 | |
| Alternative names | Lardy bread, lardy johns, dough cake, fourses cake |
|---|---|
| Type | Bread |
| Place of origin | England |
| Region or state | South and west |
| Main ingredients | Renderedlard,flour,sugar,spices,currants andraisins |
| Variations | Dripping cake |
Lardy cake, also known aslardy bread,lardy Johns,dough cake,dripper, andfourses cake, is a traditional spicedbread enriched with lard and found in several southern counties ofEngland, includingSussex,Surrey,Hampshire,Berkshire,Wiltshire,Dorset andGloucestershire, each claiming to be the original source. It remains a popularweekend tea cake.
The main ingredients are freshlyrenderedlard, flour, sugar,spices,currants andraisins.[1] Lardy cake is a traditional Englishtea bread popular in country areas in England. It is made from plain bread dough enriched with sticky sweet lard and sugar as well as dried fruit and mixed spices.[2] The dough is rolled and folded several times, in a similar way to puff pastry, which gives a layered texture.[3][2]
Lardy cakes were cakes for special celebrations. They were made at harvest days or for family festivals. They were, likegingerbread, also sold at local fairs.[3][2]Elizabeth David (1977) remarks that "It was only when sugar became cheap, and when the English taste for sweet things—particularly in the Midlands and the North—became more pronounced, that such rich breads or cakes were made or could be bought from the bakery every week."[4]
Lardy cake is said to originate on "the borders of the chalk-line in England running from Wiltshire through Oxfordshire to Cambridgeshire".[2]
In the days when ovens were fired only once a week, and in some households only once a fortnight, for the baking of a very large batch of bread and dough products, any dough not used for making the daily bread was transformed into richer products such as lardy cakes, which thus earned the alternative name 'scrap cakes'. They might also be called 'flead cakes'—flead is a light kind of lard scraped off a pig's internal membranes. The high fat content in such cakes would prevent them from drying out as quickly as ordinary bread. As reported by the authorElizabeth David, aHampshire cookbook advises that the cake be turned upside down afterbaking "so the lard can soak through." It is theoretically possible to substitutebutter for lard, but as David puts it: "How could they be Lardy cakes without lard?"[4]
A variation of the lardy cake is thedripping cake. In Hampshire, a form of the cake was made without currants[5][4] which is said to relate the Hampshire lardy cake to Surrey lardy rolls and Guildford manchets.[4]
According to food writerElizabeth David, the lard in lardy cakes is nearly always "worked into plain dough after the first rising or proving". David also says that "if you can't lay your hands on pure pork lard, don't attempt lardy cakes".[4]
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