Q - When is a Welsh Cake not a Welsh Cake?
A - When it’s Marks and Spencer Drop Scone!
Welsh Marks and Spencer customers were amazed when they went in search of the national cake to discover it had been relabelled a “drop scone”.
M&S said “drop scone” was more recognisable but said it had reverted to Welsh cake as customers were unable to find the product.
The company said in a statement: “”Previously this product was only available in Wales, Scotland and the south-west.
“We wanted to offer this delicious product to our customers throughout the UK, and have therefore used the more recognisable name of currant drop scone.”
According to Doug Windsor, the former national chef of Wales, the two cakes are made in a different way.
He explained: “A Welsh cake is made from a dough, while a drop scone is made from a batter and is more of a pancake,” he said.
“You cook both on a bakestone or in a frying pan, but while you can roll out and cut out a Welsh cake from the dough, you have to pour the batter from a drop scone into a skillet, then drop the currants - or more usually berries - into it.
“Renaming them is a really strange thing to do - when it comes to food you can’t get much more Welsh than a Welsh cake.”
Story first published on the BBC web site, 20th February 2006.
Background: The Welsh cake is a traditional Welsh snack, very similar to a scone.
The cakes (also known as bakestones because they are traditionally cooked on a bakestone or cast iron griddle), are made from flour, butter/margarine, eggs, sugar, and sultanas and/or raisins. They are roughly circular, a couple of inches (4–6 cm) in diameter and about half an inch (1–1.5 cm) thick.
Welsh cakes are served hot or cold 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. They are often eaten with a cup of tea.
Typical recipe (courtesy of www.deliaonline.com):
Ingredients - 8oz (225g) self-raising flour, 4oz (110g) butter/margarine, 3oz (75g) sultanas/raisins, 3oz (75g) caster sugar, 1 small egg.
Method - First, sift the dry ingredients together, then rub in the butter or margarine as you would if you were making pastry. Then, when the mixture becomes crumbly, add the fruit and mix it in thoroughly. Then beat the egg lightly and add it to the mixture. Mix to a dough and, if the mixture seems a little too dry, add just a spot of milk. Now transfer the dough on to a lightly floured working surface and roll it out to about ¼ inch (5mm) thick. Then, using a 2½-inch (6.5cm) plain cutter, cut the dough into rounds, re-rolling the trimmings until all the dough is used. Next, lightly grease the thick heavy pan, using a piece of kitchen paper smeared with lard. Now heat the pan over a medium heat and cook the Welsh cakes for about 3 minutes each side. If they look as if they’re browning too quickly, turn the heat down a bit because it’s important to cook them through – but they should be fairly brown and crisp on the outside. Serve them warm, with lots of butter if desired.
Please feel free to leave a comment with your favorite Welsh Cake recipe….
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
February 24th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
Welsh Cakes
Our friend Steve over at Cymru66 has posted an interesting bit of info on Welsh Cakes.
Link: Cymru66
Link: BBC story
…
February 27th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
Steve
I am from Cardiff, same as you and I’m in Les Croupiers Running Club, like you.
This issue was on a TV programme over here in Wales last week: ‘X Ray’, which looks at issues of national importance such as Welsh Cakes. The researchers had not done a thorough job however, since they did not acknowledge that some people in Wales, my Mum for example, call Welsh Cakes ‘Bakestones’ due to the large flat, ’stone’ they are cooked on. Ironically I think the ’stone’ is in fact, made of iron. You don’t seem to see these large bakestones anymore - maybe as they’re not microwave friendly!
Happy Running
Hwyl Fawr
Andy