Name: Dundee Cake recipe by Chandrima Sarkar at BetterButter
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 65 min
Total time: 85 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: All-purpose flour/Maida- 1 cup; Brown sugar- 1 cup (powdered); Unsalted butter- 1 cup (at room temperature); Eggs- 3 (at room temperature); Almond meal/Ground almonds- 1/2 cup; Orange marmalade- 3 tbsp; Zest of 1 orange; Baking powder- 3/4 tsp; Whole blanched almonds- 70 gm; Glace cherries- 1/2 cup (cut into halves, lengthwise); Sultanas- 1/2 cup; 1/2 cup of mixed dried fruits (raisins, currants, chopped apricots and cranberries); A pinch of salt

ABOUT Dundee Cake RECIPE

Dundee cake is a famous traditional Scottish fruit cake. It was first commercially developed in Dundee on the Scottish east coast in the early 1800s, but the cake has roots more than 350 years ago. It is said that the cake was originally made for Mary Queen of Scots in the 16th century. Legend has it that she didn’t like cherries, which were traditional in fruit cakes at the time. Local bakers made a version with almonds instead of cherries, decorating the top in a beautiful fashion with concentric circles of almonds. It became a Dundee favourite, hand baked by those wanting to serve up the finest cake with luxurious, rich ingredients. My family loves Fruit Cakes. So, I keep trying different recipes of Fruit Cake. When I baked this cake for the first time, it was an instant hit and loved by all. Since then I’ve baked this cake umpteen times, and each time it came out just perfect.

Ingredients Serving: 8

All-purpose flour/Maida- 1 cup
Brown sugar- 1 cup (powdered)
Unsalted butter- 1 cup (at room temperature)
Eggs- 3 (at room temperature)
Almond meal/Ground almonds- 1/2 cup
Orange marmalade- 3 tbsp
Zest of 1 orange
Baking powder- 3/4 tsp
Whole blanched almonds- 70 gm
Glace cherries- 1/2 cup (cut into halves, lengthwise)
Sultanas- 1/2 cup
1/2 cup of mixed dried fruits (raisins, currants, chopped apricots and cranberries)
A pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C. Prepare an 8" round cake pan by greasing it with butter and dusting with flour. Place a piece of baking paper/butter paper at the bottom of the pan.
In a bowl shift the all-purpose flour, salt and baking powder.
In another bowl cream the butter on medium speed with your electronic hand mixer. Now add the sugar and whisk it well with butter.
In this add the eggs one by one and keep whisking. Now add the orange zest and orange marmalade into this. Whisk again.
In this add flour mixture into 3 batches.
Add the almond meal. On a medium speed keep whisking for 2 minutes with the electronic hand mixer.
Add dry fruits, sultanas and glace cherries. Gently mix them with a spatula. The batter will be very thick and that is absolutely fine.
Pour the cake batter into the cake pan. Smooth the top with the help of the spatula.
Tap a cake pan gently on the kitchen counter couple of times to release the air bubbles.
Starting from the outer side decorate the top with blanched almonds forming circles. Place the almonds close to each other.
Bake for 65 minutes. Check for the doneness after first 45 minutes, because every oven is different.
Keep an eye after first 20 minutes of baking for browning on top. Care should be taken not to over brown the top of the cake. If the top of the cake is browning fast, cover loosely with a piece of aluminium foil and continue baking.
Insert sharp knife in the middle of the cake. Cake is ready if the knife comes out clean. If not, bake for some more time, and then check again.
Cool the cake in the pan for 20 minutes and then run a sharp knife around the edges of the pan and carefully remove the cake. Turn onto a cooling rack and leave there until cool completely.
After cooling wrap the cake with a parchment paper or aluminium foil and keep it in an airtight container for 3-4 days before serving. The taste of the cake will mature within this time.

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