The Only Place My Mum Would Buy Welsh Cakes

Welsh cakes are my happy place, and the best dessert you’ve probably never heard of. They are the go-to sweet treat of Wales, where I grew up and if you’re not sure, it’s the bit sticking out of the left of the UK. Think Mathew Rhys, Tom Jones, and — in an astonishingly unlikely turn of events — many Americans now know it as the country Wrexham is in.

Welsh cakes were born out of a need for a simple treat you could make from common pantry items (namely flour, baking powder, eggs, butter or lard, caster sugar, and currants). They’ve been around since the second half of the 19th century, when they were cooked on a bakestone over an open fire, or in a slightly fancier version popular in the Vale of Glamorgan (which still thinks of itself as pretty fancy even today, and I say that lovingly as someone who grew up there), in a Dutch oven in front of an open fire. These days, they’re prepared somewhat more easily on a griddle. 

It’s not the fanciest of desserts, and most people outside Wales haven't even heard of them. They’re related to the scone but have a different texture and shape, cruelly described by some as a "chubby cookie." Get them right, and they are sweet, moist, and just the perfect level of crumbly, yet durable enough to survive a trip to the coal mines that drove Welsh industry at the time of their inception, when miners would stash them in their pockets.

While they can be eaten cold, for the perfect experience try and get Welsh cakes warm off the griddle (accompanied by a mug of hot tea, obviously). Some slice them and add jam, while modern variations even add chocolate, cranberries, and other ingredients. While trying not to be judgy and embrace these modern approaches, I have to stand firm on the best way to eat them: sprinkled with caster sugar, warm off the grill.

It’s hard to overestimate their hold over us Welsh people. Smelling them hot off the griddle is one of my most cherished childhood memories. When I moved to New York a decade ago, every trip home to Wales would end with a Tupperware of Welsh cakes to bring back. Most trips, I demanded my mother make them, but even if I didn’t, I’d nearly always arrive back in New York to find a box full magically appear in my luggage. They may have been designed to survive an afternoon in the pocket of a Welshman toiling in the pits, but thankfully they also stand up pretty well to the rigors of transatlantic flight — although New York does also have its own annual Welsh cake bake off contest organized by the Welsh Congregation of New York City. I have to confess I haven’t made it to one yet.

Should you be lucky enough to visit Wales, you’ll find Welsh cakes in almost every bakery and supermarket (my supermarket pick is either Waitrose or M&S, although my mother rejected these as being too dry). 

I grew up in a small market town called Cowbridge in the aforementioned Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales. The only shop-bought Welsh cakes in the world my mother would not complain about are made in the wonderful Elephant & Bun on my local high street. There’s a griddle in the window where the cakes are cooked. Last time I was at home, I stepped inside the small, family-run deli to the smell of cooking Welsh cakes and was instantly transported back to all of the wonderful moments when I’d get home from school to find my mum cooking them. Should you make it to Elephant & Bun, they have a superb selection of other sweet treats, as well as a fantastic selection of other foods. 

And if you do get to Cowbridge, Farthings, a small restaurant just up the high street, is famed for its take on Eton Mess, a wonderful meringue-and-cream-filled dessert (washing dishes there was one of my first jobs, in fact), while Forage does a wonderful full Welsh breakfast.

If you’re elsewhere in Wales, there are Welsh cakes to be had everywhere, but having asked around my friends and family, some places were mentioned again and again. About 10 miles away is Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, and Fabulous Bakery there is a great place to stock up. You can also order online from MamGu, and the brand to look out for in stores is Tan Y Castell, a bakery in Narberth in Pembrokeshire.

There’s actually a Welsh word that sums up perfectly what Welsh cakes mean to me, and I suspect a lot of Welsh people: hiraeth, a sense of homesickness, tinged with a little sadness. Much like all really great comfort foods, everyone thinks their mum makes the best. Sadly, my own personal Welsh cake supplier died suddenly a year ago, and while I have her recipe, I haven’t yet been able to bring myself to make it. I know one day soon I will, and my measure of getting it right will be when a single bite reduces me to a blubbering wreck, such is the power of them. In the meantime, my mission is to spread the gospel of Welsh cakes across the globe.