🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scottish Cuisine

Black Bun

Hogmanay Fruit Cake

Prep Time 45 min

Servings 16

Difficulty Hard

Calories 316 kcal

A dense, dark fruit cake encased in pastry, richly spiced and soaked in whisky — Scotland's traditional Hogmanay cake.

Ingredients

For filling: 450g mixed dried fruit, 100g mixed peel, 50g almonds chopped, 225g plain flour, 100g dark brown sugar, 1 tsp each cinnamon allspice ginger, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 egg, 3 tbsp Scotch whisky, 3 tbsp black treacle
For pastry: 350g plain flour, 150g cold butter, pinch salt, cold water

1 Make pastry: rub butter into flour and salt. Add enough cold water for a firm dough. Rest 30 min.
2 Mix all filling ingredients together thoroughly.
3 Roll out two-thirds of pastry and line a greased 20cm round tin.
4 Pack filling firmly into the pastry-lined tin.
5 Roll remaining pastry for a lid. Seal edges well. Prick all over with a skewer.
6 Bake at 150°C (300°F) for 2.5-3 hours. The long baking develops the dark colour. Cool completely before cutting.

Did You Know?

Black bun was originally the Scottish Twelfth Night cake, eaten on January 6th, but moved to Hogmanay when Scotland adopted the Gregorian calendar.