Scotch dumpling/Clootie dumpling
Review originally posted 18 Jan 2006.
Category: dessert Price: 73p for 2 slices Ingredients: Wheat flour, vine fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants), water, sugar, vegetable oil, syrup, treacle, skimmed milk powder, raising agents: disodium diphosphate; sodium bicarbonate, salt, potassium sorbate, cinnamon, coriander, ginger, fennel, cloves, rusk My husband and I are both pretty sure that this is the same thing as a dessert known as "clootie dumpling", which is a steamed pudding cooked in a cheesecloth. Like most British desserts, it has a very high proportion of dried fruit. (I've occasionally asked my husband if the British know that it is okay to make desserts without raisins.) I've never liked fruit cake and I'm not expecting to particularly like this stuff.
It is brown, and flecked with dried fruit. It looks a lot like a light fruit cake. It doesn't seem to be too dense, which is promising. It smells sweet, molasses-y and spicy like gingerbread, so that is also a plus. On my first bite, I am struck by how dry it is. It looks a lot moister than it is. It doesn't have a very strong flavor. There is a hint of gingerbread kind of flavor, with a nice background of sweetness. But that is overshadowed by the sense that it is dry, kind of pasty, and full of dried fruit. It's not an offensive flavor at all. It isn't the usual booze-soaked fruit cake. But at the same time, I didn't find it especially pleasant. I managed to finish my portion, and had the distinct feeling that I'll be sucking bits of it out of my teeth for days to come. I can choke a slice down when I have to, to be polite. But I wouldn't really want to eat it for fun. I'd prefer a real dessert, involving chocolate or cheesecake.