Traditional Dundee Cake

1 hour 45 minutes

to cook

There are a million and one versions of Dundee cake, so please don’t write to me and say this isn’t the real one!

What I can guarantee is that this is a beautiful cake. It’s not rich and moist like a Christmas cake, but lighter and more crumbly in texture.

The Delia Online Cookery School: Watch more cakes being made in our Family Cakes lesson which includes Sticky Prune and Date Cake, Traditional Oatmeal Parkin and Apricot Oat Slices

This recipe is from Delia's Cakes. See questions Lindsey has answered on this recipe at the end of the method

method
Ingredients

Method

First of all sift the flour and baking powder into a roomy mixing bowl, lifting the sieve quite high to give the flour a good airing as it goes down.

Then simply add the butter, caster sugar and eggs, and, using an electric hand whisk, combine them for about 1–2 minutes until you have a smooth dropping consistency. If it seems too dry, add a dessertspoon of milk.

Next fold in all the other ingredients: currants, sultanas, cherries, mixed peel, ground almonds and orange and lemon zest. Now spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin, spreading it out evenly with the back of the spoon. Then, carefully, arrange the whole almonds in concentric circles over the top – but drop them on very lightly (if you press them down too hard they will disappear during the cooking).

Place the cake near the centre of the oven and bake for 1¾ hours or until the centre is firm and springy to touch. Allow it to cool before taking it out of the tin. Dundee cake keeps very well in an airtight tin and tastes better if it’s kept a few days before cutting.