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New ZealandFlavors · País de Gales
Round, flattened cakes made from flour, butter, sugar, raisins and spices, cooked on an iron griddle and dusted with sugar. The Welsh name, picau ar y maen, means cakes on the stone, referring to the griddle used to make them.
Traditional sweet from País de Gales
Also known as: picau ar y maen, pice bach, cacennau cri, teisennau gradell, bakestones
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Welsh cakes — País de Gales, the United Kingdom
Welsh cakes sit somewhere between a cookie, a scone and a pancake. The dough contains flour, butter, sugar, Corinthian raisins and a little spice; it is rolled out, cut into rounds and cooked for a few minutes on each side on a thick iron griddle, called a bakestone in English and maen or planc in Welsh. They come out golden outside and soft inside and are sprinkled with sugar while still hot.
The best-known Welsh name is picau ar y maen, cakes on the stone, and there are other names that change by region, such as pice bach and cacennau cri. Cooking on a griddle over the fire is an old custom in Wales, and the cakes acquired their current form—with butter, sugar and dried fruit—in the 19th century.
They are among the country’s most common sweets, sold in bakeries, cafés and markets. At Cardiff’s Victorian market it’s common to see them being cooked on the griddle in front of customers. They appear at afternoon tea and on St David’s Day, March 1.
País de Gales
A griddle-cooked sweet made throughout Wales, known in Welsh as picau ar y maen.
Wheat flour; butter (sometimes with lard); sugar; Corinthian raisins; nutmeg or mixed spice; egg; milk. Sugar for dusting.
By hand, preferably warm, just off the griddle, eaten plain or with butter, accompanied by tea.
All year round, at afternoon tea; also on St David’s Day, March 1.
Your questions
Cakes on the stone, in Welsh. The name comes from the thick iron griddle, the bakestone, on which Welsh cakes are cooked.
No. They are cooked for a few minutes on each side on a thick iron griddle, which gives them a texture between a cookie and a scone.
In bakeries and markets throughout Wales. At Cardiff’s Victorian market it’s common to see them being cooked on the griddle in front of customers.
Flavors of the United Kingdom
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Sweet bread made from leavened dough with milk, eggs and butter, topped with crushed sugar and, in many versions, with currants and a sugar lump inside. Associated with the city of Bath since the 18th century, it is served at breakfast and at afternoon tea.
Thick soup of smoked haddock, potato, onion and milk, from the fishing village of Cullen on the Moray coast in northeast Scotland. It began as a beef broth and came to be made with smoked fish, cheaper in the region.
Round pastry bun made of buttery puff pastry filled with Corinth raisins, with cuts on top and crystallized sugar. It is named for the town of Eccles, near Manchester, where it began to be sold in shops at the end of the 18th century.
Sheep offal minced with oats, onion, fat and spices, cooked inside a casing, served with turnip and potato purées. It is Scotland’s national dish and the centrepiece of the Burns Supper on January 25.
Whisky distilled and aged in Scotland for at least three years in oak casks. The name is legally protected: only the beverage produced in the country under the rules set in 2009 may be called Scotch whisky.
White fish battered and fried, served with thick-cut fries, salt and malt vinegar. It originated in England in the 19th century from combining fried fish linked to the tradition of Jewish immigrants with fried potatoes, and became the country's best-known takeaway dish.
Fried breakfast from Northern Ireland, with bacon, sausage, egg and black pudding, distinguished by the fried griddle breads: soda farl and potato bread. It is one of Northern Ireland’s specialties.
Tablet of sugar flavored with peppermint oil, white or brown, sometimes coated in chocolate, made in Kendal since the 19th century. It became famous among mountaineers and was taken on the first ascent to the summit of Everest in 1953.
Stew of beef or lamb with potato, carrot and onion, cooked until thickened, served with pickled beetroot or red cabbage and bread. It is the dish of the port of Liverpool and gave the city’s inhabitants the nickname Scousers.
Minced meat pie in a simple pastry, served with mashed potato and the liquor, a green parsley sauce. It originated in East End homes of London in the 19th century, linked to the eels sold in the streets, and is one of the dishes most associated with London’s working class.
Pie of minced fresh pork, seasoned with pepper, in a golden pastry with arched walls, with a layer of jelly between the filling and the crust. It has protected geographical indication and originated connected to the fox hunts on horseback around Melton Mowbray.
A thick broth of lamb or beef with leek, turnip, carrot and potato, slowly cooked and served with bread. It is regarded as the national dish of Wales and, in parts of the north, is called lobscows.
