Ingredients

• 100g/3½oz dried cherries
• 100ml/3½fl oz Welsh whiskey
• 250g/9oz self-raising flour
• plus extra for dusting
• 50g/1¾oz caster sugar
• plus extra for dusting
• 125g/4½oz butter
• chilled and cut into cubes
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 1 free-range egg
• beaten
• lard or butter
• for greasing

Directions

• Put the cherries in a small saucepan and pour over the whiskey. Heat until the whiskey starts to boil
• then set aside to infuse for 1 hour.
• Put the flour
• sugar and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Add the butter and rub it in using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the orange zest and the cherries
• along with any whiskey that hasn’t been absorbed. Add the egg and cut it into the mixture using a knife – as soon as the mixture starts to come together as a dough
• work it into a ball using your hands.
• Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and roll out to a thickness of about 5mm-1cm/¼-½in. Using a 6cm/2½in round cutter
• cut out rounds of the dough. Reroll any leftover dough and repeat. The dough should yield around 20 cakes.
• Heat a flat griddle pan or heavy frying pan over a low-medium heat and lightly grease the surface with a little lard or butter. Cook the Welsh cakes in batches
• for 2-3 minutes on each side
• or until deep golden-brown and cooked through – do not have the heat too high or they will burn on the outside before they are cooked through. Cover a plate with caster sugar and coat the still hot Welsh cakes in the sugar. Serve warm or cold.