Make It: St David's Day & Welsh Cakes
Photo Credit: Visit Wales
If you’re a Brit expat, or lucky enough to live with a Welshman like I do, you may know about St David’s Day. Saint David is the patron saint of Wales and St David’s Day on March 1st is a feast day to celebrate the saint marked with many festivities and daffodils and also Welsh Cakes. Oh, and if you’ve never seen the Welsh flag draped on this pup, it’s pretty spectacular with its Y Ddraig Goch (the red dragon).
Welsh Cakes are traditionally made on a mân (the Welsh word for bakestone) or griddle but if you don’t have a griddle you can make these at home on a cast iron skillet or even a good frying pan in a pinch.
I’ve tried many a gluten free Welsh cake recipe from bloggers and cookbooks (none of which are as good as the ones my mother in law makes for me when we go home, I might add) but I’ve had the best result with this tried and true official recipe of Wales.
Making it gluten free couldn’t be simpler. Just replace the self raising flour with gluten free self raising flour and you’re set. Currants and sultanas are a must (the currants especially) and if they’re not easily found at a local shop, you can usually find them online. Never heard of sultanas? That’s because we call them golden raisins here. <wink>
If you’d like to make these dairy free, the butter can easily be replaced with a vegan butter substitute. I like Miyoko’s and Trader Joe’s new Vegan Buttery Spread that’s made without palm and minimal canola oil. And if you’d like to skip the sugar, you can sub in some granulated monk fruit like Lakanto – just don’t skip it entirely because the sandy sugary surface of a proper Welsh Cake with a good cup of tea is kind of what makes it a proper Welsh Cake. <insert another wink here>
Bonus: A recipe for another Welsh classic, Bara Brith aka Welsh Tea Cake. Traditionally this tea cake was made with wild yeast but now self raising flour is the standard. Again, this one is easily made gluten free by substituting the regular self raising flour for gluten free self raising flour. And easily made dairy free by subbing the butter with a vegan alternative. The stronger you brew the tea for this one, the better.
Lechyd da!
