Dundee Cake {2nd Blogiversary}

Dundee Cake is a light fruit cake, first made by the Scottish marmalade company, Keiller’s, in the nineteenth century. It is the perfect bake for those who yearn for a treat somewhere between a Christmas cake and a sponge – not too rich, but not overly light and airy. As with most of my creations, this recipe stays true to tradition and is decorated with concentric circles of blanched almonds (laboriously peeled by my fair hands) – simple yet effective. Indeed, it seems the ideal bake with which to celebrate two years of FrugalFeeding, Katherine’s birthday and our anniversary, all of which happen to fall in the same week – let the celebrations commence!

As you’ll see below, the cooking time for a Dundee cake is far above that of a normal sponge. While the fact it takes two hours to cook does highlight a somewhat blatant drawback, it also makes for a rather delicious positive – every cloud and all that. Indeed, with added time comes extra thick crust and that, for me, is what elevates the Dundee cake above all other fruit cakes. The firm, almost crispy, outer layer of burnished sponge intermittently punctuated by caramelised currants and sultanas gives way to a sweet, dense sponge which always proves exceedingly satisfying.

So, here we are; two years later, with a modicum of popularity and a great bunch of followers! I hope you’ve been enjoying my recipes, because I’ve certainly enjoyed bringing all 280+ to you. Please, if you haven’t had a chance to look at some of FrugalFeeding’s back catalogue a perusal of the recipe index is simply a must. I hope I’ve made an impact on all of you in some way; perhaps you’ve started thinking about what you spend on food, or developed a firmer understanding of seasonality and eating locally. Whatever the lessons or information gleaned from your experience of my blog please continue to visit and share my recipes with friends and family. Here’s to another ten years!

p.s. if you’re at all interested in last year’s cake – Seville Marmalade Cake

Dundee Cake {recipe}

Makes one 8 inch cake

Ingredients:

• 150g butter

• 150g caster sugar

• 3 eggs

• 225g plain flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tbsp whole milk

• 125g currants

• 125g sultanas

• 50g mixed peel

• 100g almonds, blanched

• 1 orange, zest of

• 1 lemon, zest of

Method:

1. Grease and line an 8-inch cake tin. Cream together the butter and the sugar. Whisk the eggs in a bowl and incorporate little by little with a hand whisk. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold gently until uniform.

2. Roughly chop 60g of the almonds and pop them, along with the fruit and zest into the cake batter. Fold, adding milk if it’s a little stiff – it wants a good dropping consistency. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin, flatten and arrange the almonds on the top in concentric circles.

3.  Bake at 150C for 2-2.5 hours, until browned and firm and springy to the touch. Leave to cool before turning out and enjoying immensely.

Cost: The thing I like about fruit cakes, particularly the lighter variety, is that they’re exceptionally frugal – there’s no spectacular icing involved, just good rustic decoration. Almonds can be expensive, but it is possible to find them at a reasonable price – the amount used here set me back a mere 60p! All in all, this delicious Scottish traditional will set you back no more than around £4.20 – a very good deal as far as I’m concerned!