Traditional Scottish Desserts: Puddings, Trifles, Creams and More!

Looking for a special dessert to serve after supper on Robbie Burns Day, St. Andrew's Day or Hogmanay? This collection offers a number of options - from the quick and simple, to the elegant and divine.

Puddings:
Clootie Dumpling is a dessert pudding made with dough, dried fruits and spices. It is wrapped in a floured cloth and simmered, then dried in the oven. Selkirk bannock is not a pudding, but is also made from dough and dried fruits. Unlike other versions of bannock, which are either unleavened or leavened with ingredients like baking soda, the Selkirk bannock is made with baker's yeast.

Trifles:
Scotch Trifle, also known as Tipsy Laird, is a layered dessert assembled from sponge cake, custard, fruit and whipped cream. It is said to be "softer and more flavourful" than an English trifle. It is called tipsy because of the Drambuie used in it.

Edinburgh Fog is similar to a trifle, but it feels a bit less formal without the layering. It is traditionally made with crumbled ratafia biscuits, although macaroons can be used if you can't find them. Like the trifle it calls for Drambuie and whipped cream, and is topped with almonds.

Fruit and Cream Desserts:
These are similar to trifles as well, but lack the cake or biscuit layer. Caledonian Cream is a thick fruited cream served over orange segments and a little brandy. Cranachan is an easy dessert made from raspberries and whipped cream that has been sweetened and flavoured with whiskey. A little toasted oatmeal is used as a topping. Strathbogie Mist a dish of poached pears topped with a whipped cream made with lemon juice and ginger wine.

Cookies and Candies:
Perhaps one of the best known Scottish recipes worldwide is Scottish Shortbread, cookies that will absolutely melt in your mouth. My mother's recipe uses icing sugar and cornstarch, but no flour. It is guaranteed to melt in your mouth! Tablet is perhaps less well known, but if you have a sweet tooth it is definitely worth trying at least once in your life. I got my recipe from the mother of a classmate, back when I was in grade three. Tablet is similar to Quebec's sucre à la crème but is usually made with white sugar instead of brown or maple sugar.

The desserts featured in this article are suitable Scottish dishes to serve at your Burns Night Supper. For more options and recipes see my Family Friendly Robbie Burns Night Supper Menu.

Sources:
"Recipes." Royal Caledonian Society of South Australia

"Scottish recipes." Glasgow Guide

"Traditional Scottish recipes." Rampant Scotland