Scottish Fly Cemetery fruit slice with spiced currant filling between golden shortcrust pastry layers on a plate.
Scotland

Fly Cemetery (Fruit Slice)

Buttery Scottish fruit slice packed with spiced currants.

Servings 8
Prep Time 30 mins
Cook Time 30 mins
Difficulty Easy
Print Recipe

Ingredients

For the pastry

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
  • 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2-3 tsp cold water

For the filling

  • 1 1/3 cups dried currants
  • 6 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 3 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 tsp British mixed spice

For finishing

  • 1 tbsp milk or beaten egg, for brushing
  • 1 tbsp granulated sugar, for sprinkling

For the pastry

  • 300 g all-purpose flour
  • 150 g cold unsalted butter, cubed
  • 50 g confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 10-15 ml cold water

For the filling

  • 200 g dried currants
  • 75 g granulated sugar
  • 50 g unsalted butter, softened
  • 5 ml British mixed spice

For finishing

  • 15 ml milk or beaten egg, for brushing
  • 15 g granulated sugar, for sprinkling

Instructions

  1. Heat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Lightly grease a 20 x 28 cm (8 x 11-inch) shallow baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
  2. Put the flour and cold butter in a large bowl. Rub together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, then stir in the confectioners’ sugar.
  3. Add the egg and mix. Work in just enough cold water, a teaspoon at a time, to bring the pastry together into a soft dough. Don’t overwork it.
  4. Divide the dough into two roughly equal pieces. Flatten each into a rectangle, wrap and chill for about 15 minutes while you make the filling.
  5. Combine the currants, granulated sugar, softened butter and mixed spice in a bowl. Stir until the currants are evenly coated and the butter is distributed throughout.
  6. Roll one piece of pastry on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle large enough to line the bottom of the pan. Carefully transfer it and gently press it into place.
  7. Spread the currant mixture evenly over the pastry, leaving about a 1/2-inch border around the edges.
  8. Roll out the remaining pastry to fit the pan. Lightly dampen the exposed edges of the bottom crust, lay the second pastry sheet over the filling, and press the edges together. Seal with a fork.
  9. Brush the top lightly with milk or beaten egg and prick it several times with a fork. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the pastry is lightly golden.
  10. Sprinkle with granulated sugar while still warm. Let the slab cool completely before cutting into squares or rectangular slices. Kettle on.

Cultural Context

Fruit Slice is a familiar Scottish bakery and home-baking treat, though similar currant-filled pastries appear elsewhere in Britain. The formula is straightforward: pastry above and below, a dense dried-fruit filling in the middle and enough sugar to make tea seem necessary. “Fly Cemetery,” “Flies’ Graveyard,” and similar nicknames come from the dark currants visible when cutting slices. It’s a good example of Scottish baking humor: sturdy, practical pastry given a name that would terrify a marketing department today.

Fun Fact

The nickname “Fly Cemetery” is entirely visual. Dark currants pressed into the filling were jokingly compared with dead flies, which is not exactly the sort of description modern pastry shops put on a chalkboard. Scotland kept the name anyway. Appetite, apparently, can survive bad branding.

Cook’s Tip

British mixed spice gives the filling its classic warm flavor. If you can’t find it, use pumpkin pie spice, or mix cinnamon with smaller pinches of nutmeg, allspice and cloves. Currants are traditional, but raisins, sultanas or a mixture of dried fruit also work; chop larger fruit so the filling slices neatly.

Short on time? Use good-quality refrigerated shortcrust pastry. Puff pastry makes a flakier, less traditional variation. For a sweeter finish, skip the sugar topping and drizzle cooled slices with a simple lemon icing.

Cool the slab completely before cutting; warm pastry will crumble and drag the filling. A serrated knife works well for neat squares. The flavor is even better after the filling has had a little time to settle.

Trivia

Fruit Slice also turns up under names such as Fruit Square and Flies’ Graveyard. Bakers may use currants alone or mix in raisins and sultanas, while some versions swap shortcrust for puff pastry. Same basic idea, different levels of crumb management.

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