Dundee Cake – Alcohol Free Fruitcake

I wanted this to be the first recipe of my blog.  Back when I was thinking of starting one, I had numerous ideas about which cake recipe I was going to make for my first post.  Extravagant layer cakes were the first option as they had the showstopper appeal.  Then I thought about this Dundee cake as it would be a homage to my city.  I also like fruitcake more than most people.  In the end I decided on my Date, Orange and Pumpkin cake as my first post because those were the ingredients I had at the time and that pretty much describes how I bake most of the time – with what I have to hand, with what is seasonal and with what is easy to acquire for me.  It was also an own recipe and felt it would show how I liked to work with ingredients.

I didn’t forget about the Dundee Cake though and when one of my sister-in-laws requested fruitcake once more (her favourite type of cake) I felt it was the perfect time to make this.

This is the River Cottage recipe I found online and one I felt most comfortable with.  I did of course modify it somewhat – I didn’t have any ground almonds so substituted 100g of spelt flour for 125g ground almonds.  I also omitted the rum and used orange juice.

A Dundee Cake is basically a Christmas style fruitcake with the emphasis on oranges and almonds.  It is also traditionally decorated with blanched almonds on top of the cake and utilises marmalade in the cake batter.  It turns out be much lighter than traditional fruitcakes with a more crumbly texture.  It shouldn’t really contain glace cherries although I have seen some versions containing it online.

For my interpretation of the cake I wanted to really highlight the orange flavour and the almonds.  For your 500g of dried fruit you technically add what you like; sultanas, raisins, dried apricots, even prunes and dates.  But I stuck to golden sultanas and flaked almonds and made up my 500g with these ingredients only.   

For fruitcake I always soak the dried fruit in orange juice and just love the way they plump up over night.  Having absorbed all the liquid they’re like little squishy bursts of orange sweetness when you bite into them.  As well as the juice I added the zest to the batter as well which I felt made a difference.

Although the recipe specified to soak the dried fruit in 75mls of rum, I increased the amount of orange juice to about 100ml (which was how much came out of one orange – it was a particularly large orange).  All of this got absorbed overnight by the dried fruit so just before adding the fruit to the cake batter I added the juice of another orange (about 70-80ml).  Due to the large amount of flour in this recipe I took the chance that the extra liquid will be ok and it was.  You get a nice hit of orange with this cake.

This cake is a lovely light orange flavoured fruitcake that has a beautiful sturdy but soft texture and a surprisingly moreish flavour.

Dundee Cake adapted from Cakes (River Cottage Handbook)

·         500g golden sultanas and flaked almonds

·         170ml orange juice to soak the dried fruit in

·         zest of 2 oranges

·         250g unsalted butter, softened

·         250g light soft brown sugar

·         5 eggs

·         275g plain flour

·         100g spelt flour

·         1 ½ tsp baking powder

·         Pinch of sea salt

·         2 tbsp orange marmalade

·         75g whole blanched almonds

Soak the sultanas in 100ml of orange juice overnight so that all the liquid is absorbed.  When you come to make the cake, add in about 70ml more orange juice.

Preheat oven to 175C gas3, prepare a 9” round cake tin.  Combine the flours, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and the sugar until light and creamy.  Add the eggs, adding 1 tbsp of the flour mix with each to prevent it from curdling.  Beat the egg thoroughly before adding the next one.

Fold in the flour mixture until fully incorporated.  Mix the marmalade into the dried fruit and fold this in along with the flaked almonds. 

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, spreading it out evenly with the back of the spoon.  Decorate the top with the blanched almonds placed in concentric circles (I find it easier to start from the middle and work my way out).

Bake in the oven for about 1 ½ hours until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean (my cake took 1 hour 40 minutes in total).  Check after 1 hour and, if the surface is getting too brown, lay a foil cap over the top.  Leave to cool in the tin before removing.

Olive Oil, Clementine and Almond cake (egg-free)

This is one of the weirdest cakes I have ever made.  I adapted the recipe from an old little baking book I’ve had for over 10 years (called Baking by Emma Patmore).  I love this little book and have used it umpteen times over the years but admittedly the recipes are a bit hit and miss so you can never tell how they will turn out. 

However, this one, titled ‘Olive Oil, Fruit and Nut Cake’ attracted me because of the olive oil ingredient.  Something I have been wanting to try in a cake for a while now.  It also had no eggs which is maybe what made this batter so strange to handle.

Well, from the start I could tell that the 50g of sugar specified in the recipe would not make it sweet enough so I increased the amount and tweaked the amounts of the other ingredients to balance the recipe.

Maybe I shouldn’t have experimented with the recipe without trying it out in its original form first.  The batter was dough-like and oily and I was very close to just chucking this away.

I’m glad I persevered though and saw it through to being baked because it turned out to be a very tasty, dense, crusty cake with an amazingly gentle Clementine flavour.  I don’t know if it would work with any other citrus as even oranges are a little too sharp and despite the increase in sugar this still wasn’t a very sweet cake.

Very, very different from the usual light airy sponge, this cake doesn’t rise very much and looks almost raw in the middle and needs a dollop of cream on top, but I feel it has its own charm and I really enjoyed it.  I also loved the pairing of Clementine with almonds which is the second time I have tried it now after my Clementine and Clove Biscuits.

Anyway, it’s a good recipe to have if you have any friends or family who are allergic to eggs, although it’s not the best eggless recipe I have ever tasted.  That goes to a chocolate cake I made from Teawith Bea’s which I will make again soon I think.

Olive Oil, Clementine and Almond Cake (adapted from Baking by Emma Patmore)

·         250g plain flour

·         1 ½ tsp baking powder

·         75g caster sugar

·         6 Clementines, zest

·         50ml Clementine juice

·         75ml single cream

·         125ml olive oil

·         50g flaked almonds

Preheat the oven 200 C, prepare a 7” round cake tin.

Sift together the flour and baking powder and stir in the sugar.

Combine the Clementine juice, zest, single cream and oil together.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet.

Beat together until the flour and sugar is well incorporated into the wet ingredients.  I found I had to use an electric beater as beating by hand the oil wasn’t absorbing into the mixture very well.

Place the mixture into the tin and bake for at least 40 minutes and longer if needed.  If you find the cake is browning too much on top then add a foil cap about 30 minutes into baking.  When a skewer comes out without too much moisture on it, it is done.