With thanks to Caroline Chilton-Bates @chefcarolina for this recipe!
Simnel Cake is a delicious, rich Easter cake, made with fruit and almond paste. Although marzipan is readily available, homemade almond paste is very quick and easy and tastes so much better. The cake is traditionally decorated with 11 marzipan balls representing the disciples - minus Judas Iscariot. This cake is truly delicious and will keep for up to three weeks in an airtight container.
For the almond paste:
225g Ground almonds
125g Caster sugar
125g Icing sugar
2 egg yolks
Seeds from ½ Vanilla pod
1 tsp Orange Flower water
¼ tsp Almond essence
1 tbsp Lemon juice
For the Simnel cake:
250g Mixed fruit (including raisins, sultanas, candied mixed peel,
1 orange, zest and juice)
500g Marzipan (if not making your own)
250g Butter
200g Caster Sugar
4 Eggs (plus 1 beaten to glaze)
175g Plain flour
100g Ground almonds
1 tsp Baking powder
1 Lemon (zested)
2 tsps Mixed spice
Seeds from ½ Vanilla pod
3 tbsps Apricot jam
Method:
1. First make your almond paste – put all your ingredients into a blender (or whisk with a hand whisk until all combined into a rough paste).
2. Turn out and knead until smooth using extra icing sugar to prevent sticking.
3. Place in the fridge whilst preparing your cake.
For the cake:
1. Grease a deep 20cm cake tin (or a 23cm one if you don’t have a deep tin). Line with parchment paper
2. Place the mixed fruit in a pan with the orange zest, juice and 2 tbsp water and bring to the boil. Simmer until all the liquid is absorbed and leave to cool.
3. Heat oven to 150C / 130C fan / gas 2.
4. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, blending as you do so
6. Add the flour, almonds, baking powder, zest , vanilla seeds and mixed spice. Stir in until all combined. Add the cooled fruit and stir in.
7. Remove your almond paste from the fridge, cut into thirds, roll out two thirds into two separate circles –using your cake tin as a template. Roll eleven evenly sized balls for your “disciples”.
8. Place ½ the cake mixture in your tin and then carefully place one of your almond paste circles on top. Put the remaining mixture on the top smooth it across the top.
9. Bake in the oven for two hours. Check it’s cooked by inserting a skewer into the middle and see if it comes out clean. Once cooked, cool it in the tin for 15 mins and then transfer to a wire rack and allow it to cool completely.
10. Once cool, paint the top with the apricot jam and place the remaining almond paste circle on top, pressing it down slightly to make it stick. Crimp the edges if desired.
11. Paint the top of the cake with the remaining beaten egg and evenly space the eleven balls on top. Paint those with beaten egg too.
12. Either place the cake under a hot grill for several minutes until the top caramelizes. Alternatively use a kitchen blow torch.
Decorate as you wish - enjoy!
Comments will be approved before showing up.
If you are craving the bold and deeply satisfying flavours of authentic Malaysian food and want to recreate their famous Mee Goreng in less than 30 minutes, then this is the perfect recipe for you. This classic street food favourite is a stir-fried noodle dish packed with juicy prawns, squid, and a medley of vegetables, all coated in a rich, savoury sauce.
This recipe for White Beans with Spanish Catalonian Sausage, known in Spain as Butifarra de Perol brings the rustic flavors of Spain straight to your kitchen. Butifarra, a traditional Catalan sausage, is the star of this dish
Bulgogi is one of the most famous dishes from Korea, it's seriously tasty. Made using thinly sliced strips of beef that are marinated in soy, garlic, ginger and sesame along with pureed fruit. Bulgogi is a pretty versatile dish, often stir-fried with onion and eaten simply with rice and a few garnishes, in a kind of bibimbap style.
Angela Emms
March 29, 2021
This is delicious, I made it this weekend. Love the marzipan it’s very tasty.
1 correction though, the sugar is missing from the ingredients list for the cake, so I added 200g which seemed to work.