Traditional Scottish Dundee Cake | Eggless Dundee Cake
A thoroughly authentic Eggless Scottish Dundee Cake recipe!
Immediately recognizable by its trademark design of concentrically positioned almonds, this famous orange, raisin and almond cake is one of Scotland’s culinary treasures.
A traditional Dundee cake comes from Dundee, Scotland. The cake is distinctive alongside other rich fruit cakes by circles of blanched almonds on the surface of the cake.
What’s the Difference Between Dundee Cake and Christmas Cake.
A Dundee cake doesn’t have a mixture of dried fruit, cherries and mixed peel, only almonds, sultanas (golden raisins) and few dry fruits. It’s also not soaked with alcohol . This means it is a type of last-minute Christmas cake!
The History of Dundee Cake
There are some varying accounts but food historians believe that the Dundee cake dates back to the 1600’s and is attributed to Mary Queen of Scots she apparently hated glacé cherries and wasn’t fond of the traditional fruit cakes either.
So her royal cook made her a cake that simply had raisins/sultanas and almonds in it but also featured a very unique ingredient that would forever set the Dundee cake apart from any other. It featured the subtle but striking flavor of Seville oranges that were being imported into the Scottish port town of Dundee via Spanish merchants sailing up from Spain. The original cake also used Spanish sultanas and almonds. Evidently she liked it because the cook lived to make many more and the cake soon made history.
Ingredients :
Dundee Cake (Scottish Cake with Almonds on Top)
Ingredients
- 1 & 1/2 Cups All purpose flour
- 3/4 Cup Powdered Brown Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Milk
- 1/4 Cup Almonds powdered
- 1/2 Cup Oil
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 1/2 Cup Mixed nuts and raisins
- 3 tbsp Orange Marmalade
- 1/4 Cup Berries optional
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1 tsp Mixed Spices
- 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
- 1 tsp Lemon zest
- 1 tsp Orange zest
- Few Almonds Blanched for garnishing
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 160 degrees Celcius with a rack in the middle. Prepare a 9-inch springform pan with spray oil, and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Warm the milk and add lemon juice and keep aside to curdle.
- Take all the dry fruits and raisins in a bowl and sprinkle 2 tbsp flour to coat them well to avoid them from sinking.
- In a mixing Bowl add oil, butter and grounded sugar. Beat well until light and creamy.
- Add curdled milk, orange marmalade, lemon zest, orange zest and vanilla essence. Mix well.
- Sieve all the dry ingredients All purpose Flour, Baking Powder, Baking soda, Mixed Spices and Ground Almonds. Mix Well do not overmix.
- Add Coated nuts and fold with spatula. You will get a dense batter.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared cake pan. Smooth the top of the batter with an offset spatula and place the almonds on top of the batter in concentric rings.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- If the cake browns too quickly cover it with aluminum foil.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
- To blanch whole almonds yourself (ie, to remove the skins), put the almonds in boiling hot water and let them soak for one minute. Drain the almonds and the skins should slip off easily. Discard the skins.
- Spice powder (1/2 tsp cinnamon powder +1/2 tsp ginger powder + 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder)
- For the best results, the cake should be left to age for up to three days to get it to ripen and develop flavor. Dundee cake is typically served with afternoon tea and is regularly prepared for Christmas.
Cooking with lots of love and straight from the heart.
Bhawna Maharshi
Pans n ovens
Awesome ?
Thank you so much for making cooking so easy for us. I never thought I could be such a good cook. I tried paneer, pickles ,sweets ,different types of dals and many more recipies from your site and thankfully they all turned out to be awesome. Everyone appreciated. Thank you pansnoven for making cooking such a fun and n easy task for us. Looking forward for more and more different and amazing recipies from your side. Big thankkkssssssss to you.Will surely try this cake as well.