Lardy Cake - a food delicacy in south west England especially Wiltshire
Lardy cake, also known as lardy bread, lardy Johns, dough cake and fourses cake is a traditional rich spiced form of bread found in several southern counties of England each claiming to provide the original recipe. It remains a popular weekend tea cake in some of the southern counties of England, including Sussex, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset. It is unrecorded in the south east counties of Essex and Kent. The main ingredients are freshly rendered lard, flour, sugar, spices, currants and raisins. Lardy cake can be eaten at any time of day as a snack, but is most commonly consumed in the afternoon with tea or coffee. Lardy cakes are very rich and sweet and eaten traditionally for special occasions, high days and holidays and harvest festivals. The cake is made by layering thinly rolled dough with the other ingredients. As reported by the author Elizabeth David, a Hampshire cookbook advises that the cake be turned upside down after baking "so the lard can soak through." It is theoretically possible to substitute butter for lard, but as Elizabeth David puts it: "How could they be Lardy cakes without lard?". (English Bread and Yeast Cookery 1994 ed. Pg 462, footnote) A variation of the lardy cake is the dripping cake.
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