Dundee Cake
Classic & historical Scottish fruitcake made with dried fruits, nuts and marmalade. Tradtionally aged before eating.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup dried currants (4 oz)
- 1/2 cup golden raisins (4 oz)
- 1/4 cup blanched almonds, chopped (plus more for top, see below)
- 4 oz orange marmalade, preferably with lots of peel
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour (10 oz)
- 8 oz soft, unsalted butter (2 sticks, 1 cup)
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed (8 oz)
- 1 each zest of lemon
- 4 each eggs, room temperature
- About 1 cup whole, or split, blanched almonds for decorating See note below
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degees F. Grease and line a deep 8" round cake tin.
- Combine the fruit, chopped nuts, and marmalade in a bowl. Sprinkle in about a TBSP of the flour (this is to help it not sink to the bottom of the cake while baking.) Set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy, then beat in lemon rind.
- Add the eggs to the creamed mixture, one at a time. (Note: The mixture has always curdled on me at this point. Don't panic - it bakes up fine.)
- Sift the remaining flour over the mixture and fold in lightly with a spatula, then fold in the fruit and nut mixture.
- Turn the mixture into the prepared cake tin, and make a slight hollow in the center with the back of a metal spoon. Arrange the almonds on top in a fun and decorative pattern.
- Bake in preheated oven at 325 for a half hour, drop temperature to 300 and bake 1 more hour. Cake should feel very firm, and a skewer inserted in the center should come out clean. Leave in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
- Either eat immediately with tea, or to mature the cake: Once cake is completely cool, wrap in parchment or plastic wrap, then wrap in aluminum foil. Leave it somewhere cool & dark. Let mature at least a week.
Notes
Blanched Almonds: these can be hard to find in a grocery store (or insanely expensive.) Almonds are really easy to blanch at home. Here's how to do it.