Fruit Slice (Fly Cemetery)
Fruit Slice – also known as “Fly Cemetery” – is a deliciously rich pastry traybake, filled with a generous amount of spiced currants. Can you guess where it gets its somewhat unappetizing pet name?
There’s something about us Scots and our love of questionable foods. Haggis is the obvious one (love it), Lorne sausage, macaroni pies, deep-fried Mars Bar and even Irn Bru cupcakes – Scotland is famed for it’s love of “unique” foods. And it could only be the Scots who would come up with a pet-name such as “Fly Cemetery” for a sweet little pastry treat like Fruit Slice.
Ever-so simple and a lot more tasty than it’s pet-name may suggest, Fruit Slice is a melt-in-the-mouth short crust pastry treat, loaded with currants and lashings of sugar.
It gets it’s pet-name from it’s appearance, rather than it’s flavour. Not for the weak stomached; it’s simply because of the currants resemblance too, well, lots of dead flies! Our Granny can even recall when her own Papa would pick out the currants and joke that they were delicious little flies! Yum…?
I was quite surprised just how many people were chuffed to receive a piece of Fruit Slice when I made it recently. I didn’t used to be a huge fan of currants myself, so I was unsure of how many people would be happy to take some off my hands. But it turns out there’s already been requests for another batch!
Tips for Fly Cemetery:
• Traditionally speaking, Fly Cemetery uses currants but you can mix it up to suit your own taste. Raisins, sultanas, cranberries, mixed peel…all can make a nice addition.
• If you want your Fruit Slice to be a little sweeter and little more special, instead of dusting with caster sugar after baking, wait until it is completely cool and spread a layer of water icing (icing sugar, mixed with a little water or lemon juice).
• Why not mix things up (and make eating messier) by trying Fruit Slice with puff pastry for a change?
• Some bakers have suggested in the comments to add a spoonful of jam or marmalade to the filling mixture. It’s not something I have personally tried but an intriguing idea!
Fruit Slice (Fly Cemetery)
INGREDIENTS
For the Pastry
- 300 g Plain Flour
- 150 g Butter or Margarine ((chilled))
- 50 g Icing Sugar
- 1 Free-range Egg
- 2-3 tsp Cold Water
For the Filling
- 200 g Currants
- 75 g Sugar
- 50 g Butter or Margarine ((softened))
- 1 tsp Mixed Spice
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pre-heat your oven to 180°c (or 160°c for a fan assisted oven or Gas Mark 4) and grease a 20cm by 28cm baking tray with a little butter. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, using your fingers, rub the flour and butter together until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir through the sugar before adding the egg. Mix until combined, adding a teaspoon of cold water as required and knead into a soft pastry dough.
- Wrap the dough in cling film and place in the fridge to cool and firm up, whilst preparing the filling.
- In a bowl mix the currants, sugar, butter and mixed spice until combined.
- Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll to 0.5cm thickness and cut into two large rectangles, about the size of your tray. Place on pastry rectangle onto your pre-greased tray.
- Spoon the currant mixture evenly onto the pastry on the baking tray, leaving a small gap around the edges. Wet the edges with a little water. Place the other sheet of pastry on top of the currants and gently press the edges together with your fingers, before finishing with a fork.
- Brush the top pastry with a little milk or beaten egg, before pricking a few holes on the top of the pastry
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until a light golden brown colour.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle a little sugar on top to finish. Once completely cool, cut into squares or slices of your desired size.
Video
IMPORTANT NOTE:
All my recipes are developed using a digital scale and the metric system (grams and millilitres). Cup measurements are available as a conversion but these, unfortunately, won’t always be as accurate. For best results, I always recommend baking with a digital scale.
Any usa cooks have the measurements in cups and degrees farenhite? I make garibaldi cookies and we LOVE them! This looks so similar, I know we would love these too. Thanks for the recipe. Now I have to go figure out the measurements.
Greetings from Western Australia!
I grew up in the 1960’s eating “FLY PIE”. Have always loved it and until the turn of the century, it could be found in most corner delis/lunch shops. Then it seemed to fall out of favour. Unbelievable!
Then, while I was in hospital a few years ago, I went down to the coffee shop run by the Women’s Auxiliary and there it was! When I asked for a slice of Fly Pie, the woman behind the counter looked both confused and horrified until another lady leaned over to her and whispered very loudly “She means Fruit Slice” & winked st me… Okay, so it was funnier at the time but to be honest, I had never heard it called anything but Fly Pie.
Looking forward to making your recipe for a Christmas get-together in a couple of weeks.
Thank you (& Merry Cheers)
My Granny in Dunfermline always made these ! So nostalgic … I might give them a go .
This was delicious. I made changes for US, but tried to keep the same. I used our all purpose flour and Irish butter since European butters have different fat and water. I’ve never used confectioners sugar in a short crust, but it’s fabulous. I used a silpat liner on a quarter sheet pan. I would roll out thinner, say closer to 1/8 of an inch than the 1/4 inch thickness to get a larger surface. A 350 oven needed at least 40 minutes. It was so easy and delicious. I bought the mixed spice from the Boston Spice Co, and I’m glad I did. It’s quite different from the pumpkin or apple pie spices in the US. It tasted more like the spices we use in my family’ Scandinavian deserts.
I did weigh all the ingredients, and followed directions exactly. This was such a pleasant memory of when I lived for a bit in The UK as a girl. Wonderful find!
Exceptionally good recipe for Flies Graveyard.
It came out perfect. Just as the traditional fruit slice should be. No need to add jam as a previous baker suggested. I think it would make it too sticky and lose all the spices but I guess it’s down to personal preference.
I added light soft brown sugar to the currant mix. I also made the pastry (handle it a little as possible). Then I cut it into 2 equal sizes, then put it in the freezer for 10 mins only and the pastry rolled out perfectly.
This is another winner for me. Thank you!
I’m from Glasgow Scotland and my maw called the flys grave yards .
my hubbies favourite so thanks for the recipe ,have a lovely Christmas everyone