There is something so special and meaningful about the gift of food, after all it is in fact the gift of life itself, where would we be without the food we eat. This Sunday so many of us will be handing over chocolate eggs as gifts for Easter, but why not give a special cake instead – Simnel Cake.

The Simnel cake is an age old tradition for Mothers Day and dates right back to medieval times when on mid-lent Sunday parishioners went to the Mother Church of the parish (or cathedral in larger areas) and made their offerings. Families would gather and servants were awarded a rare day off to take flowers and gifts of Simnel cake to their mothers at home. Nowadays the cake makes a welcome appearance as an Easter treat as well and shops and bakeries are full of them just now.

The name Simnel is thought to come through the Old French from the Latin simila which referred to a fine flour from which the original cakes were made.

The cake is even mentioned in this verse by Robert Herrick from 1648:

I’ll to thee a Simnell bring
‘Gainst thou go’st a mothering,
So that, when she blesseth thee,
Half that blessing thou’lt give to me

There is no single recipe for Simnel cake and each region of England had its own version which – of course – it considered to be the finest.

Similar to a Christmas cake and just as steeped in tradition, the Simnel cake is packed with succulent fruits and filled with fragrant spices. But unlike its cousin the Christmas cake this confection must be decorated in a standard way with a golden marzipan (almond paste) topping and eleven little marzipan balls around the edge to represent the apostles (minus Judas of course), it also boasts a layer of sticky sweet marzipan in the centre.

Here is a really simple and easy recipe for Simnel Cake that you can whip up in no time with minimal fuss and it tastes amazing.

To Make Simnel Cake You will need;

175g/6oz light brown Muscavado sugar

175g/6oz unsalted butter (softened)

175g/6oz self raising flour

3 large eggs

25g/1oz ground almonds

2tbsp whole milk

110g/4oz sultanas

110g/4oz dried apricots

110g/4oz stem ginger

110g/4oz glacé cherries

1tsp mixed ground spice

Marzipan for centre and topping, I used approx 1 ½ packets (454g packets)

3tbsp apricot jam

1 egg beaten

 Here’s how to make Simnel Cake:

Preheat the oven to 160c/320f/Gas 3

Line a 20cm/8” cake tin with baking parchment and grease well with butter. I use a tin with removable base which makes popping the cake out so much easier.

Measure all the ingredients and sieve the flour and sugar into a large mixing bowl and add the mixed spice. Stir well to combine.

Make sure your butter is soft enough to work with but don’t melt it completely. Cut into chunks and add this to the mix and mix it well in so there are no lumps left. Keep working it in until the mixture is even throughout.

 Add the eggs and the milk and beat this thoroughly.

Chop the apricots and cherries into little pieces. Drain the correct amount of stem ginger and chop to same size pieces. Warning; This is really sticky work so make sure you have a cloth to wipe your hands before you touch anything else.

Add the chopped fruits, sultanas and the chopped ginger to your mixing bowl and beat until everything is combined.

Spoon half of the mixture into your prepared baking tin and level off the top. Give the tin a tap on the table top to release air and get it to settle.

Roll out the marzipan to about 1/2cm thick and using your baking tin as a guide, cut out a circle that is just slightly smaller than the tin itself, so that you can fit the circle of marzipan inside the tin and on top of the cake mix that you’ve already put in there.

Spoon on the remaining cake mixture and level off the top.

Place in the oven on middle shelf for 1 ½ – 2 hours. Check the cake after an hour and cover top with foil or parchment if browning too much.

You’ll know the cake is cooked through when it is a lovely golden brown and it should spring back when lightly pressed with a finger, and a skewer will come out clean when inserted into the cake.

Set aside to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.

Roll out all of the marzipan and cut out another circle the same size as the first one. This will be the topping for your cake.

Warm the apricot jam either in the microwave for just a second or two, or in a small saucepan. Use this as the glue to bond the marzipan topping to the cake.

Once the topping in is place go around the edges crimping a little with thumb and forefinger to give an almost frilly edging. Then, taking the back of a knife carefully score a criss cross pattern on the marzipan all over the top of the cake.

Roll out eleven little marzipan balls ready to place on the cake.

Beat the egg and using a pastry brush give a  fine wash over the surface of the marzipan and to stick the little balls into place around the edges of the cake.

You can either pop the cake under the grill for four or five minutes to lightly toast the marzipan topping or you can whip out that little kitchen blow torch and use that instead.

For a final touch tie a simple yellow ribbon around the cake. You can add a little posy of flowers on top as well if you like, but traditionally the cake was given very simply with no further adornment or decoration.

Happy Easter!