Everything You Need to Know About… National Stottie Cake Week

What is National Stottie Cake Week?

It’s the brainchild of Big River Bakery, a small-batch bakery based in Shieldfield that’s famed for its delicious stotties which they sell across the UK. They were even featured on an episode of The Hairy Bikers who said their stotties were the best they’d ever tasted.

Put simply, it’s a week-long celebration of the humble yet delicious stottie cake and was born of Big River Bakery’s love of the local delicacy and belief that it deserves the same kind of recognition as other regional dishes like Yorkshire puddings and Cornish pasties.

What exactly is a stottie?

If you know, you know but for those who don’t, a stottie is a type of bread that’s round, flat and baked at the bottom of an oven resulting in a scrumptiously soft yet chewy texture. It gets its name from the Geordie word ‘stot’ – meaning ‘to bounce’ – as traditionally a perfectly cooked stottie should bounce when dropped.

The beloved breadstuff is a staple of North East cuisine and best enjoyed with ham and pease pudding or dipped in a hearty soup.

When is National Stottie Cake Week taking place?

National Stottie Cake Week runs Monday 12^th February to Sunday 18^th February with a whole host of fun things happening throughout.

What’s happening during National Stottie Cake Week?

From workshops and walks to the chance to meet Big River Bakery’s mascot Scotty the Stottie, there’s tonnes of fun to be had during National Stottie Cake Week.

Big River Bakery are livestreaming a free stottie-baking class via their Facebook page and award-winning poet Jane Burn will be hosting free creative writing workshops (online and in-person) designed to help attendees create their own poetry and prose celebrating the iconic stottie.

There’s stottie-themed walks and tours too and community gatherings at both Home Group and Exhibition Park Café where Scotty the Stottie will be leading lots of family-friendly fun and games.

Throughout the week, Scotty the Stottie will be popping up in locations across Newcastle for meet-and-greets and photo opportunities and stottie fanatics can also get involved via The Great Stottie Cake Trail.

What is The Great Stottie Cake Trail?

It’s a handy map put together by Big River Bakery showing where you can buy stottie cakes and stottie-centric food. Loads of places in Newcastle city centre are featured – from Grainger Market favourites The French Oven and Hunters Deli to Pink Lane Bakery, PureKnead and, of course, Greggs.

The trail is even going national thanks to a partnership with Newcastle-based train operator Lumo who are serving sandwiches made from Big River Bakery stotties (stuffed with a choice of ham and pease pudding or cheese and pickle) on select trains departing from Newcastle to London and Edinburgh throughout the week.

With so much stottie-based fun (and food!) to be had, you’ve no excuse not to get involved with National Stottie Cake Week. To keep up with all the action, follow Big River Bakery on Facebook and check the full schedule of events and Great Stottie Cake Trail map here.