Dundee Cake

Dundee has been celebrating the 100th anniversary of the launch of RRS Discovery ( 21 March 1901 ) down the Tay from the yards of Alexander Stephen & Sons. Last weekend, as part of the celebrations, a fleet of Tall Ships visited Dundee. "Tall ships Dundee - Spirit of Discovery" was a great success with thousands of visitors enjoying the spectacle of the Tall Ships.

 

The focus of the celebration RRS Discovery was built by Dundee Shipbuilders Co Ltd for the Royal Geographical Society and will always be associated with the name of Scott of the Antarctic. Following her launch the Discovery sailed to New Zealand and spent two years in the Antarctic ice. She was constructed, on the lines of the famous Dundee whalers, with great thickness and strength to withstand the pack ice. After Captain Robert F Scott's expedition in 1904, Discovery saw service with the Hudson Bay Company and then became a Research Ship. She was bought by the Marintime Trust in 1978 and moved back from the Thames, London, England, to the city of her birth in 1986. Dundonians welcomed her home in great style and she is now moored permanently at Discovery Quay. The City of Dundee now proudly proclaims itself as the "City of Discovery".

 

Celebrate the launch of a great ship with a slab of Dundee Cake!

 

Dundee Cake

 

Ingredients

8 oz Flour
6 oz Caster Sugar
6 oz Butter or Margarine
4 Eggs
4 oz Currants
4 oz Raisins
4 oz Sultanas
2 oz Candied Peel
1 oz Ground Almonds
1 t Mixed Spices
1 t Baking Powder
1/2 ts Salt
1 oz Split Blanched Almonds

Set oven to 325F/Gas 3. Grease an 8 inch round cake tin and line with greaseproof paper. Cream the fat and sugar in a bowl. Sift the flour, salt and spices together. Add the baking powder to the last of the flour. Stir in the ground almonds. Add the fruit peel. Gently Mix. Put into the tin. Arrange the split almonds evenly on the top of the cake. Bake for about 2 hours. After the first hour, if the top is browning too quickly cover with greaseproof paper. Allow the cake to cool slightly in the tin before turning on to a wire rack. The cake will keep for several weeks if wrapped in kitchen foil.