Welsh cakes

Welsh cake

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 Cymraeg, jam split

Welsh cakes (Welsh: picau ar y maen, pice bach, cacen gri or teisen radell), also Welshcakes or pics, are traditional 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 bakestones within Wales because they are traditionally cooked on a bakestone (Welsh: maen), a cast iron griddle about 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/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 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.