For someone who isn’t especially fond of raisins, I happily make an exception for Dundee cake.
With more cake than fruit, its buttery crumb and almond-studded top offer a balance of flavour and texture that elevates it beyond the usual fruit cake.
Recognisable by its neatly arranged blanched almonds in concentric rings, Dundee cake is light yet indulgent, typically made with sultanas, glacé cherries and candied orange peel, among other things.
Orange zest and marmalade provide its signature citrus notes, while ground almonds give the crumb a subtle richness.
It’s prepared using the creaming method, with a higher flour content than most fruit cakes to keep the texture airy.
The cake’s origins can be traced back to the late 1700s in Dundee, a port town on Scotland’s east coast.
Janet Keiller, credited with inventing a new style of Seville orange marmalade, later inspired the creation of a distinctive fruit cake under the Keiller name.
By the mid-1800s, her family’s factory began producing and marketing the cake commercially as a non-seasonal item, eventually branding it as Keiller’s Dundee Cake.
Marmalade remained a key ingredient and flavour signature, and its association with the cake has endured.
According to local lore, the Keillers’ marmalade venture began when Janet’s husband acquired a cargo of bitter oranges from a storm-struck ship that docked at Dundee harbour.
With sugar from the family grocery, she boiled the fruit into marmalade, creating an enterprise that eventually led to her cake’s commercial success.
Today, Dundee cake remains a beloved alternative to heavier Christmas fruit cakes, equally fitting for teatime or special occasions.
There is one small finishing touch that should not be skipped: a light sprinkling of granulated sugar once the cake has cooled creates a delightful crunch on top.
Dundee cake’s higher flour content makes for a more airy texture than fruit cake. — Photos: LOW BOON TAT/The Star
Dundee cake
Ingredients
400g mixed dried fruits
1 whole orange
1 cup cold tea
Batter
175g softened butter, plus extra for greasing
175g soft raw sugar
3 tbsp orange marmalade
3 eggs, beaten
225g self-raising flour
25g ground almonds
2 tsp ground mixed spice
75g glacé cherries
2 tbsp milk
zest of 1 lemon
Garnish
70g blanched almonds
1 tsp granulated sugar
Directions
Remove the orange zest and set aside. Juice the orange and soak the mixed dried fruits in the juice and cold tea for at least two hours or overnight.
Drain the fruits of excess liquid in a wire mesh.
If desired, this maceration liquid can be boiled down into a thick syrup to glaze the cake.
Preheat the oven to 150°C. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin with baking parchment.
Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until light and fluffy.
Add the marmalade and mix briefly. Beat in the eggs one at a time, ensuring each is fully incorporated.
Sift the flour, ground almonds and mixed spice together, then fold into the batter mixture.
Add the soaked fruits, orange and lemon zest and glacé cherries, then stir in the milk until the mixture is well combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin. Smooth the top and arrange the blanched almonds in concentric circles.
(If using raw almonds instead of pre-blanched, pour boiling water over them and let stand for one minute. Drain, then gently squeeze each almond to remove the skin. Pat dry before arranging on the cake.)
Bake the cake for 90 minutes to two hours, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and brush with orange glaze if desired.
Once fully cooled, sprinkle with granulated sugar.
Store in an airtight tin and consume within five days.
