Dundee cake is a traditional
Scottish 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 ...
.
Ingredients
Dundee cake is often made with butter, sugar, lemon zest, orange zest, marmalade, flour, baking powder, eggs, milk, dried fruit,
glacé cherries
Candied fruit, also known as glacé fruit, is whole fruit, smaller pieces of fruit, or pieces of peel, placed in heated sugar syrup, which absorbs the moisture from within the fruit and eventually preserves it. Depending on the size and type o ...
, candied citrus peel,
currants,
sultanas, ground almonds, and blanched
almonds.
History
The original commercial development of the cake began in Dundee in the late 18th century in the shop of Janet Keiller but was possibly originally made for
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 ...
in the 16th century. It was mass-produced by the
marmalade
Marmalade is a fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits boiled with sugar and water. The well-known version is made from bitter orange. It is also made from lemons, limes, grapefruits, mandarins, sweet oranges, bergamot ...
company
Keiller's marmalade
Keiller's marmalade is named after its creator James and Janet Keiller (nee Mathewson, 1737-1813), and is believed to have been the first commercial brand of marmalade in Great Britain. It was made by James Keiller in Dundee, Scotland, later cr ...
who have been claimed to be the originators of the term "Dundee cake".
However, similar fruit cakes were produced throughout Scotland. A popular story is that
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 Sco ...
did not like
glacé cherries
Candied fruit, also known as glacé fruit, is whole fruit, smaller pieces of fruit, or pieces of peel, placed in heated sugar syrup, which absorbs the moisture from within the fruit and eventually preserves it. Depending on the size and type o ...
in her cakes, so the cake was first made for her, as a fruit cake that used blanched almonds and not cherries. The top of the cake is typically decorated with concentric circles of almonds. The cakes are sold in United Kingdom supermarkets.
The cake was also made and marketed in
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, and in independent
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
after 1947, by
Britannia Industries
Britannia Industries Limited is an Indian company specialised in food industry, part of the Wadia Group headed by Nusli Wadia. Founded in 1892 and headquartered in Kolkata, it is one of India's oldest existing companies and best known for it ...
and its successor firms. However, after 1980, the cake was withdrawn from the market though it continued to be supplied privately as a corporate Christmas gift by the maker.
Recognition
Queen Elizabeth II was reported to favour Dundee cake at tea-time.
In ''
The Gathering Storm'',
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
is depicted as a keen fan of the Dundee cake.
See also
*
Scottish cuisine
Scottish cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with Scotland. It has distinctive attributes and recipes of its own, but also shares much with British and wider European cuisine as a result of local, regio ...
References
External links
*
Traditional Dundee Cake—
Delia OnlineDundee cake recipe—
The Hairy Bikers
The Hairy Bikers are collectively David Myers and Si King. The pair of British celebrity chefs have presented numerous television shows, mostly for the BBC but also for the Good Food channel, that combine cooking with a motorcycling trav ...
Dundee cake recipe—
BBC Good Food
''BBC Good Food'' is a global food media brand, with a monthly magazine, website, app, live events and series of books.
It has had four editors since its launch: Mitzie Wilson (1987–1997), Orlando Murrin (1997–2004), Gillian Carter (2004– ...
Dundee cake recipe—
Good Housekeeping
''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...
British cakes
Scottish desserts
Food and drink introduced in the 19th century
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