Because everyone should be able to celebrate any festive feast or National Day. Here is a little twist to one special Scottish cake which could be eaten on Burns Night. After a couple of trials, I found it best to bake this in 2 stages. The first will be to make and partially bake the shortbread base and then remove from the oven, pour on the topping and finish the baking.

It will need to be left to completely cool, before cutting and eating as it will be a little squidgy.

You will need a small rectangle baking tray roughly 27cm long, 20cm wide and 3cm deep – rather like a brownie tray  Then line this with greaseproof paper.

Preheat the oven to gas 3, 160c

First make the gluten free Shortbread

120g soft butter

60g caster sugar

120g Dove Farm Rice Flour

70g Cornflour

1/teaspoon Xanthum Gun

Cream the butter and the sugar until white and fluffy, this should take about 4 – 5 minutes. Sift together the dry ingredients and the mix slowly into the butter mix. it will eventually resemble breadcrumbs. At this point, pour into the lined tin and press firmly into the corners and flatten out.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and remove. Then turn the over up a fraction as you’ll need to bake the topping and it needs a good glaze to finish it off. o Gas 4, 170c

Next the classic topping.

130g melted butter

2 eggs

160g Light Brown Sugar

1 tablespoon White Wine Vinegar

50g Sliced Almonds

100g Raisins

100g Currants

60g Glace Cherries – halves, if available or cut whole ones into thirds

Ensure there are no lumpy bits in the sugar, you could sieve this or just break up with the back of a spoon.

Whisk the eggs into the melted butter – which should be cooled off a little after melting so as not to cook the eggs! The melted butter should be warm enough to put your finger in. Then whisk in the sugar and the tablespoon of wine vinegar. Sounds weird, but it works. It serves as a balance with the sweetness of the rest of the recipe.

Pour this on to the half-baked shortbread and bake in the now increased heat, in the oven, for a further 25 – 30 minutes.

Allow to cool for a couple of hours prior to cutting and eating.

Should you be interested, I have used my mother’s family tartan as the background – Sutherland.