Black bun, sometimes known as Scotch bun, is a type of

fruit cake Fruitcake (or fruit cake or fruit bread) is a cake made with candied or dried fruit, nuts, and spices, and optionally soaked in spirits. In the United Kingdom, certain rich versions may be iced and decorated. Fruitcakes are typically served ...

completely covered with

pastry Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" sugges ...

. It is Scottish in origin, originally eaten on

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vi ...

but now enjoyed at Hogmanay. The cake mixture typically contains

raisin A raisin is a dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, the word ''raisin'' is reserved for the ...

s, currants, almonds,

citrus peel Peel, also known as rind or skin, is the outer protective layer of a fruit or vegetable which can be peeled off. The rind is usually the botanical exocarp, but the term exocarp also includes the hard cases of nuts, which are not named peels si ...

, allspice, ginger, cinnamon and

black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in dia ...

. It had originally been introduced following the return of

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of S ...

from France, but its original use at Twelfth Night ended with the

Scottish Reformation The Scottish Reformation was the process by which Scotland broke with the Papacy and developed a predominantly Calvinist national Kirk (church), which was strongly Presbyterian in its outlook. It was part of the wider European Protestant Refor ...

. It was subsequently used for

first-foot In Scottish, Northern English, and Manx folklore, the first-foot ( gd, ciad-chuairt, gv, quaaltagh/qualtagh) is the first person to enter the home of a household on New Year's Day and is seen as a bringer of good fortune for the coming year. Sim ...

ing over Hogmanay.

Description

Black bun is a fruit cake wrapped in pastry. The cake itself is similar to a traditional

Christmas cake Christmas cake is a type of cake, often fruitcake, served at Christmas time in many countries. British variations Christmas cake is an English tradition that began as plum porridge. A traditional English Christmas cake is made with moist Zant ...

Christmas pudding Christmas pudding is sweet dried-fruit pudding traditionally served as part of Christmas dinner in Britain and other countries to which the tradition has been exported. It has its origins in medieval England, with early recipes making use of ...

mixture, including ingredients such as

s and currants along with spices such as cinnamon,

and allspice. It has been called a much bigger version of a

Garibaldi biscuit The Garibaldi biscuit consists of currants squashed and baked between two thin oblongs of biscuit dough—technically called a currant sandwich. The biscuits are similar to Eccles cake as well as the Golden Raisin Biscuits once made by Sunshine ...

, and it has been suggested that the latter's origin may have been influenced by the black bun because its inventor, John Carr, was Scottish. Outside Scotland, the black bun is also eaten in the Appalachia region of the United States. In 2013, a recipe was demonstrated by

Paul Hollywood Paul John Hollywood (born 1 March 1966) is an English celebrity chef and television presenter, widely known as a judge on ''The Great British Bake Off'' since 2010. Hollywood began his career at his father's bakery as a teenager and went on to ...

on a Christmas special of ''

The Great British Bake Off ''The Great British Bake Off'' (often abbreviated to ''Bake Off'' or ''GBBO'') is a British television baking competition, produced by Love Productions, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of rounds, atte ...

''.

Origins

The cake originated as a Scottish

King cake A king cake, also known as a three kings cake, is a cake associated in many countries with Epiphany. Its form and ingredients are variable, but in most cases a () such as a figurine, often said to represent the Christ Child, is hidden insid ...

for use on

on 5 January – the eve of

Epiphany Epiphany may refer to: * Epiphany (feeling), an experience of sudden and striking insight Religion * Epiphany (holiday), a Christian holiday celebrating the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ ** Epiphany season, or Epiph ...

, and the end of the

Twelve Days of Christmas The Twelve Days of Christmas, also known as Twelvetide, is a festive Christian season celebrating the Nativity of Jesus. In some Western ecclesiastical traditions, "Christmas Day" is considered the "First Day of Christmas" and the Twelve Days a ...

. It was introduced following the return of

from France, and the tradition was that a bean was hidden in the cake – whoever found it became the King for the evening. It has been recorded that Mary herself participated in such games, and in 1563 she dressed her childhood companion

Mary Fleming Mary Fleming () (1542–fl. 1581) was a Scottish noblewoman and childhood companion and cousin of Mary, Queen of Scots. She and three other ladies-in-waiting (Mary Livingston, Mary Beaton and Mary Seton) were collectively known as "The Four Ma ...

in royal robes and jewellery after Fleming became Queen for the evening. This stunned the English Ambassador, who wrote "The Queen of the Bean was that day in a gown of cloth of silver, her head, her neck, her shoulders, the rest of her whole body, so beset with stones, that more in our whole jewel house was not to be found." Following the

in 1560, the celebration of Christmas was outlawed in Scotland and the related use of a King cake ended. The black bun type of cake in its modern usage dates from the early nineteenth century. Previously called Scotch bun and Scotch Christmas bun, the term "black bun" was first recorded in 1898, and may have been a result of

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

referring to the cake as "a black substance inimical to life". The cake is now commonly used as a Hogmanay custom, where people visit their neighbours after midnight to celebrate the

New Year New Year is the time or day currently at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system to ...

. This is called

, and the gift of a black bun was meant to symbolise that the receiving family would not go hungry during the forthcoming year. It was also used as a traditional cake to serve to those visiting homes as part of Hogmanay, to be consumed with

whisky Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden ca ...

References

{{Scottish cuisine Scottish desserts British pies

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Sweet pies Hogmanay Fruit dishes Epiphany (holiday)

Description

Origins

See also

References