Baking & Afternoon Tea · Wiltshire

Lardy Cake

Name: Lardy Cake
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: Serves 12
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: Dough: 450g strong bread flour, 1 tsp salt, 7g yeast, 250ml warm milk, 50g lard; Layering: 175g lard, 175g soft brown sugar, 200g mixed dried fruit, 1 tsp mixed spice; Glaze: 2 tbsp sugar dissolved in 2 tbsp boiling water

A Wiltshire bakery legend — enriched dough layered with lard, sugar and fruit, baked until the bottom becomes a caramel. Not for the faint-hearted; entirely for the happy.

Prep: 35 min
Cook: 40 min
Total: 75 min
Yield: Serves 12
Difficulty: Moderate
Era: West Country bakery

Ingredients

Dough: 450g strong bread flour, 1 tsp salt, 7g yeast, 250ml warm milk, 50g lard
Layering: 175g lard, 175g soft brown sugar, 200g mixed dried fruit, 1 tsp mixed spice
Glaze: 2 tbsp sugar dissolved in 2 tbsp boiling water

Method

Oven200°C400°FFan 180°CGas 6

Knead the dough 8 minutes; prove 1 hour.
Roll into a rectangle. Dot with a third of the lard, sugar, fruit and spice; fold in thirds. Repeat twice more.
Press into a lined 23cm square tin; prove 30 minutes. Score the top in a criss-cross.
Bake at 200°C / 400°F (fan 180°C, gas 6) for 35–40 minutes until deep golden.
Glaze while hot, cool 10 minutes, then turn out — the sugary base becomes the top. Serve in squares, slightly warm.

Oven temperatures are given in Celsius, Fahrenheit, fan and gas mark throughout. Quantities are metric, as cooked and written in the UK.