Lardy cake

Lardy cake, also known as lardy bread, lardy Johns, dough cake and fourses cake, is a traditional spiced bread enriched with lard and found in several southern counties of England, including Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dorset and Gloucestershire, each claiming to be the original source. It remains a popular weekend tea cake. The main ingredients are freshly rendered lard, flour, sugar, spices, currants and raisins. Lardy cake is a traditional English tea bread popular in country areas in England. It is made from plain bread dough enriched with sticky sweet lard and sugar as well as dried fruit and mixed spices. The dough is rolled and folded several times, in a similar way to puff pastry, which gives a layered texture. Lardy cakes were cakes for special celebrations. They were made at harvest days or for family festivals. They were, like gingerbread, also sold at local fairs. Elizabeth David remarks that "It was only when sugar became cheap, and when the English taste for sweet things—particularly in the Midlands and the North—became more pronounced, that such rich breads or cakes were made or could be bought from the bakery every week."

Source: Wikipedia