Scottish Fern Cakes, a Bakery Classic
Scottish fern cakes are a classic tartlet that are still served in many bakeries in Scotland. I haven’t found one single recipe online for the real deal, so I’m sharing this authentic recipe with you. I hope you give them a try!
A few months ago, I had a request from a reader for a recipe for fern cakes as she simply couldn’t find one.
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UPDATE: I am delighted that my fern cake recipe now ranks #1 on Google search. The only fern cake that was on the internet when I posted my recipe was some concoction using a cake mix and it was not the traditional Scottish fern cakes I knew and loved. Now, if you look, you’ll see loads of others who have taken my recipe and copied it. However, you’re now looking at the original, so good for you!
Little did I know how much of an effort it would be to track down an authentic recipe! Yet, they were exactly what I had thought they were, and so simple to make.
First, I went to google to see what was online. One recipe was all I found, and it made my hair stand on end! Ingredients like Crisco, white cake mix (WHAT?), coconut and walnuts!?! Sorry, this isn’t even close to a Scottish fern cake! 🤐
This is an example of what makes me so upset when bloggers post recipes that they know nothing about. God only knows how many people have actually used this recipe and thought they were actually making Scottish Fern Cakes? It’s unfair because readers are being duped.
Being close to Christmas, I had a brainwave: Christmas tree “Fern Cakes”!
The next thing I did was turn to my Scottish cookbooks, but none of them had a recipe. I suspected that they were Bakewell tarts decorated with icing and a chocolate fern design, but I had to be sure I would be sharing the correct recipe. So I then asked my mother and Scottish baker/friend, Lisa, to check their cookbooks: nothing.
At this point, I was getting desperate, so I posted a request in a Scottish Facebook group. Someone in Scotland said they’d ask their local baker for the recipe and buy a fern cake to “dissect” for me, but I never heard back. Finally, I asked a cousin in Scotland who told me that Christie the Baker in Coatbridge had them and someone she knew was going to check for me.
After waiting weeks, I decided to message the bakery directly and finally, I had the answer/recipe! They are indeed Bakewell tarts with the icing and chocolate fern design on top! I was informed that the jam should be raspberry or blackberry (I chose raspberry). A massive thank you to Christie the Baker for the information which will also be very useful to many others, I’m sure.
Without further ado, here is the much needed authentic Fern Cake recipe to all to share! If you do share, please credit my site so that Christie’s receives credit, too. Thank you!
Scottish Fern Cakes Recipe
Adapted from this recipe and thanks to Christie the Bakers, Coatbridge Makes 24
FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW
Ingredients
Tart shells
- all purpose flour
- pinch of salt
- good quality butter
- sugar
Filling
- raspberry or blackberry jam
- butter
- sugar
- ground almonds/almond meal or almond flour
- 2 eggs (preferably organic)
- almond extract (I used vanilla instead)
Icing
- powdered/confectioner’s sugar
- water or milk
For the Fern Design
- chocolate
Make the tartlet shells.
After preparing the shells, partially bake them.
Fill the shells for the Scottish Fern Cakes.
Put some raspberry or blackberry jam in the bottom of each tartlet shell.
Make the frangipane and add some to the top of the jam (don’t fill too high). If you’re like me, and don’t like almond extract, you can substitute vanilla. No matter if it’s almond or vanilla, I recommend the Neilsen-Massey brand of extracts.
Bake the Scottish Fern Cakes.
Make the icing and chocolate, and decorate.
While the icing is still wet, draw a zig zag line down the center with melted chocolate (or green icing for a Christmas tree). Then pull a toothpick or knife down the middle to create the design.
As you can see, they don’t have to be perfect, but they still look good.
Allow the icing to set completely before serving, or storing in a tin. These will keep for at least a week.
Don’t forget to try this Christmas twist on Scottish Fern Cakes! Would be great as a gift on a lovely, festive plate.
Fern cakes in the ferns!
Enjoy this authentic Scottish Fern Cakes recipe with a cup of British tea!
Scottish Fern Cakes, a Bakery Classic
Ingredients
Tart Shells
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 stick butter good quality
- 1 ½ tsp sugar
- 3 Tbsp ice-cold water or 4 tablespoonfuls, as needed
Filling
- 4 Tbsp raspberry or blackberry jam or more, as needed
- 6 oz butter 1 ½ sticks
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 ½ cups almond meal almond flour or ground almonds all work
- 2 eggs preferably organic, beaten
- ½ tsp almond extract I used vanilla instead, as it’s not my favorite flavor
Icing
- ⅔ cup confectioner’s sugar
- 2 Tbsp milk or water, more or less as needed for a runny icing
For the Fern Design
- ¼ cup chocolate melted, in a little plastic sandwich bag with a tiny bit of the tip cut off (or green icing for Christmas trees)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F
- Making the pastry
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Cut into circles to fit your mini tins. Using a fork, press the tines into the bottom and sides of the pastry in the tin, then bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, until partially cooked. Remove and set aside.
- Spread the jam on the bottom of the crust then make the frangipane filling.
- Making the filling and baking
- Melt the butter in a pot, remove from heat and stir in the sugar, ground almonds, egg and almond extract (if using.) Pour the mixture over the jam, but don't fill too full.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F(180°C) and bake for about 20 minutes, until golden-brown and a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely in the pan.
Making the icing and decorating.
- Make the icing so that it's rather thick, but still runny, and cover each tartlet with the icing.
- Immediately draw a design of zig zag lines on the center of the tart, then drag a toothpick or knife thought the design. Allow to set completely before serving or storing.
Notes
- Regarding the cup measurements. Please read this to understand what I mean about the cups not being reliable.
