The early version of this enduringly popular Welsh cake was a ‘batter cake’, made with sour cream and baked in a Dutch oven before the fire until it was nice and scrunchy. Often it was made as a means of using up cream when there wasn’t enough for a churning of butter. Most Welsh recipe collections give the later, basic fruit cake recipe. This recipe is the early one, which is well worth trying. Instead of a Dutch oven you can use a grill or a low oven.The ‘cake’ version was usually baked on an enamel plate as teisen blat (plate cake). Because of its moistness it was popular with miners for their ‘snaptin’ containing their midday meal. Someone in North Wales suggested that teisen lap developed into the commercial bakers’ slab cake.
Moist Cake (Teisen Lap)
Course: RecipeIngredients
1 pint 575ml 20fl.ozs sour cream
3 ozs 75g butter
4 ozs 125g sugar
4 ozs 125g sultanas
1 egg
3 ozs 75g self-raising flour
Directions
- Rub the butter into the flour.
- Add the sugar and sultanas.
- Beat the egg into the cream and mix thoroughly.
- Pour into a shallow tin and bake in a low oven (250°F, Gas ½, 130°C) or in a low position under a hot grill.
This recipe appears in A Book of Welsh Country Cakes and Buns by Bobby Freeman which is published by Y Lolfa [ISBN 0862431387].
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