The circular cakes with currants have been a tea-time favourite here in Wales since the second half of the 19th century.
Traditionally, they were usually cooked on a bakestone and the Welsh names given to these cakes were usually based on the different regional Welsh names for the bakestone.
These included pice bach, tishan lechwan or tishan ar y mân (bakestone cakes).
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In English, they became known generally as Welsh Cakes, but in Welsh it bears many different names.
With the help of Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, here are a few of them, how to pronounce them and their origin.
Cacen Gri
[khak-en gree]
The closest translation to 'Cacen Gri' would be 'griddle cakes'. These were usually cooked on the griddle and made when bread was scarce. According to an old recipe book, you could split a Cacen Gri in half and put butter on both sides.
The cakes were usually called Cacen Gri in places such as Anglesey, Caernarfon and Meirionnydd in Gwynedd, and Denbighshire.
Similar names included Cacen Radell - a literal translation of 'griddle cake', and Cacen Soda - meaning 'soda cake', which was a reference to the fact that baking soda was used in the cakes.
Pica Bach or Pice Bach
[peek-ah bach] or [peek-eh bach]
These were general terms used for Welsh cakes, and refer to the food as being 'small cakes'.
They can also be called 'pican' or 'picen' and were called these in Carmarthenshire, Aberystwyth and the old West Glamorgan (Swansea and Neath Port Talbot today).
Pica ar y Maen or Pice ar y Maen
[peek-ah ar yh maen] or [peek-eh ar yh maen]
These cakes would usually contain eggs, flour, butter, baking soda, a dash of salt and currants.
You would thin out the mix and cut out small round cakes before putting them on the 'maen' or 'llechfaen', which translates to 'stone', 'bakestone' or 'slate'.
What do you call Welsh Cakes? Let us know in the comments below
They were usually called Pica ar y Maen in south Carmarthenshire, West Glamorgan and South Glamorgan. In English, they would be called 'bakestone cakes' or simply 'bakestones'.
Another name for them in Welsh included 'Pice ar y Lychwan', which also referred to the bakestone element of the cooking and was often referred by this name in Mid Glamorgan.
Pice'r Pregethwr
[peek-eh-r preg-eth-oor]
The literal translation for this is 'the preacher's cakes'. These would usually be made with four ounces of flour, three ounces of butter, two eggs and half a pint of milk.
You'd eat them hot and with butter. They were called Pice'r Pregethwr on Anglesey.
Slapan
[slap-ahn]
In Welsh, the recipe book told bakers to "mix the fairly fat mixture with currants and the usually ingredients" before pouring it on the griddle and bake "one big slapan" after another.
This term was used on Anglesey.
Teisen ar y Mân or Tishan ar y Mân
[tay-san ar y mahn] or [tee-shan ar y mahn]
Recipe books often told bakers to create a brittle crust that would be thin and the size of a plate. It would then recommend that you could put any seasonal fruit in it, may that be apple, rhubarb or blackberries.
You could bake and eat it like so, or recipe books could also suggest that you add the fruit in between two layers of the thin crust.
The Welsh cake was referred to as Teisen ar y Mân or Tishan ar y Mân in areas such as South and West Glamorgan. In English, they would be referred to as 'bakestone fruit pie' or 'turn over'.
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