I know it’s a bit late but here is my recipe for Simnel Cake
– I only made it yesterday afternoon. Some people put 12 balls on their cake to
represent the 12 apostles but I think traditionally there are only 11, Judas
not deserving to be there.
Simnel Cake
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
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
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).
~ 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.
~ 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.
~ 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.
~ 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 a
delight!
In Other News ...
Not only is it Easter weekend but today is also
International Carrot Day which is, according to carrotday.com ...
2 comments:
Your simnel cake looks delicious. I love warm sticky marzipan. I make a marzipan and cheery cake which has a layer of marzipan through the centre and it's delicious eaten when it's still warm and the marzipan is gooey.
Doing anything special to celebrate carrot day?
Just eating Simnel cake, really! I should have thought and grated a carrot into it out of respect, that would have worked!
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