Dundee Cake is a classic Scottish fruitcake, perfect for when you need a delicious treat without weeks of preparation. Unlike some fruitcakes, you don't need to soak the fruit in alcohol for ages! I use a Dundee Cake recipe adapted from The Evening Independent newspaper, originally published in 1936 and sourced from The Boston School Cook Book. With a few personal tweaks, this recipe always delivers a fantastic cake, packed with almonds, sultanas, and other dried fruits.
Whenever I think about Dundee cake, it reminds me of the Christmas offering by Flury's a cult eatery in Kolkata. In my Central Kolkata residence, Baba used to bring it along with the rich fruit cakes from Nahaums. Not that I was aware of the difference between a traditional Dundee cake and Fruit Cake then, but I used to like the it for the simple decoration with blanched almonds always over a typical fruitcake. Yes, it was solely for decoration; a light fruit cake with flower decorations with almonds over the top!
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Difference between Dundee Cake and Fruit Cake
I came to know about the difference after many years when I started baking. In fact, when I was in Gurgaon a friend requested me to bake her an authentic Dundee cake. Since then I bake it every year. I have tried several recipes and obviously searched a bit for the famous Dundee cake and yes some interesting history exists!
Traditional Scottish Dundee Cake - History
As the story goes, this particular variety is invented by Scottish bakers and probably prepared first keeping in mind the preferences of Mary, Queen of Scots who reigned in Scotland back in the 16th Century. It is said that she didn't like Glazed Cherries and hence a light fruitcake was prepared for her devoid of cherries and specifically with blanched Almonds and named Dundee Cake. This cake, however, was named after the Keilers of Dundee when it was made commercially first in the 19th century. At this time, however, they started incorporating Glazed Cherries while baking the cake.
What makes Dundee Cake special?
Traditional Dundee Cake is actually a form of light fruit cake, decorated with Blanched Almonds on the top and is a very good alternative to typical rich fruit cake. Another important thing about the recipe is that there is no need to soak dry fruits in alcohol to make this version of fruitcake. This means this is actually a type of last-minute Christmas cake!
Recipe Tips
Finally, coming to the traditional Dundee Cake recipe, calls for Almonds, sultanas, and a few dry fruits. I, however, followed a recipe from The Evening Independent (1936) and it came out amazing! They took the recipe from the Boston School Cook Book. Now with little alteration, I follow that recipe to make my Cake.
Recipe Card
Traditional Scottish Dundee Cake! Recipe and beyond!
Traditional Scottish Dundee Cake is a light Fruit cake variety that does not require soaking the dry fruits in alcohol for months and is ideal for last-minute Christmas Baking
Ingredients
To make the Cake:
- 225 g All-Purpose Flour 1 and a half Cup
- 1 Tsp. Baking Powder
- 4 Egg
- 175 g White Butter
- 150 g Brown Sugar
- 50 g Candied Peel Orange and Lemon
- 100 g Raisin
- 100 g Currents
- 100 g Sultana
- 50 g Glazed Cherries
- 4 Tbsp. Whiskey
- 4 Tbsp. Orange Juice
For the Glaze:
- 100 g Almond
- ½ Cup Milk
- 1 Tbsp. Castor Sugar
Instructions
- Take Almonds in a bowl and pour boiling water over the almonds and cover the bowl for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes take the almonds out and rub them using your hands to peel the skin.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C for 10 minutes.
- Line a Round cake tin with Parchment paper.
- Sift Baking Powder and Flour together twice.
- Take Butter at room temperature in a bowl and start beating it to cream.
- Add Brown Sugar and beat till the sugar dissolves completely.
- Now add Eggs one by one and mix using the beater.
- Start incorporating the Flour into three batches and mix lightly following the cut and fold method.
- Now add Candid Peel (Orange and Lemon), Raisin, Currents, Sultana, Glazed Cherries, Whiskey, and Orange Juice, and mix.
- The mixture should be of pouring consistency.*
- Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin.
- Bake the Cake for 45 minutes at 150 decree C and take it out of the oven.
- Decorate the top of the cake with Blanched Almonds in a way to create a floral design.
- Again bake the cake at 150 degrees C or at the lowest temperature of your oven for 1 hour or till the cake is browned from the top and cooked from inside.
- Take the cake out of the oven.
- Boil the Milk along with the Castor Sugar and brush the cake with the mixture.
- Bake the cake again for 2-3 minutes at 180 Degrees C and take it out of the oven.
- Cool the Dundee cake on the wire rack and cover it with Parchment paper and wait for 2-3 days before serving it.
Notes
- If you want to make Alcohol free version of the Dundee cake, just replace Whiskey with an equal amount of Orange Juice.
- If not available replace Sultana with an equal quantity of Current.
- Baking time varies from Oven to Oven, keep that in consideration while baking the cake.
- This cake requires slow baking.
Nutrition
Christmas Recipes
- Eggnog (also known as Christmas special Egg Punch)
- Indian Christmas Cake (also known as Rich Fruit Cake | Indian Fruitcake Recipe)
- How to make Rum soaked Dry Fruits for Christmas cake!
- Anglo-Indian Bread and Butter Pudding
- Orange and Herb Roasted Chicken and Vegetables (also known as chicken roast aka Roast Chicken)
- Mulled Wine!
- Bengali Basanti Pulao (also known as Bengali Holud Pulao Recipe | Bhoger Misti Pulao)
- Kolkata Mutton Biryani (also known as Calcutta Biryani)
- Kosha Mangsho (also known as Bengali Mutton Kasha)
- Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
- Anglo-Indian Pork Meatball Curry
- Pandi Curry (also known as Coorgi Pork a.k.a. Kodava style pork)
- Kerala style Pomfret Fry (also known as Kerala Fish Fry)
- Dhakai Morog Pulao (also known as Sahi Morog Pulao)
By the way, I hope the question I asked, whether Dundee Cake is a substitute for the Rich Fruit Cake, is answered!
Merry Christmas Friends!
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About Debjani Chatterjee Alam
I am Debjani Chatterjee Alam. A CSR specialist by profession and a food writer, food blogger, and food photographer as well. I live in Kolkata along with my Husband Mehebub who is an architect by profession, my daughter Pasta, and also my dog daughters Coffee and Luchi.
anindya sundar basu says
Wow this looks so wonderful. When am I getting some ? Great work