Video: Ian McMillan waxes lyrical about the Fat Rascal

The Fat Rascal, a Yorkshire institution which has graced the tea plates of millions of diners since it was launched back in 1983, is celebrating its 30th anniversary in a very poetic manner.

Ian McMillan, a self-confessed fan of the fruit-filled scones hand-crafted by bakers at Bettys of Harrogate, has written specially commissioned prose for the landmark, capturing the essence of what makes the Fat Rascal so special.

He said: “It has become a signature dish for Bettys and it is appreciated by people around the world. But it is something that is very Yorkshire and, like a good poem, it shows more of itself the more you pay attention to it.

“You can look at a Fat Rascal and think that it will be gone in a matter of minutes, but it is a scone that keeps on giving – it is so filling.”

The quirkiness of the scones has captured the imaginations of its fans who have been endeared by the faces with a distinctive “gnarl” created by the glacé cherries and split almonds.

Mr McMillan witnessed firsthand the craft that goes into making each of the scones when he visited the Bettys bakery two years ago to try making a Fat Rascal himself.

He admitted that his attempt was not the most successful – “it turned out more like a gargoyle than a Fat Rascal” – which built even more admiration for the 10-strong team of bakers who are tasked with making more than 6,500 Fat Rascals every week.

Other famous names who have decorated a Fat Rascal include Prince Charles during a tour of the Bettys site when he was visiting Harrogate in 2003.

While Mr McMillan’s poem sings the praises of spreading butter over a Fat Rascal to “let it dribble down your chin”, he told the Yorkshire Post that he prefers to eat his “naked”.

He has sought sanctuary in one of Bettys more remote outposts to avoid the infamous queues outside the company’s York and Harrogate tearooms – his favourite place to enjoy a cup of black Yorkshire Tea and a Fat Rascal is in the Northallerton cafe.

Mr McMillan added: “It is like having your own private Bettys, and a little more unknown than the tearooms in York and Harrogate. I have always said that milk ruins your tea, so a cup of black Yorkshire Tea and a naked Rascal are my idea of absolute bliss.”

The Fat Rascal was first sold 30 years ago this month after an old recipe for a so-called Turf Cake was re-discovered by Jonathan Wild, the former chairman and chief executive of Bettys. His great uncle, Swiss confectioner Frederick Belmont, established the business in 1919.

The old regional speciality took the form of a wholesome and filling cake which a shepherd would cook in a covered pan over a peat fire.

The Fat Rascal was developed using the finest ingredients sourced locally including butter and free range eggs. However, the more specialised ingredients have to be brought in from abroad – the cherries are from France, the currants from Greece and the split almonds are from the USA.

The scones are cooked fresh each morning at the Bettys bakery, before they are then delivered that day to the firm’s six tearooms across Yorkshire in Harrogate, York, Ilkley and Knaresborough.

Boxes of the teatime treats are also delivered nationwide for anyone living outside Yorkshire who is partial to a Fat Rascal.

The head of food and drink innovation at Bettys, Claire Gallagher, has worked across the world including stints in Paris, Ireland, Germany and America, as well as being employed as the pastry chef for Raymond Blanc’s two Michelin-starred restaurant, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, in Oxfordshire.

But she maintained that the love and care taken in producing the Fat Rascal rival any of the products that she has been involved in creating in the past.

Ms Gallagher said: “It is such a Yorkshire tradition, and it has become an institution for Bettys.

“If we can get people to appreciate any of the other products as much as the Fat Rascal, that really would be the pinnacle of what we do.”