Dundee Cake is a traditional light Scottish fruit cake. It is instantly recognisable with its trademark pattern of blanched almonds on top. It’s absolutely delicious and is very easy to make.
I love a good fruit cake recipe and a Scottish Dundee cake is one of the best! There are hundreds of recipes online for this traditional Scottish cake – this version is adapted from a Delia Smith recipe.
A slice of this light, crumbly fruit cake makes a delicious afternoon treat with a cup of tea.
why is it called dundee cake?
As the story goes, this light fruit cake was created in the late 1700s by the Dundee based company Keiller, as a sideline to their very successful marmalade making business. The original recipe contained only sultanas and naturally, lots of orange peel.
I’m not a big fan of peel but I love citrus, so my version of this timeless fruit cake has orange and lemon zest instead, plus a few spoonfuls of orange marmalade. However if you wish to add some dried peel, please do.
The original recipe didn’t include cherries – apparently Mary Queen of Scots despised them so they weren’t included! I love cherries in fruit cake but they just don’t seem quite right here. But if you want to add them, please feel free!
what’s the difference between dundee cake and a fruit cake?
A Dundee cake isn’t as rich as a Christmas fruit cake – think buttery, light, fruit fruit cake studded with whisky soaked dried fruits and topped with crunchy almonds. No wonder it’s still going strong – it’s a fabulous cake.
how long will a dundee cake keep for?
Wrapped in a layer of baking parchment or greaseproof paper, this fruit cake will keep for a good couple of weeks. However, It is at its best within a week of baking.
If you were planning a Scottish themed afternoon tea party, you couldn’t go far wrong with this traditional fruit cake, a plate of empire biscuits and a batch of traditional Scottish tablet.
more scottish recipes to try
haggis, neeps and tatties cottage pie
So what are you waiting for? Get the oven on and let’s get baking this delicious Dundee cake!
did you make this recipe?
I hope you loved it! Let me know what you thought of the recipe by leaving a comment below and rate the recipe out of five by clicking on the stars in the recipe card below.
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Dundee Cake
Dundee Cake is a traditional Scottish fruit cake. It is instantly recognisable with a trademark pattern of blanched almonds on top. It's absolutely delicious and is easy to make.
Ingredients
- Deep 20cm round cake tin, buttered and the bottom and sides lined with baking paper
- For soaking the fruits: (optional, but if you feel your dried fruit isn't plump enough it's worth doing)
- 75 ml whisky or orange juice
- 175 g sultanas
- 175 g raisins
- 50g mixed peel (optional)
- 150g soft butter
- 150g caster sugar
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 250g plain flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch of salt
- finely grated zest of one lemon
- finely grated zest of one orange
- 3 tablespoons orange marmalade
- 50g ground almonds
- 50g whole blanched almonds
Instructions
- If you're soaking the fruit, place the sultanas, raisins and mixed peel if using in a medium bowl. Pour over the whisky or orange juice and stir. Cover the bowl and leave for a minimum of two hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/150C fan. Grease and line a deep 20cm round cake tin, making sure the baking paper comes above the top of the cake tin by about 4cm.
- Cream the butter and sugar together for about 5 minutes or until the mixture is very light and fluffy. Slowly add the beaten eggs, a little at a time and beating well after each addition.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and fold into the creamed mixture.
- Fold in the soaked dried fruits, lemon and orange zest, orange marmalade and ground almonds.
- Pour the mixture into your lined cake tin and decorate the top with the blanched almonds. Bake for 1 1/2-2 hours or until the a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake emerges clean.
- Place the cake on a wire cooling rack and leave to cool completely in the tin before slicing.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 431Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 78mgSodium: 214mgCarbohydrates: 64gFiber: 3gSugar: 39gProtein: 7g
Calories and nutritional information are provided by a third party application and should be viewed as indicative figures only.
That looks lovely – and I’m with you on the cherries!
This looks so tasty. In my opinion cherries should be in all fruit cakes! Yum.
I totally agree! Thanks for stopping by ?
Thanks! Cherries are the best ??
Hi can I make this in a kitchenaid stand mixer as I have limited movement in my hands and fingers.
Hi Lawrence, yes absolutely!