Lardy Cake Recipe
Ingredients
275g strong white bread flour
50g lard
175ml warm water
Pinch of sea salt
5g dried yeast (or 10g fresh yeast)
For the lard and sugar mix:
250g caster sugar
Handful of raisins and sultanas
200g lard, slightly softened
Method
1. Line 2 x 15cm cake tins or enamel pie dishes with greaseproof paper.
2. Weigh the flour, salt and lard into a big bowl. Mix the yeast into the
warm water then empty the mixture into the bowl and stir all the
ingredients together.
3. Knead the dough for 15 minutes (or 10 minutes in an electric mixer).
Once you have a smooth and elastic dough, nestle it back into the bowl
and cover in clingfilm with no air gaps. Leave it in a warm place to rise to
twice its size or for 1 hour, whichever is first.
4. Meanwhile, make the lard and sugar mix by mixing them together until they are combined in a mixer or with a wooden spoon. To slightly soften the lard, warm it in a bowl over a saucepan of hot water.
5. When it is rested, divide the dough into 2 pieces. Mould the dough into round shapes and then, on a well-floured table, use a rolling pin to roll the balls out into 20cm discs.
6. Using a pallet knife, spread a layer of sweet lard mix onto each disc. Then fold the dough - take an outside edge and pull into the middle so that your circle now has a straight edge with a corner at each end. Looking at it clockwise, take the bottom corner and pull the corner into the middle and push the dough down with your palm. Now, working clockwise, pick up the bottom corner and continue to work your work around, pulling the bottom corner into the centre until you have worked your way all around.
7. Roll the discs out again then spread all but a tablespoon of the sweet lard mix on top. Sprinkle with some raisins and currants and fold as before, then roll out to fit your round cake tins.
8. Put the remainder of the sweet lard mix in the bottom of each tin and spread it around to cover the bottom and sides. Then sprinkle a generous tablespoon of sugar over the lard mix and place the dough on top, with the flat side on the bottom and the layered, knotted side on top. Cover and leave in a warm place to rise for 2 hours.
9. After 2 hours, preheat the oven to 210 degrees/fan oven 190 degrees. Bake the lardy cake for 45 minutes until you can just lift the cake from the tine using the small pallet knife and the cake is golden all over. Take care to bake the base well so that it caramelises but does not burn (baking on a pre-heated baking stone or a heavy metal tray will help with this).
10. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 30 minutes until the caramelised lard toffee has set a bit. Then tip out onto greaseproof paper and serve sunny side up!