Lardy cake

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Lardy cake, also known as Lardy bread, Lardy Johns, Dough cake or Fourses cake is a traditional bread from England. The main ingredients are lard (specifically freshly rendered pork lard), flour, sugar, spices, currants and raisins. Lardy cake can be eaten any time of day as a snack, but is most commonly consumed in the afternoon with a beverage such as tea or coffee. Lardy cakes are very rich and sweet and eaten traditionally for special occasions—in particular, high days and holidays and harvest festivals.

As reported by 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, but as Mrs David puts it: "How could they be Lardy cakes without lard?"

Lardy cake is especially popular in the West Country and Wiltshire, areas of Britain where pig farming (of which lard is a product) has traditionally been a mainstay of the agricultural economy. Despite contemporary concerns about high-calorie, high-fat foods, it remains popular, even appearing on the menu at the Royal United Hospital, Bath and as an adornment to the famous garden parties at Buckingham Palace.