The Welsh Kitchen highlights of 2025
Sherry cake recipe
What a year it’s been in (and out) of my Welsh kitchen. From awards to adventures, restaurants to recipes, the newsletter has grown and developed once again, and I’m hugely grateful for your support throughout 2025. Here’s a little summary of what I’ve been up to in the name of Welsh food, drink and culture over the past 12 months.
January
January is always a special time for the Welsh Kitchen as it’s the anniversary of my starting it back in 2021. That means that next month, it’ll be five years of Welsh recipes, customs, music and my general nonsense. To celebrate, yearly subscriptions are 50 per cent off for the whole month of January. That means it’s just £10 a year to support my work in putting the newsletter together each month.
January was also a time for two important Welsh traditions, plygain and the Mari Lwyd. I took part in the celebrations in London which have now become permanent features of the London Welsh community’s calendar. I’ve not written much of the plygain tradition but perhaps we’ll save that for January. You can read more about the Mari in this post from January 2022.
February
The lovely team at Ocado Life magazine asked me to write them some Welsh recipes ready for St David’s Day. They had to be on a budget and feature some Welsh ingredients, and I was delighted to create a Welsh pear-bit, mini lamb hot pots, and Anglesey Eggs with sausages and peas. They appeared in print and online.
March
A nice little surprise came in March when the Welsh Kitchen was shortlisted for the Wales Food & Drink Champion of the Year award at the Wales Food & Drink Awards 2025. Sadly, it didn’t win the top prize, but it was lovely to be included in the list.
April
The newsletter notched over 1,000 subscribers in April and I celebrated by delving into the history of leeks in Wales and why this humble vegetable is so closely linked with our Welsh identity and cuisine.
A potted history of Welsh leeks
I was at an event at Europe House in London last week celebrating food from the EU. Eighteen member states showcased 40 products, from olive oil and jamón to wine to water. There was a panel discussion about food security and about GI status. That's the protection given to a product based on the place it's from, Parma ham for example. It affords the pro…
May
I had quite a cultural month in May as I was honoured to sing Welsh songs – including one I’d written the lyrics for – at Southwark Cathedral along with Côr Y Boro. It was part of their Europe Day celebrations where seven choirs performed in their native languages including Polish, Latvian and German. I also got invited to celebrate the incredible shortlisted writers for the prestigious Dylan Thomas Prize at an event at the British Library.
June
Time for some more food, and this time not in my own kitchen. Thanks to a commission for The Telegraph (more on that later), I had the joy of visiting Cardiff’s first and only Michelin star restaurant: Gorse. Chef Tom Waters and his team have pitched it perfectly, as the restaurant feels incredibly special but not intimidating. In fact, you enter the restaurant right by the kitchen, so the chefs are the first people to welcome you. The friendly feel continues throughout your visit with the knowledgeable team explaining each dish carefully but then leaving you time to enjoy it. It’s a tasting menu which changes seasonally but might include bites such as preserved local mushrooms, lovage and pickled juniper; gently steamed cod, roasted onion cream, pheasant and unripe juniper berry broth; and toasted oat llymru, smoked cherry jam, apple caramel and blackcurrant wood oil. Wine pairings are interesting and well thought through with bottles from some lesser-known places. An absolute delight.
July
The summer was busy with trips including a little day out in Wrexham, where I was given a tour of the Wrexham Larger brewery, St Giles’ Church, and sampled a rather wonderful beer pairing menu at The Bank Wine Bar & Bistro including a moreish Welsh pork sausage roll.
August
Wine was on the cards in August when I popped along with some other wine writers to several Welsh vineyards, from Pembrokeshire to Monmouthshire. I’ll be telling you all about it in the new year including a look at which of the wines caught my attention.
September
The new academic year made me look at those September rituals we have, the joy of windfall apples and the Welsh farming tradition of cymortha.
