Hints, Tips and Information on Baking and Decorating Cakes

Simnel Cake (Easter)

Difficulty (2)

This is traditional Easter Cake and is fairly Easy to make. It is simply a fruitcake with a layer of marzipan cooked into the centre of the cake.

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Recipe

225 grams (8 oz) butter
225 grams (8 oz) caster sugar
4 eggs
500 grams (1 lb 4 oz) mixed dried fruit
115 grams (4 oz) cherries (halved)
275 grams (10 oz) SR flour
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tbs milk
675 grams (1 lb 8oz) marzipan

8 inch round cake tin, greased and lined

Beat butter and sugar together until soft and creamy. Beat eggs together and add to the mixture. Add dried fruit to the flour and spices and mix to coat the fruit with flour. Fold the fruit and flour into the mixture. Add milk and stir in.

Roll out the marzipan and using the base of the tin as a template cut out a circle.

Spoon half the cake mixture into the prepared tin and spread out. Place the marzipan round on top of this and gently press down.

Add the rest of the mixture and spread out to give an even surface.

Cover the outside of the tin with 2 layers of newspaper and bake in the preheated oven at 160 deg for 1 hour. Reduce to 150 deg for a further one and a half hours or until the cake is cooked.

Note. If testing if cake is baked using the skewar method, be aware that the melted marzipan can look like raw cake mixture.