How to make Fat Rascals? Best Recipe and Ideas on How to Give Them a Spooky Decor!

Oh, I am just dying to get my hands on something sweet and fattening, aren’t you? With the weather getting colder and my flat feeling cosier, I get these urges to boil myself a huge pot of herbal tea and devour as many sweets and pastries as I can find. I work from home, and this often gives me the opportunity to cook and bake more often than most people. Currently, I am obsessed with this delicious fat rascal recipe I found on the net! I can’t stop baking these luscious cakes! Since I want to share my joy with all of you, I will give you all the details on how to make them fat rascals yourselves. Keep on reading to get the best recipe there is and some ideas on how to decorate your tasty creations for the upcoming Halloween holiday!

Fat Rascal cakes: which is the most favoured recipe out there ?

Fat rascals are a favoured by all Brits alike. You can’t have tea without a fat rascal staring at you from a plate with its glacé cherry eyes and its blanched almonds smile, begging you to nibble on it. The recipe for these sweets originates from Yorkshire and Durham, and the original one is supposed to be Elizabethan. The name “Fat Rascals” is of unknown origin, but they seem to have been around since the middle of the 19th century. There is, however, once recipe for fat rascals that seems to stand out in front of all the others. You know about which I am talking about, don’t you? It’s the Betty’s one, of course! Betty’s Fat Rascals are unlike other Fat Rascals, as they are stuffed full of fruit. It is actually Betty’s that popularized the smiley face look of the cakes. In reality, the sweets are a cross between a bun and a scone, more like a rock cake. Many Brits have tried to copy the Betty’s recipe as much as they can for their own cakes, but in reality who knows how many have succeeded. Nonetheless, I will introduce you the recipe I am currently using, which I can say without a doubt achieves at resembling the Betty’s one more than most recipes found on the net!

My Betty’s Fat Rascal cakes recipe:

Here is a list of the ingredients you will need:

• 2 whisked eggs
• 65g (1/4 cup) of chopped chilled lard and 65g (1/4 cup) of chilled butter (if you don’t like lard, you can use only butter)
• 150g (1/2 cup) of regular flour, and 150g (1/2 cup) of self-raising flour, both sieved
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 50g (1/4 cup) of caster sugar
• 50g (1/4 cup) of Brown sugar
• 1 orange zest and 1 lemon’s zest, both finely grated
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
• 60g (1/2 cup) currants
• 60g (1/2 cup) raisins
• 60g (1/2 cup) sultanas
• 2 teaspoons of diced candied orange peel
• a small cup of crème fraîche
• fresh cream
• strawberry jam

To top:

• glacé cherries
• blanched almonds

And now for the preparation:

1. Preheat the oven up to 200C/400F/.
2. Put baking paper in a sizable baking tray.
3. After that, sieve the baking powder and flour into a bowl.
4. Using your fingers, incorporate the cooled butter and sliced lard (or only butter) into the dry ingredients until they resemble breadcrumbs.
5. Add the sugar, fruit, and peel.
6. Bring the mixture together into a soft dough by adding crème fraiche and half of the whisked egg. Reserve the other half for later to brush the biscuits.
7. Form eight generous rounds out of the mixture, each about 2.5 cm/ 1 inch deep.
8. Use the remaining egg to brush the fat rascals.
9. Place glacé cherries cut in half on each, followed by some almonds (if you are interested in some Halloween decorations for the sweets, read the next paragraph before putting the cakes in the oven!).
10. Finally, bake for 15-20 minutes, or until they turn golden.

The cakes are ready and waiting to be devoured! However, if the upcoming spooky festivities have raised your spirits like they have mine, and you are looking for some Halloween cake decorations tips and advice, then here are some ideas on how to make your delicious treats look scary, sinister or even silly!

Fat Rascal Decorations perfect for the Halloween holiday

We mentioned how the Betty’s fat rascal recipe promoted the smiley face look of the rock cakes, well let’s try to spice things up and make the face of the treats look even more creepy!

Take out those glacé cherries, almonds, dried fruits and chocolate chips and let’s begin working! So right before you put your creations in the oven, take a knife and cut in half two cherries to place as eyes for the biscuits. If you prefer, you can use the chocolate chips to make black eyes. I personally wanted to have as many variations as possible, so I did both! You can of course try out many different ideas here – different coloured M&M’s for eyes, blueberries, whatever you choose, go wild! Use the almonds to create pointy teeth for the cakes, kind 0f like Dracula! Or you can just make a smile with the dried fruit or a topping. Use your imagination! After you have finished decorating your treats, bake them for 15-20 minutes, or until they resemble gold. When they are ready, you can give a call to a friend to come by for teatime and give them a spooky surprise! Your sinister-looking Fat Rascals will fit right into this year’s Halloween festivities!

I hope you had fun with this recipe and made the perfect Halloween treats for your family and loved ones. And if you are looking for more ideas to try and capture that All Saints’ Eve spirit, why not try making a Halloween-themed wreath? Mine is hanging upon the door as we speak!

Video Tutorial: How to Make the Fat Rascal Treats?

Are the rascals sad because they are going to be eaten?

These definitely look eerie if you ask me!

The horror! The horror! Bloody eyes and no good intentions!