Traditional Cornish Heavy Cake
Ingredients
- 500g plain flour
- 250g lard chopped into small pieces
- 250g granulated sugar
- 250g currants
- 150ml cold milk plus a little extra for glaze
- Extra tbsp sugar to finish
Preparation
Preheat the fan oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Put the flour, lard, and sugar into a large mixing bowl and rub in the fat until there are no large lumps, like when making crumble. Mix in the currants and then the milk and stir well until you can combine the mixture into one ball of dough.
Put some baking paper onto a baking tray and press the dough out to make a rectangle slab. Alternatively, press it into a deep baking tray and just cut out squares for eating later. Flour a rolling pin and roll it out to approximately 3 cm deep. Brush a little extra milk over the top and lightly mark out vertical and horizontal lines to mark cake squares.
Put the cake in the oven to bake for 35 minutes, check it and turn it after about 20 minutes to ensure an even bake. At 35 minutes, turn off the oven and leave it in the residual heat for 5 minutes; it will be just slightly under-baked in the middle but this is how it is preferred, if you want it fully dry through turn the oven down to 160 degrees and bake for an extra 5 minutes.
Dust with sugar and leave to cool until just warm before serving
Notes
This cake is a family tradition from Grannie Marjorie, baked to make people feel welcome and loved.
