Black bun, sometimes referred to as Scotch bun, is a festive Scottish cake with roots reaching back to Mary Queen of Scots. It’s a delicious, dark and densely fruited cake encased in plain pastry, traditionally eaten on Hogmanay (New Year’s Eve) along with a dram of whisky. It’s fairly expensive in the shops, but very easy to make for yourself at home.
This vegan black bun is quite faithful to traditional recipes, using plenty of currants and a little black pepper in the spice mix. The fruit is liberally soused in whisky, so use a cheaper blend for the bun and save the malt to drink with it!
Whereas you’re usually aiming for pastry that’s short, light and crisp or crumbly, the pastry on a black bun needs to be quite robust. It’s the casing that holds the moisture in, and you don’t want it to crumble away when you slice the cake. To toughen it up, just knead it a little (not too much) when bringing the dough together. You can line the sides of the tin as well, which looks great and keeps the cake even more protected, but I find this is about the right ratio of sweet juicy fruitcake to plain old pastry.
One ingredient you probably won’t find in other black bun recipes is blackcurrant jam, which gives this cake a special quality. Blackcurrants do grow wild in parts of Scotland, and they are a perfect companion to whisky, so I’d like to think some of our ancestors might have added a spoonful of the jam to their festive cakes and pies.
Vegan black bun…
Ingredients
for the pastry
- 50 g soft vegan margarine (not a low fat variety)
- 30 g flavourless/odourless coconut oil
- 160 g plain white/unbleached flour
- 1-2 tbsp non-dairy milk
- pinch of salt
for the cake
- 400 g dried fruit (150g each of raisins and currants; 100g sultanas)
- 120 ml whisky
- 100 g mixed dried peel (orange and lemon)
- 50 g dark muscovado sugar
- 100 g blackcurrant jam
- 50 g ground almonds
- 80 g plain white/unbleached flour
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp non-dairy milk
- 1 tsp margarine and 1 tsp maple syrup melted together for glazing
Method
- Soak the raisins, currants and sultanas overnight in the whisky, in a large covered bowl.
- You can also make the pastry a bit in advance, as long as you wrap it well to stop it drying out. Soften the coconut oil a little in the microwave if it is not already of a similar consistency to the margarine, then place both in a bowl with the flour and salt. Using a pastry blender or your hands, blend until you have a fine crumbly mixture and no little lumps of coconut oil remain. Add a tablespoon of milk, more if needed, and mix with a fork and then bring together with your hands to form a smooth dough. Turn and knead it for twenty seconds or so in the bowl (for this recipe you need a pastry that won’t crumble easily). Set aside, wrapped up if you are leaving for more than half an hour.
- When you are ready to make the cake, set the oven to 160°C/320°F. Lightly oil and line the sides only of a standard 2lb loaf tin.
- Divide the pastry in two. Roll out one half on a floured board and cut a rectangle to fit the base of the baking tin. Place it in the tin and very gently press it into place.
- Now add the mixed peel, jam, sugar and ground almonds to the soaked fruit and stir.
- Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices into the fruit mixture, followed by the milk, and turn over with a spoon until everything is well combined.
- Spoon the cake mixture carefully into the tin (it will be thick). Press and level it with the back of the spoon to create a fairly even surface.
- Roll out the remaining pastry and cut a rectangle to fit the top of the tin (remember the top is sometimes wider than the base in a loaf tin!). Place the pastry on top and press it gently all over to ensure it has made contact with the cake mixture.
- Take a skewer and make holes, evenly spaced up to an inch apart, in the top of the cake, reaching through to the base.
- Bake for an hour and fifteen minutes before removing, brushing over the glaze and returning for another fifteen minutes or so. An inserted skewer should come out clean when the cake is cooked through.
- Allow the cake to cool before removing from the tin. It will store well if wrapped, and will improve if left for at least a few days before it’s cut.
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