Lardy cake

I’ll freely admit that it doesn’t sound like the greatest of ideas, and it definitely doesn’t fit into a vast array of healthy eating diets, but a (good) Lardy cake is fantastic.

Lardy cake is a very British recipe. It’s from Wiltshire, the pig keeping capital of England (where they have plenty of lard to go round). There are also a number of very similar dishes from other areas of the country, like Fourses cake or Lardy Johns.

I’ve tried to find the history of the Lardy cake, but it seems almost impossible. The dish just seems to have been made in Wiltshire as long as people have been living there.

I’m sure I remember them being much easier to find than they are now, every reasonable bakery seemed to offer a Lardy cake (although good bakeries also seem harder to find). Now, probably largely due to recommendations from people like Gillian McKeith and others like her they seem to have largely disappeared. I’m not advocating stuffing kilos of lard down your neck on a regular basis, but I do sincerely believe that you can eat just about everything in moderation and still remain fit and healthy. Lardy cake is no exception.

I trawled through a lot of recipe books, and googled for a while, but just like the finished products, Lardy cake recipes seem a bit thin on the ground.

If you are really concerned about the fat content then you I guess that you could substitute butter (which is hardly low calorie itself), but it will be nowhere as good as the real thing. If you are considering substituting margarine or anything else, then you would be well advised to just skip the whole thing completely.

I’m trying out a few different recipes and making some adjustments. As soon as I find one that I am happy with, I’ll add it on here. Until then, look elsewhere or just admire your unlardy shape and think about the calories you are saving.