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A slice of history

If you’ve never had Lardy cake before, it’s definitely one to try this World Baking Day (May 18). A cross between bread and a Danish pastry, it’s full of flavour – sweet, sticky, rich and perfect with a cup of tea.

Lardy cake comes from Wiltshire originally, dating back to the mid-19^th Century and it started off as a way to use up leftover bread dough and lard, which was cheap and easy to get. Yes, it does use lard but don’t let that put you off – it’s what gives it its soft texture and distinctive taste and when it’s made well, it’s good!

Here’s how to make it:

Ingredients

450g white flour
1tsp salt
14g of instant yeast
75g lard for the dough
20g lard to grease your tin
300ml water
75g butter
225g mixed dried fruit (including peel if you can!)
1tsp mixed spice
1 tea bag
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
50g soft brown sugar
Extra flour for dusting

Method

Start by lining a roasting tin with baking paper. Grease it with lard, then sprinkle over a layer of granulated sugar – this helps give the base that lovely sticky finish.
To make the dough, tip the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add the salt to one side and the yeast to the other (so they don’t mix straight away), then stir it all together. Rub in a bit of lard with your fingertips until the mixture looks a bit like breadcrumbs.
Pour in the warm water and mix it all into a dough. If the mix still feels dry or flaky, add a splash more water until you’ve got a soft dough that pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for 5 to 10 minutes until it’s smooth and stretchy. Pop it into a clean bowl, cover, and leave it somewhere warm to rise for around 30 minutes, or until it’s doubled in size.
While the dough’s resting, put your raisins and currants in a heatproof bowl. Add a tea bag and just enough boiling water to cover everything. Cover the bowl with cling film, poke a few holes in the top, and microwave on full power for 5 minutes.
Carefully remove the bowl (it’ll be hot), peel off the cling film, and stir in the bicarbonate of soda. Let it sit for 15 minutes, then drain the fruit and pat it dry with some kitchen roll.
In a bowl, mix together your soaked fruit and soft brown sugar for your filling.
Once the dough’s risen, turn it out onto a floured surface and roll it into a rectangle about 20 x 50cm and roughly half a centimetre thick.
Take a third of your lard and butter, dot it over the bottom two-thirds of the dough. Sprinkle over a third of the fruit mixture. Fold the top third down and the bottom third up over it, like folding a letter, so it makes a neat square. Roll it out again, and repeat this layering and folding process twice more until everything’s used up.
Roll the dough into a final rectangle, around 20 x 30cm, and place it into your greased tin. Cover it loosely and leave it for another 30 minutes to rise again.
Heat your oven to 200°C (180°C fan) or gas mark 6. Bake the lardy cake for 35 to 40 minutes until it’s a deep golden brown on top and smells amazing.
Leave it in the tin to cool for about 10 minutes, then carefully turn it out upside-down onto a wire rack. Let it cool for another 20 minutes, then cut into generous slices. You should be able to cut around nine. Then, enjoy!