Easiest Way to Cook Appetizing Easter Simnel Cake

Easter Simnel Cake. Just made this Simnel Cake and it came together beautifully. I added some almond essence to the batter as well as a little cinnamon allspice ginger and nutmeg. Simnel cake was traditionally given by servant girls to their mothers when they returned home on Mothering Sunday and it's now become a classic Easter cake.

The cake signifies the end of Lent which is a period of fasting and repentance culminating in a feast of seasonal and symbolic foods. The Simnel Cake recipe, however, is rich in fruits, spices, and marzipan, all forbidden during the period of Lent, and so. Simnel cake is a light fruitcake formerly eaten during the pre-Easter period in the United Kingdom, Ireland and some other countries but has become a traditional cake for Easter Sunday. You can cook Easter Simnel Cake using 16 ingredients and 12 steps. Here is how you cook it.

Ingredients of Easter Simnel Cake

1. Prepare 100 Grams of almonds whole blanched.
2. It's 500 Grams of marzipan golden.
3. Prepare 225 Grams of all purpose flour.
4. You need 3 Teaspoons of baking powder.
5. Prepare 1 Teaspoon of mixed spice.
6. Prepare 150 Grams of brown sugar soft light.
7. Prepare 150 Grams of butter , softened.
8. Prepare 2 Tablespoons of milk whole.
9. You need 3 of eggs large , beaten.
10. It's 1 of egg yolk , beaten.
11. It's 411 Grams of christmas mince.
12. It's 350 Grams of dried fruit mixed.
13. It's 50 Grams of whole candied peel.
14. You need 1 of orange , zested.
15. It's 1 of lemon , zested.
16. It's 1 Tablespoon of currant red jelly.

It is distinguished by two layers of almond paste or marzipan, one in the middle and one on top. The top layer is capped by a circle of "eggs" made of the same paste, and is lightly browned under a grill. Mary Berry's Simnel Cake is just one of the recipes included in her brand new Mary Berry Bakes app, available to buy now on the iTunes store. Originally, this cake was made for Mothering Sunday, but it has for a long, long time been an essential Easter confection, the marzipan balls on top representing the apostles: eleven in total as, for understandable reasons, Judas is persona non grata.

Easter Simnel Cake step by step

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C, to toast the almonds. spread them out on a baking sheet and toast them for exactly 8 to 10 minutes. remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 150 degrees C. when almonds are cooled to room temp, chop them coarsely..
2. Unwrap the marzipan, cut the block into two equal halves and re-wrap one half for later use. chop the remaining half into 1/2 inch cubes. toss them in 1 tablespoon of the flour and set aside..
3. In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and spice. then place all the remaining ingredients, except the remaining marzipan, egg yolk and red currant jelly, into the bowl and mix well (using either an electric mixer or a wooden spoon) till the batter is evenly distributed..
4. Finally, gently fold in the marzipan cubes and any excess flour..
5. Spoon the mixture into a prepared 8 inch cake tin, leveling the surface with the back of a spatula. place a suitably sized square of double greaseproof paper with a hole the size of a 50p piece in the center over the top..
6. Place the cake in the center of the oven and bake for two and three-quaters to three and a quarter hours at 150 degrees C. the cake is cooked when the center feels springy when lightly pressed..
7. Cool the cake in the tin for 30 minutes, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely..
8. To decorate the cake, unwrap the remaining marzipan and divide into two halves. roll out one half into a 9 inch circle. brush the top of the cake with the red currant jelly (or raspberry jam) and place the circle of marzipan concentrically over the cake..
9. Trim the excess overhangs, or make a decorative fluted pattern as shown in the pics..
10. Divide the final portion of marzipan into eleven and shape into spheres. place them equidistant from each other along the circumference of the cake top..
11. Brush the marzipan with the egg yolk, and place under a preheated grill (which has been heating for a good 10 minutes so it is at full blast) for about 30 to 40 seconds. the marzipan should turn a light, toasted brown color..
12. Remove from the oven, and serve..

Simnel cake is a traditional Easter fruitcake, packed with dried fruit and spices and topped with sweet marzipan. We wanted to see the best simnel cake, be it plain or decorated. We were after a moist, well-spiced sponge with juicy dried fruit. Everything you want from an Easter cake - moist sponge, plump fruit and a layer of nutty marzipan running throughout (and on top). Simnel cake is a light fruit cake, similar to a Christmas cake, covered in marzipan, and eaten at Easter in Great Britain and Ireland.