Discover the delightful world of vegan Welsh cakes, where traditional flavours meet dietary choices. With simple substitutions like plant-based butter and non-dairy milk, you can create these iconic treats without compromising on taste or texture.
Why I Made These
Making Welsh cakes is not just about creating a delicious treat; it’s about embracing a piece of Welsh culinary heritage and sharing in its rich history. As a Welsh-Canadian, we enjoy making these treats throughout the year and always on March 1st for St David’s Day (Patron Saint of Wales). Check out my traditional recipe for the history behind Welsh Cakes.
Why You Need to Make These
Welsh cakes offer a delightful taste of tradition and comfort that’s hard to resist. These sweet, griddled treats boast a unique texture that’s a cross between a scone and a pancake, making them utterly irresistible. Bursting with warm flavours of butter and sugar, they’re perfect for breakfast, brunch, or an afternoon snack with a cup of tea.
Ingredients and Substitutions
This is a vegan recipe that uses 5 basic ingredients. Read on for my substitution guide and check out my FAQ for commonly asked questions about Welsh Cakes.
Dry Ingredients
Flour: to ensure that the Welsh cakes puff up when baking, I am using self raising flour in this recipe. Self raising flour already contains baking powder and some salt and helps with the consistency of the cakes. To make your own self raising flour, check out my detailed post which covers regular and gluten free self raising flour.
Salt: additional salt helps to enhance the flavour of the Welsh cakes. If you are using salted butter, omit the salt.
Sugar: white sugar is used both in the Welsh Cakes and for the coating once they are baked. You could use light brown sugar for a more caramelly undertone or even cinnamon sugar to change the flavour profile.
Wet Ingredients
Butter: Unsalted plant based butter adds fat to the recipe. Sub with dairy butter if you are not dairy intolerant or vegan. You can also use a light oil if preferred.
Milk: the milk acts as our egg substitute and also helps to bind the ingredients together. Any plant based milk will work well in this recipe. I prefer to use almond milk to add a creaminess and richness to the Welsh cakes. Sub with dairy milk if you’re not dairy free.
How to Make Vegan Welsh Cakes
With only 5 ingredients, Welsh cakes are incredibly easy to make and just as satisfying to eat. Ensure that the butter and milk are at room temperature before starting the recipe.
Making the Dough
Start by combining the salt and flour in a bowl and then adding in the butter. I recommend following tradition and making this recipe by hand, rather than using a stand mixer or hand mixer.
Use your hands to rub in the butter until it reaches a breadcrumb consistency.
With your hands, stir in the white sugar then add the milk to bring everything together.
The dough will lose its stickiness when it is ready to roll. Add more flour if you find that it is still too sticky and knead lightly on a floured work surface.
Cutting the Welsh Cakes
Roll out to a thickness of between 1/4 and 1/2 inch with a rolling pin. Cut out the Welsh cakes with a 6.5 cm (2.5 in) scalloped circle cutter. Repeat until all of the dough has been used up.
Let’s Bake
On your stovetop, heat up a griddle pan on low/medium heat then add a few Welsh cakes. Ensure there is enough room to flip them over.
The Welsh cakes take roughly 3 minutes to bake on each side. Flip them over with a spatula once they are lightly golden on one side and repeat until both sides are baked. They will puff up as they bake and also sizzle a bit.
Once baked, immediately toss in white sugar. I highly recommend eating them as soon as they come off the griddle pan.
Common Welsh Cake Questions
Welsh cakes are traditionally known as bakestones or pice bach in Welsh. The original recipe is thought to date back to the 19th Century and was created as a pocket snack for coal miners. For more on the history of Welsh cakes and some photos from Wales, read my Dairy Free Welsh Cakes post.
This recipe makes 16 2.5in Welsh cakes. For mini cakes, I recommend using a 1.5 in cutter. You can also scale-up this recipe if needed.
Absolutely. To make gluten free Welsh cakes, simply swap out the Self Raising flour for Gluten Free Self Raising flour. Follow my recipe to make your own GF flour alternative.
If you have more willpower than my family and have leftover Welsh cakes, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Don’t forget to reheat them before eating.
Right off the griddle! You simply can’t beat eating freshly baked warm Welsh cakes tossed in white sugar. The warmth of the cakes slightly melts the sugar and creates an amazing texture. If you have leftover Welsh cakes, simply toast them or warm up in the microwave for that ‘just baked’ experience.
One Last Look
My Vegan Welsh cakes have become a popular snack amongst our Canadian friends, who are blown away by how tasty these simple treats are. With only 5 everyday ingredients, you can’t go wrong with this recipe. I do hope you’ll enjoy them as much as we do!
Related Recipes
Craving more Welsh treats? Check out these favourites that we also bake year-round:
- Jam Split Welsh Cakes filled with homemade strawberry jam (Dairy Free, Nut Free)
- Traditional Welsh Cakes with raisins (Dairy Free, Nut Free)
Vegan Welsh Cakes
Equipment
- Scalloped Circle Cutter 2.5 inches
- Bowl For sugar dusting
Ingredients
- 225 grams Self Raising Flour (2 US Cups)
- 100 grams Plant Based Butter (unsalted) (7 tbsp – At room temperature)
- 50 grams White Sugar (1/4 US Cup)
- 3-4 tbsp Plant Based Milk (45-60ml)
- pinch Salt
- Extra flour for dusting your surface
- Extra sugar for dusting the Welsh Cakes
Instructions
- To a mixing bowl, add self raising flour, salt, and butter. Stir with a spatula then mix with your hands until it resembles breadcrumbs. There should be no lumps of butter remaining.225 grams Self Raising Flour, 100 grams Plant Based Butter (unsalted), pinch Salt
- Add in the white sugar and mix in with your hands.50 grams White Sugar
- Add in the milk and continue to mix with your hands until a dough forms. The dough is ready when it stops sticking to the bowl and loses its stickiness.3-4 tbsp Plant Based Milk
- I highly recommend using a silicone mat as your work surface. Flour your work surface and knead your dough lightly until it is smooth. Roll out with a rolling pin to roughly half an inch thickness.Extra flour for dusting your surface
- Using a 2.5 inch scalloped circle cutter, cut out the Welsh cakes and set aside on parchment paper or a plate. Continue rolling and cutting until all of the dough has been used.
- Bake on a griddle pan for approx 3 minutes per side, until lightly golden. The cakes will rise slightly and firm up as they bake.
- Once baked, immediately toss in sugar and eat while warm. Enjoy!Extra sugar for dusting the Welsh Cakes
Video
Notes
- This recipe makes 16 2.5 inch Welsh cakes using a scalloped circle cutter.
- Each Welsh cake takes roughly 3 minutes per side to bake. The overall baking time for this batch will be dependent on the size of your griddle (or pan).聽 The larger the cooking area, the quicker the batch will take to bake. Keep an eye on them after a few minutes to avoid burning.聽
- Best enjoyed fresh off the griddle and tossed in white sugar. See the full recipe post for other flavour ideas and some general FAQs.聽
- If you prefer raisins in your Welsh Cakes, check out my traditional recipe.
- Store in an airtight container for 3 days at room temperature.聽
- For a little bit of history of Welsh cakes, read my Dairy Free Welsh Cakes post.聽
These cakes are beautiful. I plan on making them this weekend.
Wonderful. I hope you enjoyed them!
These cakes were incredible! Perfect texture and taste like non vegan!
So glad to hear that!
Delicious Welsh cakes! Perfectly crumbly and sweet. Thank you!
You’re so welcome. Happy that you liked them.
I had never made these before and was excited to try them… What a lovely recipe – this was delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
I’m so happy that you enjoyed them.