Recipes

Lardy cake is a traditional British yeast cake dating back to the 19th century. This recipe was chosen from Warm Bread and Honey Cake by Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra and she writes "Lardy cakes were traditionally harvest cakes. In small rural communities where sugar, spices and dried fruit were luxuries, they were made for special occasions. When a pig was slaughtered, every part was carefully used.... Most [lard] was out away in its pure form for cooking purposes... due to the unaccustomed abundance, a lardy cake was almost certain to be made. It was made from plain bread dough... The Oxfordshire Lardy, for instance, does not contain dried fruit; the Wiltshire Lardy has only currants; and the Gloucestershire Lardy has both currants and raisins."

For the Dough

    375g strong white bread flour
    1 1/2 tsp easy blend yeast
    1 tbsp sugar
    3/4 tsp salt
    35g butter, melted and cooled
    About 200ml milk, warmed

For the Filling

    100g butter, softened
    75g soft dark brown sugar
    1/2 tsp cinnamon
    1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
    50-75g currants or raisins or a mixture
    Beaten egg, to glaze

24cm round tin

Method

Put all the ingredients for the dough in a large bowl and mix to moisten the dry ingredients. Use a heavy-duty mixer fitted with a dough hook to knead until thoroughly smooth and supple. Alternatively, turn out onto a floured surface or a non-stick silicone mat and knead until smooth and supple. Bring together in a ball and return to the bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film or a damp tea towel and set aside in a warm, draught-free place until doubled in size.

For the filling, beat all the ingredients together until creamy. Set aside.

Knock back the risen dough and re-knead it briefly. On a lightly floured surface, roll it out to a rectangle about 50x25cm. Spread the filling evenly on two-thirds of the dough sheet, leaving one third empty and about 4cm clear around the edges. If using, sprinkle the dried fruit over the filling and press down to embed. Fold the empty third over the middle third and the remaining third over this. Pinch all the edges well to seal the filling in. Cover with a sheet of clingfilm and leave to rest for about 5 minutes to make it more manageable.

Give the dough a quarter turn and roll it into a rectangle about 30x15cm. Fold this into thirds again and leave to rest for 5 minutes. Repeat this procedure three more times, turning the dough by a quarter turn and rolling and folding. If you find that you are losing too much filling, omit the final turn.

I must warn you that this can be very messy because the filling tends to ooze out in weak spots. Just patch it up as well as you can and continue to work. All these oozing bits will caramelise nicely as the cake bakes. Equally, you don't want to lose too much of the filling, as the lamination will be less effective. After the final rolling and folding, grease the tin and put the dough packet into it, then flatten with your hands so that it fits as snugly as you can get it. Cover the tin with clingfilm and leave it in a warm place until almost doubled in size.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Brush the dough with beaten egg, then lightly score a cross-hatched pattern into the surface (if wished). Don't cut too deeply or too much filling will be able to escape. Place the baking tin on a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes or until brown. Remove from the oven, but leave in the tin for 5 minutes. Then carefully release the clip and turn the cake upside down on a wire rack. Remove the bottom of the tin and leave to cool further.  Eat lukewarm or cold, cut into wedges or slices.