Traditional homemade English Lardy cake recipe

Mix the flour, salt and yeast together. Cut the lard into small chunks and rub them in. Mix in the water.

Place the dough out onto a floured worktop. Knead for 10 minutes until obtaining a smooth, sticky and elastic dough.

Cover the dough with cling film and leave to rest for 1 hour.

Spread about half of the lard all over the bottom of your baking pan, and the other half on the dough.

Mix together the sugar, spices and orange zest, and sprinkle half of this mixture over the lard in the pan, and the other half over the lard on the dough.

Sprinkle the currants and sultanas over the sugar mix on the dough. Grab hold of part of the edge of the dough between your thumb and forefinger and lift it towards the centre of the dough. Moving around the edge of the dough, repeat this operation about 7 times until all of your segments meet in the middle and the filling is fully enclosed.

Place the dough in the baking pan. Cover with a towel and leave to rest for about 30 minutes.

Paint the top of the dough with egg wash and cook in a preheated oven to 180°C for 30 minutes.

Put a plate on top and flip the baking pan and the plate upside down. Leave to cool completely.

Enjoy!