Traditional Cornish Heavy Cake

1. Preheat 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

2. 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 cut out squares for eating later. Flour a rolling pin and roll it out to approximately 3cm deep. Brush a little extra milk over the top and lightly mark out vertical and horizontal lines to mark cake squares

3. Put the cake in the oven to bake for 30-35 minutes, check it and turn it after about 20 minutes to ensure an even bake. At 35 minutes it will be just slightly under-baked in the center but this is preferred; if you want it fully dry through, turn the oven down to 160 degrees and bake for an extra five minutes or so

4. Dust with caster sugar and leave to cool until just warm before serving

Notes

1. This cake is traditionally enjoyed slightly under-baked in some Cornish families, and the name 'heavy cake' may derive from a Cornish accent pronunciation of 'heavy', not necessarily related to 'hevva' or fishing cries, which could be a romanticized story for tourists