6 Nations Bake Off - Wales vs Scotland - Welsh Cake vs Shortbread

So the time of 6 Nations is upon us again, countless hours of rugby watching and pub going on a weekend. Our household is very much split during this tournament - my husband is Welsh, my daughter is (technically) Scottish, and I am English. In honour of this annual celebration of national pride I am drawing inspiration from 2 traditional baked treats; the Welsh Cake and Scottish Shortbread.

Traditional Welsh Cakes

Ingredients

225g plain flour

85g caster sugar

1/2 tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp baking powder

50g cubed butter

50g cubed lard

50g currants or sultanas

1 egg, beaten

Method

Tip the flour, sugar, mixed spice, baking powder and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Then, with your fingers, rub in the butter and lard until it resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the currants. Work the egg into the mixture until you have soft dough, adding a splash of milk if it seems a little dry - it should be the same consistency as shortcrust pastry. 

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to the thickness of your little finger. Cut out rounds using round cutter, re-rolling any trimmings (you can experiment with different shapes if you dont have a round one; to date I've made rounds, hearts, gingerbread men and stars!). Grease a flat griddle pan or heavy frying pan with lard, and place over a medium heat - this is important because if you have the pan too hot the outside with burn and the dough won't cook evenly. 

Cook the Welsh cakes in batches, for about 3 mins each side, until golden brown, crisp and cooked through. Delicious served warm with butter and jam, or simply sprinkled with caster sugar. 

Scottish Stem Ginger Shortbread

Ingredients 

125g butter, room temperature

50g crystallised stem ginger, finely chopped

50g caster sugar

150g plain flour

35g ground rice

2 tsp ground ginger

Method

Preheat the oven to 150˚C. Mix all the ingredients, apart from the stem ginger, together in a mixer until it comes together. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and briefly knead in the stem ginger. Roll out to 1cm thickness; shape into an 18cm square. Put in the fridge for 1 hour to firm up. Cut into 12 fingers.

Bake the shortbread for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and loosen the biscuits from the baking tray. Leave to cool for about 5 minutes, before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Bakin' The Aikens Way

Tom Aikens. This chef first came on my radar when I was introduced to IronChef UK and then again when I was pregnant.

My better half took me on a weekend away to London when I was 8 months pregnant, and after purchasing even more baby items in Covent Garden decided to go to Somerset House for lunch. If you have never been to Tom's Kitchen, go it is absolutely fabulous and has the most amazing little deli shop too, which has (in my opinion) the world's best chocolate brownies.  These were, my now famous, late pregnancy craving - to the point where when my husband went back to London in the weeks leading up to my due date he had to make a special stop at Tom's Deli to bring me back some brownies - London to Edinburgh is a long trip for a brownie!

The brasserie offers a rustic and informal style of dining and features the same familiar and comforting dishes as his original Chelsea kitchen. I have never had the opportunity to go to his flagship restaurant in Chelsea but I am sure if the standard we witnessed is anything to go by then it is definitely something to experience if you are in the area.

It might seem like I am waxing lyrical here but I cannot stress enough the impression this place left on me. Anyone who has been or is pregnant will tell you it brings its own special challenging, one of which being the astronomical list of food stuffs you can and can't eat! The staff here were truly fantastic and could not do enough to help, they made the whole situation effortless - even down to the bar manager taking the time to come and find out the sort of flavours I enjoyed so he could create me my own mocktail - I missed my cocktails whilst I was pregnant! Gorgeous food and impeccable service!

After this it seemed inevitable that purchasing the cookbook would follow. The recipes are graded in three categories, easy, medium and challenging. The latter category requires a lot of time & detail with the food and some forethought (basically, don't try and whip these up for a quick meal when you get in from work), but the medium and easy recipes are well set out and easy for the domestic cook. There are notes on what can wrong on some of the recipes and how to avoid mistakes which is a useful addition especially for someone like me who is more than a little accident prone. It provides a good range of different recipes, from bread and cakes to petite fours. This book has, what I consider to be, a foolproof scone recipe, and they taste amazing fresh out of the oven:


Ingredients

225g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
55g unsalted butter
30g caster sugar
150ml milk

This makes approximately 15 scones depending on how thick you make them and the size of the cutter you are using. They are also really quick to make - about 30mins prep, then 7 mins in the oven.

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7

2. Sift the flour with the other dry ingredients into a bowl then rub in the butter and stir in the sugar. Make a deep well in the middle, then pour in the milk. Mix together with a palette knife.

Gingerbread Man Scones

3. On a floured surface knead the dough very lightly until it is just smooth. Roll out to 2.5cm thick then cut into small rounds.

4. Brush the tops with a little beaten egg or dust with flour, and bake in the preheated oven, towards the top, for 7 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack (...if you can!!!)

This recipe is for the plain scones, but you could also use it as a base recipe for fruit or cheese scones. For a fruit scone add 30g of dried fruit to the recipe. For a cheese scone, add 30g of grated cheese, omitting 30g of the butter and all of the sugar.  

2012 - The Year of the Cake!

Double Chocolate Whoopie Pies

I've got a new baking blog, that will allow you to follow my baking journey. So if your a baking fan come and check out my blog of trial and error baking...

I've decided to record the recipes I use, partly to save them somewhere where I can always find them. I was given a recipe file one Christmas, the kind where you write your own recipes in each section, but I just can't take to it - it's currently sat on my kitchen shelf stuffed full of magazine cuttings, internet printouts, freebie supermarket recipe cards and various other snipets on paper! So I decided, as I have reignited my love for baking, that a blog might be the way to go. As my better half would tell you I have never been a fan of blogs or blogging, in fact I would go as far to say that I just didn't understand the point...and yet here I am embracing it for all it's worth.

I have always loved cooking, but this year I have reignited my love of baking, partly thanks to my maternity leave allowing my the time to bake and also the time to watch copious amounts of telly...in step programs such as The Great British Bake Off; Baking Made Easy, Nigella's Kitchen - you get the idea! I'm totally self taught, if I don't know what something is or how to do it I'll turn to the ever faithful internet to help me along my merry way (never underestimate the power of Google & Wikipedia). My friends and family will tell you I'm a bit of a social media addict at the best of times, so you can also find me on Facebook & Twitter if you so wish :)

Other than that; my name is Zoe, I'm married and I'm a first time mum to my daughter, Chanel.