Simnel Cake Recipe ~ how many balls on yours?

Here is my recipe for Easter Simnel cake. Traditionally the cake is topped with marzipan balls to represent the apostles of Christ. Some people put 12 balls on their cake to represent but traditionally there are only 11, Judas not deserving to be there. 

Simnel Cake Recipe

This recipe is for an 18cm (7 inch) cake tin but I haven’t got one so used a larger pan which resulted in a thinner cake and a need for more marzipan; not a bad situation.

175g soft butter
175g light muscovado sugar
3 eggs
175g self-raising flour
a pinch of salt
1 tsp ground mixed spice
275g mixed dried fruit
90g glacé cherries – quartered
finely grated zest of 1 orange
500g marzipan
2 tbsp apricot jam – I’m going to use honey

~   Grease the cake tine and line with greaseproof paper.
~   Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300°F/130ºC fan/gas 2 for.
~   Roll out a third of the marzipan, and using the base of the cake tin as a template cut out a circle. 
~   Stir together dry ingredients.
~   Cream together the butter and sugar, then mix in the eggs together with a spoonful of the flour (this helps prevent the mix from curdling).
~   Stir in the rest of the flour and all the fruit and zest.
~   Spoon half of this mixture into the prepared cake tin, level the surface and lay the round of marzipan onto it.
~   Add the rest of the cake mix and smooth the surface.
~   Bake for about 2¼ hours till firm to the touch and golden brown.
~   If it starts browning too quickly lay a circle of greaseproof paper on top.
~   Cool for 15 minutes or so before removing from the tin and then cool completely on a rack.
~   Brush the top of the cold cake with the jam or honey (jam is more normal but I always use honey for this sort of thing – the flavour goes well with fruit cake, it isn’t lumpy and I always have plenty in stock).
~   Roll out half of the remaining marzipan and cut another cake sized circle.
~   Press this gently onto the cake and make a pretty pattern round the edge with your fingers.
~   Divide the remaining marzipan into 11 or 12 balls and arrange them around the edge of the cake. Press gently into place.
~   Preheat the grill and then pop the cake under for a few minutes watching constantly to just caramelise lightly.

We ate a slice each as soon as the cake was out from under the grill and the warm sticky caramelised marzipan was sheer delight!

Just in case you haven’t used all the marzipan see here for ideas for marzipan scraps or trimmings.

Why “Simnel” Cake?

Simnel is a funny name so I had a browse and here are some explanations – Simnel cake: what is it and what’s the story behind it?

Two more Good Ideas for Easter

~ Here’s some delicious recipes and ideas for Hot Cross Buns.
~ See here for what to do in the unlikely event of having Leftover Easter Eggs!

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