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Pembrokeshire Buns

Rhiwbina, Cardiff

Loaf cake, the rich, yeast fruit cake baked for Christmas in the counties of south Wales.

These small buns, known also as cace were given to children as part of their calennig (New Year’s gift) on New Year’s Day in many districts in Pembrokeshire.  The house wife would bake them in large quantities for this special occasion and the children would carry them home in clean pillow cases on their backs.  Generally, each child would be given some two cakes at every house after he had wished the members of the household a very happy New Year.  These wishes were frequently conveyed in verse or song.

Cakes

The Recipe

You will need

  • one pound flour
  • one ounce yeast
  • two ounces sugar
  • half an ounce lard
  • half an ounce butter
  • two ounces currants
  • one ounce candied peel
  • warm milk and water mixture

Method

  1. Rub the fat into the flour and add the other dry ingredients. 
  2. Dissolve the yeast in a little warm water and pour into a well in the centre of the dry mixture. 
  3. Add the milk and water mixture gradually and work with the yeast into the dry ingredients to make a soft dough. 
  4. Leave to rise in a warm place for about fifteen minutes. 
  5. Then knead on a floured board, and divide to form small balls. 
  6. Roll them out lightly with a rolling pin and allow to rise again for a further ten minutes.
  7. Bake in a hot oven for about twenty minutes until golden brown.

Rhiwbina, Glamorgan.

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