- The cup measurement is NOT accurate because of the difference in ground almonds vs. almond flour and the fact that most measuring cups are not reliable. Please use a scale for best results.
Nutrition
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What can I use instead of the ground almonds? I am allergic to nuts.
Hi Angela, sorry to hear that, my daughter is also allergic to nuts. I would probably try dry breadcrumbs or semolina. On the nut allergy, I discovered that almonds are not actually nuts, believe it or not. They are a member of the stone fruit family, like peaches and plums. My daughter is allergic to all tree nuts, but can eat almonds. HOWEVER, there are people who are allergic to almonds as well as other nuts, so it’s better to be safe than sorry. Enjoy the fern cakes, and stay safe! CC
Christina, I would love to make these,it will be June soon.I can still draw a fern,right? My question is regarding the flour. Can I use my regular almond flour ? I have lots of time to try new recipes.thanks for all your investigation on this recipe! Your the best!
Oh yes, they have the fern all year long. And I do think regular almond flour will be fine for this recipe. Let me know how it turns out! :) Enjoy, Nancy!
Really looking forward to making these! Always a treat from our Scottish relatives and now a fav for my German background husband! Not having a food processor, I have finely chopped my almonds by hand . However, I’m not sure to continue with cup measure or by weight. My 3/4 cup amount weighs just over 2 ounces. Shall I use cup or weight? (same issue with sugar for filling: 3/4 cup weighs 5 ounces) Thank you for the recipe and help.
Hi Sue, ALWAYS use weight as it’s the most accurate. I ONLY put the cups for my US readers because many do not have scales and for some reason are resistant to using weight vs. volume. :( Let me know how they turn out!
Hi
I had the same issue with ground almonds. 3/4 cup weighs only 3 ounces. I will use the weight as you suggested but I wondered why you haven’t changed the recipe.
thanks,
Margaret
Sorry, Margaret. I have over 500 recipes I share for free and it’s hard to keep up with everything by myself. Fixing it for you now.
Just wondering if the pastry is wrong, as my pastry didn’t hold are you sure it should be 2 cups flour & 1/2 cup of unsalted butter. The fat to flour worked with 2cups flour & 1 cup unsalted butter.
If you weigh the flour, no, the pastry is not wrong. Cups are very inaccurate and if I wouldn’t completely lose my US audience, I would remove them from all of my recipes, Lena. If you can, ALWAYS use a scale for baking.
I love fern tarts and thank you for the recipe. We don’t have good bakeries anymore, as far as I’m concerned.
That’s sad, Donna! At least you can make them at home. :)
The fern cakes we got at Moody’s Bakery in Niagara Falls, Ontario when i was a kid, and an adult, did not have any jam, it was a almond paste outer pastry, then sponge cake, then the thick white icing and the chocolate fern. i really do not remember them every having jam. I’ve been in contact with Moody’s but they will neither provide a recipe or mail me any. i even asked one clerk, if she could do this as a personal favor, but nope. so i will buy some they have here online. but i doubt it will ever be the same ones. I sure do appreciate the recipe, because i may be able to tweak it to make the ones we had as kids !! Thanks ever so much !
Anyone can make them any way they want and call them Fern Cakes. Ontario isn’t a place I would set as the standard for Fern Cakes, though. The place that gave me the recipe is in Scotland and has been in business for years, so I truly think that is more authentic. However, by all means, skip the jam if that’s how you like them as that’s the beauty of baking at home!
Almond paste as the outer pastry doesn’t sound right to me as these are baked. I think the almond flavor came from the frangipane cake filling. I don’t understand why you’d buy them from a place that ignores you, although I do think they have the right to keep the recipe a secret if they are a bakery. They just should be nice about how they tell you. I’d encourage you to try this recipe and just skip the jam :) Let me know if you try, Patricia.
The recipe you describe is an invention made in Canada. Just because the cake has a fern on it doesnt mean it’s authentic Scottish style fern cake ….Real Fern Cakes have frangipane filling of almonds cream and jam
Hi Jean, send me proof and I’ll edit my post to explain how a Canadian tart ended up in Scotland, but in the meantime, these are still authentic Scottish fern cakes. If you go into bakeries in Scotland (and Scottish bakeries in other countries) you will find these. I’d guess that whatever fern cakes you speak of in Canada may have been brought over by Scots immigrants and changed a bit, but that’s just a guess. Let me know if you have any history on these, but I found nothing and did extensive research before posting the recipe.
Ackroids Bakery in Redford Michigan has incredible Fern Cakes plus many savory Scottish meat pies. They are family run with great service and they ship!
Glad you’ve had great luck with them, but we didn’t. I was there and they sold my mother expired products and then were so rude and didn’t even refund her $. Rotten customer service and I absolutely would NOT recommend them.
Since the new ownership they have always been friendly to us! Going there on Monday to pick up our order but can’t wait to visit Scotland next year to try their treats and see if I can recreate them when we get back to Michigan! Can’t wait to try this recipe. Bought my tart tins!
Oh that’s good to know! Enjoy the Fern Tarts! :)
Thank you for the recipe my mom used to make this all the time
You are so welcome, Georgina! Enjoy them!
Now that is quite the journey of a recipe and it looks like it was well worth the effort.
Isn’t that funny, Cathy!? Glad I got the right recipe in the end! CC
I would love to give these a try. Quick question: what size and material pans work for these? I have several pans, none of which are actually called tart pans or look like the ones in your picture. I wanted to see if one I have would work before buying actual tart pans. Thank you and Merry Christmas!
Oh Elizabeth, I’m so sorry I missed your comment until now! I used individual aluminum tartlet tins, but one like this would work also. Sorry for the delay in responding and Happy New Year! CC https://amzn.to/2GSHWGS (affiliate link)