetness of the sugar all came through. These are best eaten warm from the stove - so I ate three! Though they are OK eaten just at room temperature, and freeze well too. A little butter spread over them is allowed too....
Not a bad first experiment with my new planc......
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Would it cost much to send some over here?????
ReplyDeleteLOL! It would probably be cheaper for you to buy a cast iron baking stone and me to send you the recipe with explict instructions!
ReplyDeleteOh yum, Welsh cakes! Sian, would it be too much trouble for you to post the recipe, please? Like you I love trying new ones and haven't made Welsh cakes for ages. I have a cast iron griddle which came with my cooker, so would use that.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, your full-page comment format now has the new Google look (since this morning!) Yet more changes! Sigh.... It also doesn't have the little box to tick to follow the comments and get your reply. Double sigh....
Hmmm *^!@?!! Blogger! I've now changed my comments to appear as "embedded" and so hopefully you can now click to "subscribe by email" - which should send you a reply? Also means that there is now the ability to have threaded conversations (like on Dancing Beasties Wordpress Blog). I see you have the "new" comment version too.....sigh.... I hate software upgrades!
DeleteAs to Welshcakes - yes of course I'll send you the recipe (though you may never see this comment you will hopefully receive the email ;-)
Sian, I only changed to this format minutes before you commented on my blog as I wanted people to have the chance to subscribe. It does have the advantage of threaded comments, which are one of the things I like so much on WordPress blogs, even though on the Blogger version the time-stamps reflect the time in California, not the UK. Sigh...
DeleteThanks for taking off those dratted word verification puzzles.:-)
These look amazing. I've never heard of a planc. Yummy.
ReplyDeleteSo glad I upgraded to this smell-o-vision version of Vista. The smell of those baking cakes is quite wonderful ...
ReplyDeleteLOL! Oh they do smell VERY good, and they taste good (to me anyway). Wish I could share them with you!
DeleteI could almost smell them cooking!! I had never heard of a planc, my Mum and then I, used a girdle, which was a piece of iron with a handle. I know some folks call it a griddle, but to us it was a girdle.
ReplyDeleteYes I think the common name is griddle, and I've heard it called a girdle too - though I associate that with something *entirely* different!
DeleteThose look so lovely and tasty, I think I shall blow my diet and try to make some. I can Google the recipe I'm sure, but it would be so much more ? romantic? to get it from you? I follow your blog occasionally and love to read big swaths of posts all at once. Enjoy those daffodils. Ours are just popping open here (in Seattle).
ReplyDeleteFrith - I'll post the recipe this weekend!!
ReplyDelete