Scottish Fern Tarts

[KarenB]

I'm looking for a recipe for Scottish Fern tarts. They maybe called Fern cakes. The tart has a pastry shell with a dap of jam in the bottom. The filling is cake- like. I think they have rice flour and almond flavouring. The top is an almond fondant type icing with a chocolate fern drawn into the icing.
These are usually sold in Scottish Bakeries. The recipes on the web are not quite right and some suggest Bakewell Tarts. Not the same.

[AnneinFrance]

Recipe for Scottish Fern cakes:Fern Cakes

Part 1 - Pastry shell of sweet dough
6 cups flour
2 cups crisco
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup or a little more of milk

Mix together all the ingredients and roll out like a pie dough

Cut to be about the size of a cupcake shell and mold the shell into cupcake
pans.

Once you have all the shells placed into the cupcake pans, drop 1/2 teaspoon
of strawberry jelly into the bottom of each shell.

Part 2 - Cake filling
1 white cake mix (follow mixing instructions on cake as to water, oil and
eggs) then add the ingredients below:
2 teaspoons rum flavoring
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
Now spoon the cake filling into the shell with the jelly. Fill like you
would a cupcake to about 3/4 full.
Heat oven to 350°
Bake each tray for about 30 min. Tops of each cake should be a dark golden
brown. Allow to cool till the cake feels cool to the touch on top and slip
a
knife in beside each to help lift it out of the cupcake pan and finish
cooling completely.

Part 3 - White icing
The white icing consists of powdered sugar, a few tablespoons boiling water,
a tablespoon of crisco, and a couple drops of milk. If you need to make it
creamier, add more water to it. If it is too runny, add more powdered
sugar.
Ice each of the cakes with the white icing and allow it to harden.

Part 4 - Fern design
With the remaining white icing, add some cocoa powder to give it a rich
chocolate color and taste. Use a cake decorator to make a vertical line
down
the center of the white icing. Now place to V's over the chocolate line to
make what looks like a tree (fern) which is where this got it's name from.

These look the same as Queen cakes but with a different topping. The fern
design makes it easier to tell them apart.
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There is also a recipe at grouprecipes.com/fern cakes

[KarenB]

Thanks I saw the one at group recipes but it's not quite like the one's I used to buy. The cake was heavier and no walnuts. I do appreciate the basic recipe though. Here comes an experiement in the kitchen.

[KarenB]

Best British Foods.com...Mrs. Bridges British Bakery in Eglington Square in Toronto. they have the ingredients listed so that will help me to adapt the recipe. Thanks Again for your help.

[AnneinFrance]

I hope the tarts turn out OK. As I remember, the ones I used to get as a child in Glasgow, from City Bakeries, didn't have nuts in them. I'm sure my Mum wouldn't have got them if they did as I was a very fussy eater and wouldn't eat nuts but I loved Fern cakes!