Black Bun for a bit of Scottish Tradition

A couple of months ago I mentioned to my husband that I was going to attempt a Christmas cake this year.
"that's a good idea" he said, "when I was a child, my aunt used to make a special Scottish cake every year. It had a lot of pepper in it."
After some searching on the internet I was able to find out that there is a special Scottish cake, made for New Year, called a Black Bun. It is a rich fruit cake with spices, including quite a bit of pepper, and encased in shortcrust pastry.

So I decided to give it a go. This is the recipe. I found it on Epicurious from Christopher Trotter of The Scottish Kitchen and then just halved all the ingredients and made a few adjustments. I added more alcohol than the recipe called for and although the recipe uses Brandy I decided to add some whiskey as well. It is Scottish after all.  I made it 2 weeks before Christmas but you can actually make it even earlier. Instead of covering the whole cake with pastry I decided to only cover the top and bottom.

It is very rich and very fruity. The pepper adds a nice bit of heat. If you prefer your cake more "cakey" use less fruit and more flour.

INGREDIENTS

For the pastry:

112 g butter
225 g cake flour
½ teaspoon baking powder

For the filling

1.125 kg mixed fruit (raisins, saltanas, glace fruit, candied peel)
115 g chopped nuts
175 g cake flour
125 g soft brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 tablespoon brandy
1 tablespoon whiskey
1 beaten egg
80 ml milk

METHOD

• To make the pastry, dice the butter and rub into the flour/baking powder. Add enough cold water to make a stiff dough. Wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for about half an hour.
• Preheat oven to 150°C
• For the filling mix all the dry ingredients together.
• Mix in the brandy, about ¾ of the egg and the milk. Mix well with clean hands. 

• grease a 22cm loaf tin and line the bottom with baking paper.
• roll out the pastry and cut a piece of pastry to fit the bottom. Place on top of the paper.
• pack the fruit cake mixture into the loaf tin to the top.
• cover with pastry and trim with a sharp knife to cover the cake snugly.
• using a fork, poke little holes all over the top.
• add a little bit of milk to the rest of the egg mixture and brush over the top.

Bake in a 150°c oven for 1 hour. Reduce heat to 110° and bake for a further 2 hours. For the last hour cover with foil to protect the pastry and stop from over cooking. Once cool store in an airtight container or wrap in heavy duty foil.