Today we are baking a twist on the Simnel cake. This is a traditional Easter cake that is popular in the UK and Ireland and dates back to medieval times. At one point it was the traditional cake for Mother’s Day, which was also known as Simnel Day, but now it’s almost entirely an Easter delicacy. A Simnel cake is traditionally a rich fruitcake in two layers, with a layer of marzipan (a sweet paste made with ground almonds or almond flour and icing/confectioners’ sugar) in between the layers, frosted with more marzipan, and decorated with 12 marzipan balls; supposedly, these represent the 12 disciples. I hear marzipan isn’t always easily available over in the good old USA, so here’s a linkyfor a recipe with measurements in both metric and imperial. This recipe should give you you slightly more than you’ll need for today’s baking. [Editrix's note: I have informed Nicola she may not use "bake" as a noun, despite it being standard in today's pastry chef lingo.] You will need a food processor to make your own marzipan.
This recipe is by no means a traditional Simnel cake; those things are supposed to be boiled before being baked – ain’t nobody got time for that! My version is also a sheetcake, and contains white chocolate instead of dried fruit, for which you can thank the tastes of my teenage daughter. What you should have, if you attempt this dessert, is a light and crumbly cake with a rich, lemony taste and a soft, gooey line of marzipan through the centre. The white chocolate chips give a lovely hit of sweetness that balances beautifully with the lemon.
For my fellow diabetics, here’s your carbohydrate count for this recipe: 856.12g for the whole cake, 26.75g per portion (based on 32 portions).
First up, your equipment:
Nicola Leslie
Stand mixer with whisk attachment — this is by no means essential; a mixing bowl and hand mixer or wooden spoon will work just as well, just not as quickly.
Electronic scales – I find these much easier than balance or mechanical scales
Deep sided baking tray (20x30cm is perfect) (this is roughly 8x12 American)
Spatula
Baking paper
Grater – a box grater with a zester is perfect
And your ingredients:
Nicola Leslie
Oil (to grease your baking tray; spray oil works brilliantly, but regular cooking oil applied using a scrap of baking paper also works)
9 oz (250g) (1 and 1/8 cup) butter, softened
9 oz (250g) (1 and 1/8 cup) caster sugar, + an extra 50g (1/4 cup) for the topping
Zest and juice of 2 large lemons
3 large eggs
7 oz (200g) (.875 cups, this is getting ridiculous, you should probably just use the scale set to metric like a fancy pastry chef would) plain flour
3.5 oz (100g) (see above) ground almonds
2 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
50 ml milk
3.5 oz (100g) white chocolate chips (you can swap this for dried fruit if you want, or increase the amount of chocolate chips if that floats your boat)
10.5 oz (300g) marzipan (this should be chilled prior to use; you want it cold enough to make Ted Cruz start thinking of warmer climes so stick it in the fridge overnight, or in the freezer for 30 mins)
3.5 oz (100g) icing/confectioners’ sugar
Get yourself a suitably motivational baking playlist going and heat up your oven, you’re looking at 350F (180C) or 320F (160C) for a convection oven. First you’ll need to prepare your baking tray: Lightly spray with oil, or rub your cooking oil onto the bottom and sides of the tray using a scrap of baking paper, then line the tray with baking paper.
In your stand mixer or mixing bowl mix together the butter, lemon zest, and 250g of caster sugar until the butter turns pale and creamy; this should take 2-3 minutes on a fairly high speed (4 or 5) on a stand mixer; it’ll be a good work out for your arms if you’re using the wooden spoon. Add the eggs into the butter-sugar mix one at a time, keep mixing while you do this. Turn the speed down to a 2 or 3 on the stand mixer and add in your flour, ground almonds, and baking powder. Keep mixing until you have a smooth batter (another minute or two should be enough with the stand mixer). Stir in the milk and the chocolate chips.
Put half your batter into your lined baking tray: It should be a thick batter so you might need to spoon it out. Use the spatula to smooth it out so the bottom of the whole tray is covered. Take your chilled marzipan and cut it in half, grate one portion over the freshly smoothed batter as evenly as possible. Set the other portion aside for now. Spoon the rest of the batter over the layer of marzipan and carefully smooth it out, trying not to disturb the marzipan too much. Pop your baking tray into the oven for 35-40 minutes. I found 35 worked fine, but check by inserting a wooden skewer into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean you’re fine, if not then pop it back for five minutes and then check again. Whilst your cake is baking get your mixing bowl washed, you’ll need it again soon.
Nicola Leslie
Take your remaining caster sugar and mix with 1/2 of your lemon juice. Drizzle this over your cake while it’s still warm. Leave your cake to cool fully before you even think about removing it from the tin. While you’re waiting you can get your icing made: Take your remaining lemon juice and 100g icing sugar and mix together until you have a thick but still runny paste. You might need to add a tsp or two of extra icing sugar, depending on how juicy your lemons were.
Nicola Leslie
Nicola Leslie
Once your cake is completely cool you can remove it from the tin ready for decorating. This is a really simple decoration, all you need to do is drizzle your icing over the top of the cake. If you’re not confident then use a spoon or an icing bag with the very tip snipped off. Portion out your cake, I got 32 portions out of mine, but feel free to divide it however you want. Now take the last of your marzipan (you thought I’d forgotten, didn’t you?), divide it into the same number of pieces as your cake and roll each piece into a ball. Place each marzipan ball into the centre of a cake portion and that’s it, you’re finished. All you’ve got to do now is try to resist eating the whole thing at once.
Good luck.
Nicola Leslie
I couldn’t resist swooping in for an early taste.
Nicola Leslie was posting these recipes in the comments, and now she is doing them on the main page once a month. She started this post with a whole bunch of Acknowledgements for your kindness, but the Editrix took them out.
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