black bun as its alternative name Scotch bun indicates, is a Scottish institution, a festive cake eaten at Hogmanay. Originally this cake belonged to Twelfth Night but moved to the secular festival of New Year when religious reformers banned Christmas as a festival.
Although the ‘bun’ has a long and puzzling history, the name ‘black bun’ only came into use in the early part of the 20th century. The recipe for it which was given by Meg Dods (1826) was entitled Scotch Christmas Bun. This was originally made with bread dough enriched with spices, dried fruit, eggs, and brandy and then wrapped in a plain casing of bread dough. Meg Dods said that it was made by all the leading bakers in Edinburgh in the weeks before Christmas and exported in sizes up to 16 lb (8 kg) to other parts of the United Kingdom.
Back in the 18th century the same thing or something very like it appeared as ‘plum cake’. The ‘bun’ term may have been introduced to avoid confusion with the meaning which the Scots had for ‘cake’ as a hard biscuit, as in oat ‘cakes’.
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries it had become so intensely spicy and fruity that the bread dough was abandoned, very little flour was added to the spice and fruit mixture, and the whole mixture was wrapped in short pastry crust. At this stage the bun could almost be described as an English christmas pudding in a crust. The filling had become so dark as to deserve the epithet ‘black’. It seems to have been after the author R. L. Stevenson described it as ‘a black substance inimical to life’ that the name ‘black bun’ came into use.
The composition of the filling has varied over the centuries. All Scottish bakers who make the bun have their own spice mix, and flavours range from strong peppery versions to milder cinnamon-flavoured ones. Black treacle is a modern addition which did not appear in early recipes, and this of course enhances the blackness.
Size and shape also vary. A black bun may be circular or loaf shaped. In many households there is a strong tradition of serving the bun with Scotch whisky; but the bun may of course be found in households where Scotch whisky is never consumed.
© the Estate of Alan Davidson 1999, 2006, 2014 © in the Editor’s contribution to the second and third editions, Oxford University Press 2006, 2014.
