Dundee Cake

A rich, buttery Scottish fruit cake containing sultanas, ground almonds, and candied peel. Before baking, the top is covered with whole blanched almonds.

175 g unsalted butter
175 g granulated sugar
grated rind of 1 orange
grated rind of 1 lemon
4 large eggs
200 g plain flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
500 g mixed fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants, chopped apricots, chopped dates, sour cherries, etc.)
50 g glace cherries, halved (or substitute more fruit)
50 g mixed cut peel (or substitute more fruit)
50 g whole blanched almonds

Preheat the oven to 150C / 300F. Grease an 8 inch (20 cm) deep sided cake pan, either springform or with a removable bottom.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, at least 2 minutes. Add the zest of the orange and lemon and cream in. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the flour and spices and mix until most, but not all, of the flour is incorporated. Now with the mixer on low, or switching to a wooden spoon if you were using a handheld mixer, mix in the fruit, cherries and peel until well mixed. The batter will be extremely thick, consisting of more fruit than batter!

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Arrange the almonds in circles around the top of the cake.

Bake on the lowest rack of the oven for about 2 hours. Times can vary drastically according to your oven however, so check the cake after 1 1/2 hours - it may need to bake for up to 2 1/2 hours. When done, the top of the cake will be evenly brown and will spring back when pressed, and a tester inserted in the middle of the cake will come out almost clean, with just a couple of crumbs clinging to it.

Leave the cake in the pan for at least 15 minutes before turning out. Kept wrapped in an airtight container, this cake will keep for several weeks.