Simnel Cake

I remember my mum making Simnel Cake and being intrigued by the meaning of it. We weren’t particularly religious, but my mum loved an ‘event’ that meant food and socialising! Her Simnel Cake has a layer of marzipan baked into the middle and on top of the cake, and around the top are 11 marzipan balls, which represent the 11 true disciples of Jesus. The 12th ball in the middle is Jesus himself. This cake benefits from being made in advance and being fed with brandy for a couple of weeks; however, it can be eaten straight away.

Ingredients

Makes a 23 cm (9 inch) cake

  • 1 kg (2 lb) raisins
  • 175 g (6 oz) glacé cherries, halved
  • 50 g (2 oz) ground almonds
  • 125 g (4 oz) currants
  • 
300 g (10 oz) plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
  • 1⁄2 teaspoon mixed spice
  • 
1⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 300 g (10 oz) soft margarine
  • 300 g (10 oz) caster sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 1–2 tablespoons brandy
  • 
melted apricot jam, for glazing

For the marzipan

  • 500 g (1 lb) ground almonds
  • 250 g (8 oz) caster sugar
  • 250 g (8 oz) icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
  • 2 eggs
  • 
1⁄2 teaspoon almond essence
  • 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice

 

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 140°C (275°F), gas mark 1. Line a 23 cm
(9 inch) round cake tin with greaseproof paper (top and sides).
  2. Put the raisins, cherries, ground almonds and currants in a
large mixing bowl. Add the flour, nutmeg, mixed spice, ground cinnamon, margarine and sugar and beat everything together with a hand-held electric mixer or by hand with a wooden spoon.
  3. Add the eggs, beating in one at a time. Add a teaspoon (or 2!) of brandy and mix well. Leave to rest while you make the marzipan.
  4. To make the marzipan, beat all of the ingredients together in a bowl until it comes together in a smooth dough. Wrap in cling film and store in an airtight container until you are ready to assemble your cake.
  5. To assemble the simnel cake, roll out the marzipan on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar to about 1 cm (1⁄2 inch) thick. Cut out 2 circles the same size as the cake tin. Then, with the leftover marzipan, shape 11 little balls about 3 cm (11⁄4 inches) in diameter and then 1 slightly bigger ball.
  6. Pour half of the cake mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface. Top with one of the marzipan discs. Then pour
in the rest of the cake mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for about 3 hours. Leave it to cool in the tin, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  7. Brush the top of the cake with apricot jam and cover with the other marzipan disc. Dip the balls in a little of the jam and place them around the cake, finishing with the big one in the middle. Preheat the grill, then put the cake under to just brown the top – keep an eye on it as it will brown quickly (about 1 minute). Alternatively, use a cook’s blowtorch.

Web essentials