Sweet Success for the king and queen of the castle
Maria Gran meets couple who make and sell luxury confectionary using a 100-year-old traditional recipe
In the original pantry of Kinnaird Castle, Stephanie Friend and Scott Bell make fudge and tablet based on a 100-year-old family recipe. The couple moved into their castle flat in January 2020, meaning they had lots of time to explore the grounds. Inspired by the picturesque castle and their kitchen, which sits in the 600-year-old castle’s original pantry, they had an idea. Based on a recipe passed down from his great-great-grandmother, Scott brought up the idea of making fudge. After mulling it over, Stephanie decided if they were doing it, they’d have to do it right. So, she quit her job as a sales manager to commit to Kinnaird Kitchen. “Obviously we had irons in the dire before I left. Since February 2021 we’d been tweaking the recipe, designing and doing market research” says the 41-year-old. “We decided to go for it around July. That’s when we got our first order, and it was amazing”
At the front of the castle sits Stephanie and Scott’s flat, where they make all their fudge. The castle is owned by the 4th Duke of Fife, David Carnegie, and has been in the Carnegie family for more than 600 years. Their kitchen is large, which is a necessity since the fudge comes out in trays around 5ft wide. As well as their original fudge, Kinnaird Kitchen makes tablet and flavoured fudge. Each flavour comes from another Scottish producer, like Tayport Distillery or Maison Dieu Coffee Roasters. So far, the couple have made fudge with Scott’s pine gin, blackcurrant liqueur, Glen Grant whisky, Bom Jesus code and Innis & Gunn beer. “We’re always on the hunt for new collaborators, be it in the Angus area or wider into Scotland” says Stephanie. “But we don’t want to flood the market with loads of flavours, so I like to release them in stages.
For our next flavour, we’re working with The Gin Bothy. It’ll have a nice Christmassy feel.” In the spirit of their historic home, the fudge is made using traditional methods and ingredients. Sugar, milk, butter and condensed milk goes in a heavy-based pan to reach the perfect temperature. After boiling, they beat the fudge to ensure the texture is right and will set correctly. From the making of the fudge to tying the ribbons on finished bags, everything is done by hand. Scott says: “We’ll be tying ribbons while watching TV.” Stephanie adds: “It takes time to do it properly, authentically and traditionally, so it’s definitely a labour of love but I wouldn’t want to do it any other way. Heaven forbid I use the microwave. When people say they make fudge in the microwave, I’m like: That’s sacrilege!”
The couples hard work was rewarded when this year’s Great Taste Awards were announced – their original tablet picked up two stars. The tablet is also based on the 100-year-old fudge recipe, but adjusted slightly and cooked for longer at a higher temperature. Using the feedback from the Great Taste judges, Stephanie and Scott plan to improve their treats in hopes of picking up more stars next year. “We’ll try and get more flavours in and hopefully get more awards” says Scott. “On the development front, we’ve got a new marble slab coming to do traditional cooling.”
After two years in the business, Kinnaird Kitchen is growing quickly. As 37-year-old Scott works full-time at SSE, Stephanie has one staff member helping her with production. On weekends, the couple attend markets together. This is a chance to chat to customers and get inspiration for new ideas. In addition to markets, their fudge and tablet is sold in delis, farm shops and tourist attractions across Scotland. Kinnaird Kitchen also supplies a royal castle and a luxury five-star hotel.
Stephanie says: “We’ve kept things mainly to the north-east of Scotland, because I think people tend to recognise you a bit more closer to home. Because of Kinnaird Castle, we seem to do well in Aberdeenshire as the Duke of Fife’s family were big landowners in the Ballater and Braemar area. It’s a nice connection to that area, and people like a product with a little bit of a story. It certainly has that.” Closer to home, the Duchess of Fife picks up the couple’s fudge to put in holiday lettings on the estate. This is one step on the way to Kinnaird Kitchen taking up more space in the castle. The castle kitchen is big, but as the business grows Stephanie and Scott need more room. As they have based their brand around the castle, they want to stick around and expand.
Within the next year, they hope to turn a building in the courtyard into an industrial kitchen. “As all small businesses do, it starts encroaching on other rooms in your house” says Stephanie.
“We have asked for a building within the castle and have one earmarked, so that would give us room to expand” With more room, they hope to look into exporting to North America and supply more Scottish hotels. But supermarkets will never be on their list of goals. Keeping Kinnaird Kitchen’s fudge and tablet handmade, no matter how big it grows, is Stephanie and Scott’s priority. “I want to make life easier producing it, but I don’t want to lose the handmade feel,” says Stephanie. “I don’t want to be mass-produced, because then you can almost taste in the product that it’s not made with care, and that’s the whole reason why we did it.”
The truth about tablet
We can’t be sure exactly when tablet was first made in Scotland, but the first mention of the treat is in The Household Book Of Lady Grisell Baillie in the early 18th Century. This traditional recipe used just sugar and cream. Tablet as we know it today is typically made with condensed milk, butter and sugar – and it was immortalised by Scottish legend Ma Broon of the Sunday Post comic strip The Brooms. You might have heard traditional tablet sometimes referred to as “Swiss milk tablet.” This is not because the recipe comes from Switzerland, but because Swiss milk is an old term for condensed milk.
Melts in the mouth
Tablet’s brittle and grainy texture that melts in the mouth comes from the mixture being boiled at a higher temperature than fudge – Its smooth and creamy cousin. Fudge didn’t come along until the 19th Century, when fudge-making became a popular activity at women’s colleges in the US. The fudge mixture – consisting of milk, sugar and butter – must be properly prepared and cooled to create the right size of sugar crystals. This ensures the correct consistency of the fudge. The process of making fudge can be laborious, as the mixture needs to be beaten while cooling to break up large sugar crystals and give it a matte look. While tablet flavours are often limited to original, vanilla or nuts, fudge can be flavoured with anything – from rum and raisin to Irn-Bru.