With supermarket shelves groaning under the weight of all those panettones, why would anyone be potty enough to make one themselves? Well, I must be potty because as I’ve not made one before, I decided to have a go.
Having assembled strong plain (bread) flour, yeast, eggs, butter, dried fruit and candied orange peel, I set to work. It took most of the afternoon – although most of the time was spent while it was proving. However, it didn’t take too much ‘elbow grease’ as my beloved Kenwood did all the kneading.
The only real problem was what to cook it in, but in the end I decided to use a well-lined 20-centimetre cake tin and I was really pleased with the result. Although it didn’t perhaps look quite as pristine as the shop-bought variety, it tasted delicious and kept well. But would I make one again? Yes, on balance I think I would, tempting as those supermarket shelves might be. So if you have a free afternoon, give it a try.
Scottish black bun isn’t a bun at all, it’s more like a giant mince pie. Maybe in the past it was wrapped in bread dough instead of pastry, which would account for the name.
Whisky-soaked fruit is mixed with flour and spices and baked in a pastry case, then it should be left to mature for at least a week before cutting, longer if possible. It was originally a cake baked for Twelfth Night, but after the Reformation, when Christmas was virtually banned in Scotland, it became associated with Hogmanay and New Year celebrations. The filling is much like a standard Christmas fruit cake, and a slice is very acceptable with a ‘wee dram’ of Scotland’s finest tipple.
As far back as I can remember, my family always had a Tunis cake at Christmas. It was a buttery sponge cake, topped with a thick layer of chocolate and decorated with coloured icing stars and marzipan fruits. We always had a rich fruit cake covered with rock-hard royal icing as well, but as kids it was the chocolatey one that we used to go for, instead of what we thought of as the stodgy fruit cake. How times, and tastes, change!
There’s a lot of discussion on the internet about Tunis cakes, but it’s really only us ‘oldies’ who remember the originals clearly. Made by Macfarlane Lang, who were subsequently taken over by McVitie’s, they had a slightly lurid fancy band round them and came in a red box.
Then they seemed to go out of fashion and disappeared. But apparently, in recent years, there has been something of a revival, with some of the larger supermarkets like Sainsbury’s, Tesco and also Marks and Spencer stocking them at Christmas.
Mary Berry, a TV cook and one of the judges on the BBC’s Great British Bake-off, puts marzipan holly leaves on her Tunis cake, which isn’t strictly correct, but as it’s a lot easier than modelling mini fruit, I followed suit. And I also did away with the icing stars.
As to why it was called a Tunis cake, I haven’t the least idea, but it’s a nice cake. My resident food taster gave it 10 out of 10, and making it has brought back memories of Christmases past.
I even managed to find a fancy cake frill to wrap it in!
Panettone loaf
500g strong plain white (bread) flour
Pinch of salt
90g caster sugar
11g sachet of instant yeast
2 small eggs
3 egg yolks
150ml tepid milk
175g butter, softened but not melted
Grated rind of 1 orange
90g chopped candied orange peel
90g sultanas or golden raisins
Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl and add the sugar and yeast. Beat the eggs and yolks together, then make a well in the flour and add the eggs and milk.
Start to mix using a wooden spoon, then add the butter and orange rind and knead it all together for about 10 minutes, until you have smooth, elastic and soft dough, adding more flour as necessary.
If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, mix the ingredients by hand, then knead it on low speed for about four minutes. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rise for at least two hours or until doubled in bulk. Line a 20cm cake tin with a double thickness of non-stick baking paper, making sure the paper comes at least five centimetres above the top of the tin.
Turn out the dough, punch it down and knead in the candied peel and raisins, then shape it into a round and put it into the tin. Cover with a piece of cling film and let it rise until the dough reaches the top of the tin.
Preheat the oven to 200˚C and bake the panettone for 20 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 180˚C and bake for another 30 minutes or until it’s well risen and browned.
If it starts to brown too quickly, lay a piece of foil on top of the tin. Cool in the tin for 20 minutes, then turn it out and remove the baking paper.
Wrap the panettone in a fresh sheet of greaseproof paper, stand it on a wire rack and cool completely.
Slice and serve either plain or buttered and wrap any leftovers in a plastic bag.
Tunis cake
220g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
220g butter at room temperature
220g caster sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g dark chocolate, chopped
200ml cream
Marzipan fruits or holly leaves to decorate
Preheat the oven to 180˚C and line a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin with a double thickness of greased greaseproof paper (not non-stick baking paper) so that it comes two centimetres above the top of the tin.
Sift the flour and baking powder together. Beat the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy, then add the eggs, one at a time, together with a spoonful of flour. Fold in the rest of the flour and the vanilla. Turn the mixture into the lined tin, level the top and bake for about 45 to 50 minutes until the cake is springy to the touch and a cocktail stick pushed into the middle comes out clean.
Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out on to a wire rack and cool completely, but don’t remove the greaseproof paper. Put the chocolate and cream into a bowl standing over a pan of hot water, put it over low heat and stir until the chocolate melts.
Make sure the greaseproof paper is still firmly round the cake and if necessary tape the end so it doesn’t unravel. When the chocolate has cooled slightly, pour it over the top of the cake and leave it until set.
Carefully remove the paper from the cake, transfer it to a serving plate, decorate it with marzipan fruits or holly leaves and a coloured ribbon or cake frill.
Scottish black bun
250g each currants, sultanas and seedless raisins
80g candied orange peel
50g chopped almonds or chopped mixed nuts
Grated rind 1 orange
4 tbsps whiskey
500g sweet shortcrust pastry
200 g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp mixed spice
½ tsp each cinnamon and ground ginger
100g soft dark brown sugar
1 large egg, beaten
2 tbsps black treacle
Milk
Put the dried fruit, candied peel, nuts and orange rind into a large bowl, sprinkle over the whisky, cover with cling film and leave to stand for at least four hours, but preferably overnight, giving it an occasional stir.
Reserve a third of the pastry for the lid, then roll out the rest and use to line an 18cm spring-form cake tin, leaving about a centimetre overhanging the edge.
Chill in the fridge for half an hour. Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Sift the flour, bicarb and spices on to the fruit and stir in the sugar. Save a spoonful of the beaten egg for glazing, then add the rest to the fruit mixture together with the black treacle.
Mix well, adding enough milk to make a moist but not sloppy mixture. Turn the mixture into the tin and level it off.
Roll out the reserved pastry and top the pie, damping and then pinching the edges together. Brush the top all over with beaten egg and cut a large cross in the middle with a sharp knife. Bake for 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 160˚C, cover the pie loosely with foil and continue to bake for about another two hours, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out cleanly. Cool in the tin for 30 minutes, then turn out on to a wire rack and cool completely.
Wrap in greaseproof paper, store in an airtight tin and leave it for at least a week before cutting.