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Welsh cake
Picau ar y maen

Home-made Welsh cakes
Alternative names	Bakestones
Place of origin	Wales
Serving temperature	Hot or cold
Main ingredients	Flour, sultanas, raisins, and/or currants
Variations	Llech Cymreig, jam split
Cookbook: Welsh Cakes   Media: Welsh cake Picau ar y maen

Welsh cakes (Welsh: picau ar y maen, pice bach, cacennau cri or teisennau gradell), also bakestones or pics, are a traditional sweet bread in Wales. They have been popular since the late 19th century with the addition of fat, sugar and dried fruit to a longer standing recipe for flat-bread baked on a griddle.

The cakes are also known as griddle cakes or bakestones within Wales because they are traditionally cooked on a bakestone (Welsh: maen, lit. 'stone' or Welsh: planc, lit. 'board'), a cast-iron griddle about ½" (1.5 cm) or more thick which is placed on the fire or cooker; on rare occasions, people may refer to them as griddle scones.

Welsh cakes are made from flour, butter or lard, currants, eggs, milk, and spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg. They are roughly circular, a few inches (7–8 cm) in diameter and about half an inch (1–1.5 cm) thick.

Welsh cakes are served hot or cold, sometimes dusted with caster sugar. Unlike scones, they are not usually eaten with an accompaniment, though they are sometimes sold ready split and spread with jam, and they are sometimes buttered.

See also

• Heavy cake from Cornwall
• Singing hinny from northern England

References

1. "Food recipes -Welsh cakes". BBC. 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
2. ^ "Traditional Welsh cake recipe". Visit Wales, Welsh Government. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
3. Encyclopaedia of Wales 2008 pp 931
4. "Fast facts about Welsh cakes - and a recipe". OnlineWales Internet Ltd. 7 February 2007. Archived from the original on 11 August 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
5. "Welsh Fare". National Museum Wales. Archived from the original on 29 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
6. Luthern, Ashley (1 July 2009). "Welsh Cakes: Not a Scone, Not a Cookie". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 29 November 2021.

External links

• The BBC's description
• Welsh Cakes (Picau ar y maen) Recipe
• Welsh tourist board Welsh cake recipe

• Welsh cuisine
• Sweet breads
• British cakes