Lardy Cake

If you happen to be on a diet, lardy cake will be your worst nightmare, for it’s a delicious bread dough flavoured with lots of sugar, mixed spice and rolled around pork fat. It’s traditionally made in Wiltshire, probably because it’s a pig-rearing county and there was always plenty of lard. It was made as a special celebration cake, usually at harvest time. It’s lovely to offer at teatime, and must really be eaten, to taste at its best, within 48 hours of making.

The cake is usuall