September rituals
For me, September feels like a reset. In many ways it’s my New Year. Firstly, the school calendar is still too much engrained in me – not least because these days I lecture at the university in Cardiff. Term started this week and I welcomed my new trainee journalists to the
October
I mentioned that I’d been commissioned by The Telegraph earlier on, and in October my guides to Cardiff came out on the travel section of the website including my picks of bars, restaurants and activities to enjoy in the city.
November
I love November, and not just because it’s my birthday, but because we start to get those really crisp autumn days. It’s also when events start kicking off for me. This year it included a rather special service at Westminster Abbey in memory of Dylan Thomas and Richard Burton.
Anyone who picks up Waitrose Food magazine might also have seen my review of the fantastic Mesen restaurant in Cardiff.
December
And so to December, where as well as delighting crowds of commuters at London Bridge Station with Côr Y Boro, I also hosted another wine tasting event at the London Welsh Centre. I’ll be doing more in 2026, so do look out for them and come along to taste some great wines and enjoy a warm Welsh welcome.
The Recipe
Sherry Cake
I’ve been wanting to try baking some form of sherry cake for a while, and I finally had the excuse when I popped open a bottle of Harvey’s Bristol Cream for a little aperitif (forget what your nan told you and served it chilled over ice with a slice of orange). Okay, so I didn’t need that much of an excuse, but it is the season for sweet sherry. I also wanted to create something for people who don’t like Christmas cake. This has some of the flavours of Christmas without dried fruit (yum) or marzipan (yuck). It’s also a great way to use up the opened bottle of sherry that you might have used for your trifle. It would go well with custard or a bit of leftover brandy butter or cream if you have any other that left in the fridge, too.
Ingredients
150g softened Welsh butter
200g caster sugar
Pinch of salt
½ tsp ground ginger
2 free-range eggs
1 tbsp black treacle
275g self-raising flour
200ml cream sherry
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/ Gas Mark 4 and grease and line a cake tin.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, salt and ground ginger until pale and light.
Beat in the eggs a little at a time to stop the mix curdling.
Stir in the black treacle and a third of the flour.
Fold in the rest of the flour and the sherry until you have a cake batter.
Bake in the oven for around 45 minutes until cooked through.
Leave to cool slightly in the tin and then turn out and cool on a wire rack.
If you try the recipe out, don’t forget to tag any photos with #mywelshkitchen.
Five products I’ve savoured this year
Hard Lines Coffee
I’ve been a big fan of Hard Lines for a long time and love grabbing a coffee when I’m in Cardiff. While I don’t drink much coffee at home these days, when I do, I like it to be good quality, and I was rather delighted to see the Hard Lines Festive Blend with notes of chocolate, orange and caramel for sale this month.
Gaz Oakley’s Plant to Plate
As much as I love being creative in the kitchen and creating recipes for the newsletter, sometimes I also need a bit of inspiration for my day-to-day meals. I’ve been trying to eat more veg and Welsh chef Gaz Oakley’s book Plant to Plate has been just what I needed to shake up the way I think and use fruit and vegetables in my cooking. I really love how the recipes are divided by ingredient with chapters on carrots, tomatoes, apples etc. I’m working my way through but really enjoyed the tomato kimchi fried tofu, and I’m eager to try the roasted pumpkin ravioli.
Y Lleidr rosé
One of my favourite Welsh wines of the year was the 2024 Y Lleidr from The Dell Vineyard. The name means the thief and is a nod to the blackbirds that helped themselves to the grapes on the first vintage. The wine is a lovely peach blush colour and has delightful fresh notes of red berries and watermelon. Remember, rosé is for life, not just for summer.
Ynys Aroma Sea candle
A dear friend gifted me a candle for my birthday. I’m always slightly dubious about candle scents – or should I say discerning – but his one has become a favourite. Made by Louise in Barry Island, the Sea aromatherapy candle smells divine with notes of rosemary and cedar.
Matsudai Ramen
One of the highlights of my year was both visiting Matsudai Ramen in Cardiff for my friend Angela Hui’s supper club and also reviewing one of their make-at-home kits. They were hugely popular in the pandemic, and they are still super simple and packed full of flavour.