This is a very important question, so it deserves it’s own thread.
I’ve just made some ‘Welsh cakes’ and of course eaten a few while still hot, which is the best time to eat them, to celebrate Wales’ win in the chwe gwlad.
I’ve always thought it somewhat odd that we call them ‘Welsh cakes’ in English speaking Wales. There seems to be a range of suggested Welsh for them: teisen gri, cacen gri, picau ay y maen…
So I’m wondering which to adopt, is this one of the dreaded North /South variants. Maen seems to be the bakestone used for cooking them, but these days we use a griddle (gri?) (or just the heaviest pan you have).
I just want something I can be confident of saying as cacenau cymru, is surely so so wrong.
4 Likes
Hi. Two 1st language Welsh friends have both just told me Cacen Gri. They are both from N. Wales.
3 Likes
Pice ar y maen - Sir Fynwy (Monmouthshire)
At one time you could go into any house and Welsh Cakes were always available at any time of the day. My mother used to make them every week using a pound of flour. An aunt used 3lb of flour every week.
They are very nice eaten by themselves but have you tried them with cheese? (possibly butter or jam)
3 Likes
Mae’n ddrwg gen I ond dw i ddim ei hoffi
Cage bach - Aber
Cacs bach - Dolgellau
3 Likes
dw i ddim ei hoffi
sharp intake of breath 
When I was a little girl my Grandma (in Wales) used to make us Welshcakes, and I liked to suppose that my Granny (in Scotland) made Scotch pancakes (except I don’t think she actually did - I think it was just my childish brain dividing up the two varieties of little-round-things-cooked-with-raisins).
2 Likes
I actually like Scotch Pancakes - well, as made by nice lady for sale in aid of lifeboat, served with raspberry jam and cream!
1 Like
My great aunt used to make the best [scotch] pancakes in the world and she was English. However she refused, even after huge persuasion from the family to reveal her secret, which increased in intensity in her declining years. She did eventually pass it on to a cousin of mine on pain of not revealing it to anyone else. I can’t touch the shop ones and am always disappointed with my own and anyone else’s efforts in making them.
2 Likes
Although I loved Scotch Pancakes, I would say that Singin’ Hinnies were a closer cousin to Welsh Cakes 
1 Like
This is making me hungry…
4 Likes
My Nana makes the BEST “pics” on the planet (She said completey unbiased… )
3 Likes
I find that if the thought of welshcakes is making you feel hungry, all you have to do is think about those abominations that people sometimes make with chocolate chips and other sorts of nonsense in. It puts you right off. Guaranteed.
4 Likes
“Just like me Nain used to make!”
1 Like
I like the first comment from that recipe page
Have just made these this evening and they are fantastic, though next time i will leave out the chocolate and maybe use sultanas or currants instead.
4 Likes
i.e. make them the way Nain really did!! (Currents in my case, but I still am not keen, though I will say, her’s were not too bad!) Does anyone use sultanas? To be fair, I would never have imagined anyone using chocolate chips if I hadn’t seen it!
Saw some made with dried cranberries once. Just say “no”.
1 Like
And I’m sure someone has tried açaì or whatever the healthy “superfood” berry of the day is.
Very traditional!
Back when I were a lad, we couldn’t afford currants. Half a handful of hot gravel had to do us
5 Likes
We had some choc chip ones from a shop in Cardiff Bay recently. They were OKish. My son insisted I make choc chip ones at home and it was a nightmare - the chocolate melts and makes it really hard to flip them. Also, they just didn’t taste like Welsh Cakes. Will stick to the sultana version I’ve been making for years in future!
3 Likes
Have to say I much prefer currants to sultanas in Welsh cakes.
Re: My aunt’s pancakes. I have long suspected that the secret is something to do with fresh buttermilk. My aunt lived on a dairy farm, so had continual access to unpasteurised milk (which does taste better), which may be kind of unfair on us townie cooks.
2 Likes