To mark Easter, Foodie Friday looks at a cake
that is made specially in Lent and during Easter time – Simnel Cake. It originated
in the UK a long time ago – at least as early as the Middle Ages. The most common recipe is based on that
developed in Shrewsbury.
As you can
see there are 11 marzipan balls on top of the cake – these represent the
Apostles (minus Judas for obvious reasons).
The cake is
a fruit cake – but a much lighter one than is found in Christmas cakes.
A recipe
for the cake is set out below (thanks to The Guardian ) but I haven't made it myself so
can only hope it is a good one.
The perfect Simnel cake
75ml milk¼tsp saffron
175g currants
175g sultanas
4 tbsp brandy, whisky or golden or dark rum
50g glacé cherries, halved
50g whole skinned almonds
175g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
45g ground almonds
½ tsp fine salt
1 tsp mixed spice
180g butter, at room temperature
180g soft, light brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp
golden syrup
Zest of 1
lemon and 1 orange
50g mixed
peel, chopped if necessary
Sugar syrup,
apricot jam or marmalade, to top
For the
marzipan (or use 500g bought marzipan)
200g ground
almonds
200g icing
sugar, plus extra to dust
Drop of
almond essence
1 tsp orange
blossom water
1 egg,
separated
Heat the
oven to 130C, and grease and line an 18-20cm loose-bottomed, high-sided tin,
cutting an extra circle for the top of the cake with a small circle cut from
the centre to allow it to rise. Warm the milk slightly, add the saffron and set
aside to infuse. Soak the dried fruit in the spirits.
Meanwhile,
make the marzipan. Put the ground almonds and icing sugar in a mixing bowl or
food processor and whisk or whizz together until well combined. Add a dash of
almond essence, the orange blossom water and the egg yolk, and mix. Whisk the
egg white with a drop of water to loosen, then add just enough to bring the
marzipan together in a soft dough. Form into a ball, wrap and chill.
Put the
whole almonds on a baking tray and bake in the hot oven until starting to turn
golden, then remove and set aside to cool.
Put the
flour, baking powder, ground almonds, salt and spices in a large bowl and whisk
together to mix. Beat the butter in a food mixer, with electric beaters or a
vigorously applied wooden spoon until soft, then beat in the sugar and continue
beating until they’re light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as
required.
Beat in the
eggs, one at a time, adding a little of the flour mixture between each
addition, followed by the syrup and zest.
Roughly chop
the almonds, then add to the mixture along with the cherries, dried fruit,
saffront and mixed peel. Spoon half the mixture into the prepared tin and
flatten the top. Take about a third of the marzipan and roll out on a lightly
icing sugared surface to a circle the size of your tin. Place on top of the
mixture, trimming as required, then spoon the rest on top. Place your extra
circle of greaseproof paper on top and bake for about 2.5 hours until a skewer
poked into the top (not down to the marzipan) comes out clean. Allow to cool.
If using jam
or marmalade, heat a few tablespoons gently in a small pan to melt. Remove the
cake from the tin and peel off the paper. Roll out the remaining marzipan on a
lightly icing-sugared surface and cut a circle about 2cm bigger than the
diameter of the cake, then trim to neaten. Brush the top and top of the sides
of the cake with jam, marmalade or sugar syrup and lift the marzipan on top,
smoothing it down the sides.
Heat the
grill to medium-high, or prepare your blowtorch. Put the cake under the grill
for a couple of minutes until beginning to brown, keeping an eye on it all the
time, then remove. Roll the trimmings of the marzipan into 11 roughly
equal-sized balls and stick them around the edge of the cake with a little
jam/marmalade/syrup. Put back under the grill briefly to brown, then allow to
cool before serving.
Wow! That is an intense cake! I have never heard of it before. Baking blessings to you! xo Diana
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Thanks for sharing with us!
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