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These easy Gluten Free Welsh Cakes, also known as Pice ar y maen, Bakestones or Pics, are the perfect treat for St David’s Day. Small, sweet breads cooked in a griddle pan and served with butter, jam, or simply sprinkled with caster sugar.
What you need to know at-a-glance:
- Why choose this recipe? If you miss eating Welsh Cakes on a gluten free diet, there’s no need to miss out any more! And if you’ve never tried them, prepare to fall in love with these moreish, sweet gluten free breads.
- What do they taste like? They’re kind of like a sweet gluten free scone, but in the shape of a pancake, with a little of the shortness of shortbread.
- Top Tip: If you struggle to use your hands or don’t like getting them dirty, you can easily make the dough using a food processor.
- Flour of choice: This recipe will work with any gluten free plain flour blend you can find in the supermarket.
There’s no need to miss out Welsh Cakes when you’re gluten free, because my easy Gluten Free Welsh Cakes recipe couldn’t be ANY easier!
This recipe is adapted from the wonderful Welsh cakes my Mum makes, most likely inspired by our many camping trips there as a kid.
When I shared them on my Instagram story a while back I had so many requests for the recipe – so here it is!
The method is a bit similar to making gluten free pastry or gluten free scones, so if you’ve made these before, it won’t seem too unfamiliar!
FEBRUARY 2025 UPDATE: To make this recipe even easier to follow, I’ve now added some step-by-step photos to talk you through the method, and a handy video tutorial!
Don’t just take my word for it…
Sheila left a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review and said: “Wow these are so light. I can’t tell the diff between these and plain flour ones. Thank you for sharing the recipe“
Table of Contents
Ingredients
There’s a printable recipe card for this gluten free Welsh Cakes recipe below. But for the shopping list here are the main ingredients you’ll need:
- Plain Gluten Free Flour: Any blend of plain gluten free flour will work with this recipe. I use the FREEE plain flour, the Juvela white mix or the Asda gluten free plain flour.
- Baking Powder: Make sure you’re using gluten free baking powder.
- Xanthan Gum: You can omit this if your flour mix already contains it.
- Mixed Spice: In the UK you can buy Mixed Spice blends, which are used in a lot of fruit cakes or bakes like Christmas Cake. It is made from a blend of mainly cinnamon and coriander with the addition of caraway, nutmeg, ground ginger and cloves.
- Butter: Use a hard, vegan margarine for gluten and dairy free Welsh Cakes.
- Caster Sugar
- Currants
- Egg
- Milk: Use a dairy free milk if needed, such as soya, almond or gluten free oat milk.
How to Make Gluten Free Welsh Cakes
There’s a printable recipe card below with the method. But here are some step-by-step photos to show you how easy these Gluten Free Welsh Cakes are to make.
Add the gluten free flour, sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum and mixed spice to a large mixing bowl and stir until combined.
Cut the cold butter into cubes and add to the flour mix. Using your fingertips, rub the mixture together until it forms a breadcrumb-like consistency.
Stir the currants into the mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and milk, before pouring into the dry ingredients.
Using a fork and then your hands, bring the mixture together into a sticky dough. Once you can form it into a ball, dust the worktop with gluten free flour then turn out the dough.
Lightly knead the dough into a ball shape, before rolling out to around 5-7mm thick.
Using a 2.5inch (6cm) round cutter, cut as many circles from the dough as you can, re-rolling as needed.
Place a frying pan on a low heat and once hot, cook the rounds (4-5 at a time, depending on the size of your pan) in the dry pan for around 2 minutes.
Carefully them over using a spatula and cook for a further 2 minutes. You want them to be nice and golden brown on each side.
Remove onto a plate and repeat until all the Welsh Cakes have cooked. Sprinkle with caster sugar and enjoy them hot or cold.
Storing and Freezing Instructions
TO STORE: Keep these gluten free Welsh cakes in an airtight container at room temperature once cooled. Eat them cold or refresh in a warm pan.
TO FREEZE: You can easily freeze the uncooked dough or the cooked gluten free Welsh cakes so don’t worry if you only want a few – the rest will keep!
