DUNDEE is known as the home of jute, jam and journalism.

Now it is set to become officially associated with the famous cake developed in the city.

The Keiller family first produced the cake in the late 1700s, made with its "jam" of candied Seville orange peel marmalade mixed with Spanish almonds, Spanish sultanas and Spanish sherry alongside flour, sugar, Scottish butter, and Scottish free-range eggs.

The rich, buttery, fruity Dundee Cake - decorated in a carefully laid-out pattern of whole almonds - is known the world over, but is made in various locations to various standards of quality, and has become a catch-all term for any fruit cake with peel and almonds in it.

Now the real thing has come one step closer to being legally protected against imitation in the European Union with coveted Protected Geographical Indicator (PGI) status.

Scotland's Food Secretary Richard Lochhead has formally launched a national consultation to consider the application for the cake to be registered under the EU Protected Food Names scheme under the PGI designation.

The move follows work on behalf of the Scottish Government by Scotland's Rural College and experts from Abertay University and Dundee bakers to agree a specification and application.

Once the consultation has been completed, the application will be forwarded to the Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs, which is responsible for submitting applications from the UK to the European Commission.

It takes, on average, two years for an application for receive approval, although regulations introduced in 2013 aim to reduce this timescale to one year.

If successful it would mean only cake made to the agreed recipe and mixed by the creaming method, baked and decorated in the Dundee specific area, can call itself Dundee Cake.

The early version of the cake was developed in the late 1700s under the roof of Janet Keiller's shop. Her invention of a new type of Seville orange marmalade launched the family into large-scale commercial production. Around the mid-1800s the factory began experimenting with the idea of a special Keiller cake as a useful, non-seasonal item to keep the company's production going throughout the year.

The recipe later became established as Keiller's Dundee Cake and has continued to be made in the traditional style by members of the Baker Trade Of Dundee, which is heading the proposal.

Mr Lochhead said: "We can trace its origins back hundreds of years to the kitchens of the marmalade inventor Janet Keiller, making it a thoroughly Dundonian delicacy that deserves European recognition for its unique characteristics and long associations with this city.

"Achieving PGI status for Dundee Cake will ensure consumers at home and abroad have a 100 per cent guarantee of the product's authenticity.

"We already have Scottish foods, such as Stornoway Black Pudding and Scotch Beef, which are PGI protected and free from imitation. It guarantees the food's provenance and supports local producers."

Martin Goodfellow, of local bakers Goodfellow & Steven, and a past deacon of the Baker Trade, said: "Dundee Cake has become so far removed from its roots that it has almost become a catch-all term for any fruit cake with peel and almonds in it.

"That is not the origin of the cake, nor is it the way it has been made in the city for more than 100 years. It is time we took back what is our own. To this end, we have had fantastic support from Dundee Council and the Scottish Government and have built up a strong case for consideration."

Councillor Will Dawson said: "Dundee Cake is one of the city's most famous delicacies and an important part of our history. It is only right we work towards getting protected status for this much-loved cake."