Where to Find the Best Welsh Cakes

By A Short History of Welsh Chapel Architecture
Comments 35
6 Aug 2026

Where to Find the Best Welsh Cakes

What Makes a Proper Welsh Cake

A genuine Welsh cake is a small, thick disc of dough — flour, butter or a mix of butter and lard, sugar, currants and a whisper of mixed spice — cooked not in an oven but on a heavy bakestone over a moderate heat. Each side takes three or four minutes. The result should be soft and slightly crumbly, with faint scorch marks and edges that are a little uneven, because the best ones are cut with a knife or an upturned glass rather than a machine.

Warm, the currants should be plump and the middle steaming. Cold, it should still taste generously of butter and spice. If a cake is uniformly pale, geometrically round and oddly dry, you are holding something made in a factory. If it leaves a faint greasy mark on the paper bag, that is usually a good sign.

Village Bakeries and the Morning Bakestone

Timing matters. Most small bakeries bake Welsh cakes in the morning and again in the early afternoon, and a batch straight off the stone is a different food from one that has sat in a tray since dawn. Aim for between ten and half eleven, or just after two.

Your best hunting grounds are the market towns where a bakery still serves the village round: Cardigan, Newcastle Emlyn and Aberaeron in Ceredigion; Llandovery, Llandeilo and Brecon inland; Ruthin, Denbigh and Llangollen in the north-east; Dolgellau and Bala in the north-west. Look for hand-written signs reading "Welsh cakes warm" or "picau ar y maen", and for a window with a stack of paper bags at the ready.

Ask about the fat. Many bakers use a little lard alongside the butter, which gives the characteristic short, tender crumb; a few use only butter, which is richer but slightly firmer. Neither is wrong, but it is worth knowing what you are eating.

Farmers' Markets and Food Festivals

Markets are where you meet the people who make them, and where you can usually buy one to eat on the spot and a bag to take home. Arrive early — the best stalls sell out by midday, particularly on a Saturday.

Look for regular markets in towns such as Abergavenny, Hay-on-Wye, Brecon, Cardigan, Narberth, Machynlleth, Ruthin, Cowbridge and Beaumaris. At a good stall you will often find two or three varieties side by side:

Traditional — currants, mixed spice and a dusting of caster sugar.
Lemon or orange — finely grated zest worked into the dough.
Cinnamon or vanilla — sweeter, and popular with children.
Savoury versions — made with a strong Welsh cheese, sometimes with leek, and best eaten warm.

County shows and food festivals are another reliable source, especially in late summer, where you will often find a bakestone in a tent with someone turning cakes with a palette knife. That is as good a guarantee of freshness as any sign.

Coastal Escapes and Countryside Stops

Welsh cakes travel well, which makes them the ideal companion for a coastal walk or a hill day. Buy a bag in the morning and eat them on a bench above the sea.

In Pembrokeshire, head for St Davids, Newport and Narberth before a stretch of the coast path. In Ceredigion, Aberaeron and Aberystwyth are good starting points, and the lanes inland towards Tregaron hide small village shops with a bakestone out the back. On Anglesey, Beaumaris and Menai Bridge repay a stop; on the Llŷn Peninsula, look in the villages around Abersoch and Pwllheli.

Inland, the same rule applies: the smaller the village, the better your chances. Village shops, chapel halls and community-run post offices frequently sell cakes made that morning by someone local. Keep a few pound coins handy — many are still cash-only.

How to Buy, Keep and Eat Them Well

A few practical rules will improve every purchase.

Buy warm if you can. Eat one immediately, then buy a second bag for later.
Check the date. Fresh Welsh cakes are best within a day or two; they contain no preservatives worth speaking of.
Store them properly. An airtight tin keeps them soft for two or three days, and they freeze well for up to three months.
Reheat gently. A dry frying pan over a low heat, or a minute under a grill, brings them back almost to fresh.
Serve them right. Warm, split and buttered is the classic. A little jam is acceptable; a lot is a distraction. With a savoury cheese version, nothing else is needed.

If you want to have a go yourself, the method is simple: rub cold butter into self-raising flour, add sugar, currants and spice, bind with a beaten egg and a splash of milk, roll to about a centimetre thick, and cook on a well-floured, moderately hot bakestone. The first batch is always a test. The second is usually perfect.

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5 Comments

Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply
- John Abraham says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
  
  I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
  Reply
  - Robert Sonnysays Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
    
    I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
    Reply
Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply

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