Ryan Chong

Why it earned the handshake

Lardy cakes are unapologetically rich tea cakes: yeasted dough folded around lard, sugar, cinnamon, and soaked dried fruit, then baked in individual rings. The BBC Food recipe uses a two-stage fold, giving each cake its flaky, layered personality without asking it to pretend to be puff pastry.

Ryan’s handshake is written into that rhythm of fat and dough. The cakes rise, colour, and finish with a cinnamon-sugar shower while still warm — the first handshake in the archive, and still one of the most generous.

Ingredients

Dough

• 170ml milk
• 40g unsalted butter, cubed, plus extra for greasing
• 340g strong bread flour
• 5ml salt
• 30ml caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 9g dried yeast
• 1 free-range egg

Lard and sugar filling

• 200g caster sugar, plus extra after baking
• 250g lard, cubed
• Ground cinnamon, to taste
• 150g mixed dried fruit, soaked in a little water

You will also need ten 8cm chef’s rings, baking parchment, two baking trays, and milk for brushing.

Method

1. Heat the milk with the butter until the butter melts. Cool to 45°C. Mix the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast. Beat the egg into the milk, then gradually add the liquid to make a dough that is not too sticky; you may not need it all.
2. Knead with a dough hook for 5 minutes. Cover and leave to rise for about 1 hour, until doubled.
3. Meanwhile, combine the lard and 200g sugar into a soft paste and add cinnamon to taste. Heat the oven to 200°C. Line two trays and line, butter, and sugar the chef’s rings.
4. Divide the dough into ten equal pieces. Roll each into a ball, then into a 14cm circle. Brush with some lard mixture, fold edges into the centre to make a small hexagon, and roll back to a 14cm circle. Rest for 10 minutes.
5. Brush with more lard mixture and sprinkle with dried fruit. Fold into a hexagon again and put into a ring with the folded side up. Cover and leave to rise for about 40 minutes, until doubled.
6. Brush with milk and bake in the hottest part of the oven for 20 minutes, until golden. Rest in the rings for 15 minutes, turn out, and sprinkle with a mixture of equal parts sugar and cinnamon.

Baker’s tips

• Cool the milk to the source’s 45°C before adding it to the flour so the yeast gets a friendly start.
• Weigh the dough pieces for evenly baked cakes.
• Keep the lard paste soft enough to spread, but not so warm that it disappears into the dough.
• Give the second rise its full time; those little cakes need room to become properly flaky.

Make-ahead

The official recipe does not give make-ahead instructions. The cakes are at their best fresh, after their warm cinnamon-sugar finish.