Dundee Cake

When a friend told me she had purchased a Dundee Cake my response was, "What the heck is a Dundee Cake?" She invited me to another friend's house to try it. "We are going to have an afternoon tea and will serve the Dundee Cake." Somewhere she had read that there is a tradition on December 6 to eat the Scottish cake.  It is made with flour, butter, sugar, eggs, almonds, candied peel, cherries, currants, sultanas (white raisins) whiskey, grated lemon rind, and topped with almonds. The cake is served around Christmas time. My guess is that it is named for Dundee, Scotland, and not Crocodile Dundee!

It is considered a fruit cake and I arrived at the Tea Party full of skepticism because I know the reputation a fruit cake has here in the United States. The home was decorated tastefully for Christmas and the fireplace gave the room a homey feeling. The Christmas tree by the window was just the right size and two of the ladies
were making the tea. There would be no tea bags at this party!

The table was set with glass cups, red napkins, fudge, fruit cake, wedding candy, Cutie oranges and the Dundee Cake. One lady was trying to read the directions of an Asian tea but since no one could read the writing she decided to make it like any other tea. When it was served to me they asked, "How is it?" My reply was, "Like hot water!" Someone said, "Maybe it is a white tea." I added the black tea to my "white tea" and the combination turned out to be a good tea.

It was a lovely afternoon as we tried all the goodies on the table, talked about photography, pets, gardens,
Christmas, shopping, food, travels, tea houses, family, Broncos and turtles. The one thing we all wanted to talk about was the book we will discuss at our book club, but since two people had not finished reading the story we were prohibited from commenting on the book!

I had to admit I liked the Dundee Cake and even though it is a sort of a fruit cake, it did not taste like other fruit cakes I have eaten. I helped myself to seconds of the almond topped cake!

Is there anything better than to be with friends, enjoying each others company and eating sweet goodies? Some would say that watching the Broncos beat San Diego would rival my Sunday afternoon, but I would have to disagree!

Nuts.

Fruits.

A Dundee cake.

Raisins.

Almonds.

In the cake.

Whiskey.

Sherry.

Deliciously good.

A sweet food.

Fruitcake fake.

Scottish cake.

E. Moscoso

December 6, 2015

 AN DEIREADH