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some FAQs about this easy Welsh Cakes recipe. If you can’t find the answer to your question here or in the post above, please comment and I’ll try answer!
Traditionally Welsh Cakes are made with wheat flour, meaning they are not gluten free or safe for people with coeliac disease. However, you can make these gluten free Welsh cakes very easily. Nobody will ever know!
I use butter in this Welsh Cakes recipe however they can easily be adapted to be free from dairy too. Simply switch the butter for a hard, vegan margarine and use a dairy free milk such as soya, coconut, almond or gluten free oat milk.
I haven’t experimented with using an egg replacer for this recipe yet.
To be completely honest, I love to just coat my Welsh Cakes in caster sugar and enjoy them fresh and warm from the pan.
They’re also lovely served with lashings of butter and even some jam. And of course, you can’t beat serving them with a good cup of hot tea!
Have you tried this recipe?
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Gluten Free Welsh Cakes Recipe
Equipment
- 1 6cm Round Pastry Cutter
Ingredients
- 225 g plain gluten free flour, (I use FREEE by Dove's Farm or any plain supermarket blend from the free from aisle)
- 75 g caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/2 tsp mixed spice
- 100 g unsalted butter
- 100 g currants
- 1 egg, (lightly beaten)
- 1 tsp milk
- Extra caster sugar, (for sprinkling)
Instructions
- Add the gluten free flour, sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum and mixed spice to a large mixing bowl and stir until combined.
- Cut the cold butter into cubes and add to the flour mix. Using your fingertips, rub the mixture together until it forms a breadcrumb-like consistency.
- Stir the currants into the mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and milk, before pouring into the dry ingredients.
- Using a fork and then your hands, bring the mixture together into a sticky dough. Once you can form it into a smooth (but still sticky) ball, liberally dust the worktop with gluten free flour then turn out the dough.
- Lightly knead the dough into a ball shape, before rolling out to around 5-7mm thick. Using a 2.5inch (6cm) round cutter, cut as many circles from the dough as you can, re-rolling as needed.
- Place a frying pan on a low heat and once hot, cook the rounds (4-5 at a time, depending on the size of your pan) in the dry pan for around 2 minutes, before flipping them over and cooking for a further 2 minutes. You want them to be golden brown on each side.
- Remove onto a plate and repeat until all the Welsh Cakes have cooked. Sprinkle with caster sugar and enjoy them hot or cold.
Video
Notes
- Serving Suggestion: I like to eat these warm from the pan, but it’s common to serve them with butter and jam on top. You can also eat them cold.
- Storing: These gluten free Welsh Cakes will keep for 3-5 days in an airtight container. I like to warm them in a frying pan for 30 seconds on each side before serving, but you can enjoy them cold too.
- Freezing: Made too many Welsh Cakes? Don’t worry – simply let them cool and freeze them between squares of greaseproof paper so you can defrost and enjoy whenever you fancy one.
- Weighing Scales vs Cups: You can toggle this recipe card to convert the ingredients into cups/imperial. However, I always recommend using weighing scales – these are cheap to buy and much more accurate. And in gluten free baking, a tiny variation can make a huge difference!
- Step-by-Step Photos: Check out the blog post above for step-by-step photos to guide you through how this gluten free Welsh Cakes recipe should look.
- Like this Recipe? It would mean SO much to me if you could leave a 5* rating and a little comment sharing how much you loved these Gluten Free Welsh Cakes! It really helps to support my website and get my recipes out there xx
Nutrition
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Never had Welsh cakes before but tried this recipe as looks like something I would like super easy to make and taste great thank you
Yes they are much easier than you think!
Wow these are so light. I can’t tell the diff between these and plain flour ones. Thank you for sharing the recipe
If you love these as much as I do, please do leave a comment and a rating to let everyone know? I made another batch yesterday and they’ve already been gobbled up by the gluten-eaters!! xx
Best gf Welsh cake recipe I’ve found. Also works perfectly fine with lactose free alternatives. Soft, chewy, easy to make and all gone within the day