Heavy cake

Traditional cake from Cornwall

Heavy cake

Alternative names	Hevva cake
Type	Cake
Course	Dessert
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Region or state	Cornwall
Main ingredients	Flour, lard, butter, milk, sugar, raisins

Heavy cake or Tesen Hevva cake (Cornish: Hevva)^[1] is a cake, made from flour, lard, butter, milk, sugar and raisins, that originated in Cornwall.

History

Its name is derived from the pilchard (silver sardines) industry in Cornwall prior to the 20th century when a 'huer' (cliff top lookout) helped locate shoals of fish. In the 17th and 18th centuries,^[2] the huer would shout 'Hevva!, Hevva!' to alert the boats to the location of the pilchard shoals.^[3] Cornish tradition states that Hevva cake was baked by the huers on their return to their homes, the cake being ready by the time the crews returned to land.^[2] Heva became hevva and later morphed into the anglicized version heavy. The texture of the cake itself is neither heavy nor spongy.^[1]

Flavour and Appearance

With no raising agent or egg, they are simply made from flour, lard (or more recently butter), currants, milk, salt, ginger, and cinnamon. They may also have fruit incorporated into them.^[1] The cakes have a unique texture, which some describe as a cross between a cake and a shortbread, and a distinct appearance. The bake falls somewhere between a sweet scone and a light egg-free fruit cake. The cake’s flavour is not dissimilar to the more familiar Welsh cakes (which, unlike hevva cakes, contain egg).^[2]

The cakes are about 1/2" thick, with a criss-cross pattern scored across the top, representing the fishing nets.^[4]^{[better source needed]}

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Choclette (5 March 2019). "Cornish Hevva Cake (sometimes known as Heavy Cake)". Tin and Thyme. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c "These Cornish Cakes Celebrated Fishermen's Return From Sea". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
^ Robert Morton Nance (1963). Pool, P.A.S. (ed.). A Glossary of Cornish Sea Words. The Federation of Old Cornwall Societies. p. 92.
^ "Seven Traditional Foods of Cornwall - Cornish Cuisine Guide". Anglotopia.net. 5 December 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2014.