How to Make Yummy Simnel cake

Simnel cake. Simnel cake is a traditional Easter fruitcake, packed with dried fruit and spices and topped with sweet marzipan. I've never attempted a Simnel Cake before as my late mother traditionally made our family cake, but I decided to make this as a reminder of happy Easters spent together. This recipe was easy to follow.

Add the rest of the cake ingredients to the soaked fruit and stir until well combined. Simnel cake has long been a traditional treat at Easter Time but somehow it is being lost. Which is a great shame as it tastes absolutely delicious. You can cook Simnel cake using 30 ingredients and 10 steps. Here is how you achieve that.

Ingredients of Simnel cake

1. Prepare of For the marzipan:.
2. Prepare 100 g of ground almonds.
3. Prepare 100 g of icing sugar, plus extra to dust.
4. You need 2 of free-range egg yolks.
5. It's 2 tbsp. of lemon juice.
6. You need of For the cake:.
7. It's 5 tbsp. of milk.
8. Prepare 1 of good pinch of saffron.
9. You need 150 g of raisins.
10. It's 150 g of sultanas.
11. You need 40 g of brandy, vin santo or white rum.
12. You need 50 g of bleached almonds.
13. It's 175 g of plain flour.
14. It's 1 tsp of baking powder.
15. It's 45 g of ground almonds.
16. It's 1/2 tsp of fine salt.
17. Prepare 2 tsp of mixed spice.
18. You need 180 g of butter, at room temperature.
19. You need 180 g of soft, light brown sugar.
20. You need 3 of eggs.
21. Prepare 1 tbsp. of golden syrup.
22. You need of zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange.
23. You need 50 g of glacé cherries, halved.
24. You need 50 g of mixed peel.
25. It's of apricot jam, to brush over the cake.
26. You need of For the icing:.
27. It's 30 g of caster sugar.
28. It's 25 g of butter.
29. Prepare 20 g of lemon juice.
30. It's 110 g of icing sugar.

Simnel cake is one of the few Easter treats that doesn't appear on shelves the day after St Valentine's and A good simnel cake should not just be a Christmas cake with marzipan balls on top; it should. A Simnel cake is a cake eaten for Easter in certain countries such as Ireland, England and France. It is a light fruit cake which is covered in marzipan. Often the top is decorated with Easter decorations.

Simnel cake step by step

1. Put the raisins and sultanas in a mixing bowl or a small zip lock bag. Heat up the spirits to almost boiling, pour it into the fruit and mix well. Seal the bag or cover the bowl and leave for a few hours, best overnight, to soak..
2. Butter and line with parchment a 20cm deep cake tin. Prepare another disc of parchment the size of the tin to place on top of the cake, to stop it from burning. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/gas 2..
3. Warm up the milk and put the saffron strands into it to soak. Toast the almonds in a dry frying pan or in hot oven on a baking tray for 10-15 minutes until they turn golden. Cool and chop roughly..
4. Mix the flour with the baking powder, ground almonds, salt and mixed spice and put to one side. Beat the butter in an electric mixer, add the sugar and beat well until the mixture turns pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating continuously, alternating with a little flour mix. Beat in the rest of the flour, golden syrup, zest and the milk with saffron..
5. Drain the soaked fruit if necessary – but all the liquid should have been absorbed. Stir them into the cake batter together with the chopped almonds, peel and glace cherries..
6. Take the marzipan out of the fridge and roll it out on a surface dusted with icing sugar to a disc the size of your tin. Spoon half the cake batter into the tin, place the marzipan disc in and spoon the rest of the cake mix on top..
7. Smooth the surface with a spatula and place the parchment disc on top..
8. Bake the cake for about 1 ¾ - 2 hours until a skewer inserted in the middle (not too deep because of the marzipan layer) comes out clean. Cool in the tin, unmould and brush the top and sides with the apricot jam warmed up slightly in a small pan..
9. To make the icing, bring the butter, caster sugar and lemon juice to the boiling point then pour over the icing sugar. Whisk to a smooth paste, add some yellow food colouring for extra Easter cheer..
10. Spread the icing over the top of the cake with a palette knife, making sure no crumbs mix into the icing and spoil the effect. Leave to set..

A simnel cake is a key part of Easter baking. This simnel cake will keep in an. Simnel Cake is an Easter classic that comes at just the right time after Christmas to fill the need for a good. A proper Easter bake. "This traditional Easter treat is a great one to make with kids - they'll love rolling out the marzipan, but leave any. Just made this Simnel Cake and it came together beautifully.