bastable cake UK /ˈbæstəbl ˌkeɪk/US /ˈbæstəb(ə)l ˌkeɪk/ noun1 •(Ireland) A round loaf of soda bread that is baked in a bastable (“an earthenware or cast-iron pot used for baking over a fire”).A bastable cake! It was bread, really, but because it was baked in the three-legged iron pot, called a bastable oven, and because of its nice round shape, Ma called it bastable cake. — 1979 formsbastable cakes