Dundee Cake: The Traditional Recipe, and Why It Isn't Protected

Dundee cake is a light fruit cake finished with whole blanched almonds arranged in concentric rings across the top — the single detail that separates it from every other British fruit cake, and the one that makes it instantly recognisable on a tea table. It is lighter than a Christmas cake, has no marzipan and no icing, and carries orange through it in the form of peel and marmalade.

It is also, despite what a great many recipe pages assert, not a protected name. That is worth dealing with first, because it is the one thing about Dundee cake that is checkable and almost universally got wrong.

The protected-name question, settled

An application was made in January 2021 to register Dundee Cake as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) under the UK scheme. It went through the opposition process in December 2021. On 3 May 2023 the decision was made to reject the application.

You can read the entry yourself on the UK government's protected food and drink names register. Its status field says Rejected.

The confusion is easy to explain and worth flagging, because it will catch anyone checking casually: the gov.uk page still carries the heading "Protected food name with Protected Geographical Indication (PGI)". That is page furniture applied to every entry in the register, applications included. The Status field is the one that decides, and on that page it reads Rejected.

Why it was refused — and it is not what you would guess

The register links to the decision notice, and the reason is a single word.

The application was made by The Baker Trade Committee. Under Article 6(1) of the regulation governing the scheme, "Generic terms shall not be registered as protected designation of origin or protected geographical indications" — and after the scrutiny and opposition process, the Secretary of State "concluded that the name 'Dundee Cake' is generic."

So the refusal was not about recipe disagreements, or about cherries, or about anyone failing to prove the cake's connection to Dundee. It was that the name had already escaped the city. Dundee cake describes a style of fruit cake made everywhere, by everyone, and a term that generic cannot be fenced off — which is precisely the fate the protection exists to prevent, arriving a century or so too late.

There was a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal, expiring at midnight on 31 May 2023.

So: anyone may bake a Dundee cake anywhere and call it a Dundee cake. Compare Arbroath Smokies, 60 miles down the same coast, which is a registered PGI — smoke haddock the same way in Aberdeen and you may not use the name. Scotland has 15 protected food and drink names; this is not one of them.

What makes it a Dundee cake

Four things, and only the first is non-negotiable:

1. Blanched almonds in rings on top. No almonds, no Dundee cake. They go on raw and toast in the oven.
2. Orange — candied peel through the batter, and in most traditional recipes a spoonful of marmalade.
3. Currants and sultanas rather than a heavy dark fruit load. It is a light fruit cake; the crumb should be visible between the fruit.
4. No marzipan, no royal icing. The almonds are the decoration. Adding icing turns it into a Christmas cake with a good memory.

Glacé cherries are the running argument. Plenty of modern recipes include them; plenty of traditionalists insist they belong to the Christmas cake and not here. Both versions are sold in Dundee. Make your own decision, but know that you are picking a side.

The Keiller story, handled honestly

The origin most often told is that the cake was a by-product of the Keiller marmalade business in Dundee — that the firm baked it to keep its production going outside the Seville orange season, and that this is why marmalade and peel are in it.

That story is repeated everywhere, including by people with no reason to invent it, and it is at least consistent with the recipe: a marmalade maker's cake is exactly what this is. It is also the kind of tidy origin story that food history should be careful with, and there is a second and older account that has the cake made for Mary, Queen of Scots, who is said to have disliked glacé cherries — which is a suspiciously convenient explanation for the cherry argument above.

Treat both as tradition rather than record. What is documented is the register entry, and that says the name is not protected.

Method

Makes one 20cm cake. Read the almond step before you start, because it is the only fiddly part.

1. Line the tin generously — a double layer of paper standing proud of the rim. This is a long, slow bake and the sides will otherwise catch.
2. Cream butter and sugar until noticeably paler, then add the eggs one at a time, each with a spoonful of the flour. Fruit cake batter splits easily and a split batter bakes heavy.
3. Fold in flour, baking powder and ground almonds, then the fruit, peel, marmalade, zest and whisky.
4. Level the top and hollow the middle very slightly. Fruit cakes dome; starting concave gives you a flat cake and an intact almond pattern.
5. The almonds. Arrange them in concentric rings from the outside in, pointed ends following the circle. Press lightly — pushed in hard, they sink during the bake and you lose the whole effect. Some bakers brush them with a little beaten egg white for shine.
6. Bake low and slow — around 2 to 2½ hours at 150°C fan. If the almonds are browning before the centre is done, tent it loosely with foil.
7. Cool completely in the tin, then wrap and leave it at least two days. It improves for a week and keeps for a month.

The three things that go wrong

The almonds sink. Pressed in too firmly, or set on a batter that is too loose. They should sit on the surface, barely bedded.

The top browns before the middle cooks. The oven is too hot. A Dundee cake is a low, long bake; foil over the top buys you the rest of the time.

It comes out dry. Overbaked, usually because a skewer was tested in a fruit-heavy patch on an earlier check and read wet. Test in more than one place, and pull it when the skewer is clean rather than bone dry.

Serving and keeping

Plain, in a decent slab, with tea. It needs no butter and no accompaniment, though a wedge of hard Scottish cheddar with fruit cake is a northern habit worth trying once.

Wrapped in paper and then foil, it keeps for a month in a tin and gets better for the first fortnight. It travels well, which is why it turns up in Scottish hampers more than almost any other bake — that and the fact that it looks like something.

Frequently asked questions

Is Dundee cake a protected name?

No. An application to register Dundee Cake as a PGI was made in January 2021 and rejected on 3 May 2023. The UK protected food and drink names register lists its status as Rejected. Anyone may make and sell a cake under the name. The gov.uk page's "Protected food name" heading is standard furniture on every register entry, including refused applications.

What is the difference between Dundee cake and Christmas cake?

Dundee cake is lighter, uses a smaller and paler fruit load, carries orange peel and marmalade, and is decorated with blanched almonds baked onto the top. A Christmas cake is darker and denser, usually soaked in spirit over weeks, and finished with marzipan and icing. Dundee cake has neither.

Why does Dundee cake have almonds on top?

The ring of whole blanched almonds is the cake's defining feature and its only decoration — it takes the place of the marzipan and icing used on a Christmas cake. They are laid on raw before baking and toast in the oven.

Should Dundee cake have glacé cherries?

Traditionalists say no, and many commercial Dundee cakes include them anyway. There is no protected specification settling the question, since the PGI application was refused. Both versions are sold in Dundee.

How long does Dundee cake keep?

Wrapped in baking paper and then foil, about a month in an airtight tin. It improves over the first two weeks. Cut it no sooner than two days after baking.