(Belated) Easter Simnel Cake

This post is rather pointless as Easter has been and gone but I made a Simnel cake and thought I would share it with you all! It is quite similar to the Molly Cake but with an addition of marzipan and no orange juice.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 560g marzipan
• 450g dried mixed fruits (currants, raisins, sultanas, glace cherries)
• 80g candied chopped peel (mine came with the dried fruit)
• 225g plain flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 175g butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• Milk to mix
• 2 tbsp apricot jam

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/170°C/Gas 3
2. Line a 7 inch cake tin with parchment or greaseproof paper.
3. Divide the marzipan into 3 and take one piece and roll it to a round the size of the cake tin.
4. In a large mixing bowl mix the dried fruits, peel with the flour and spices.
5. In another large bowl cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. (If like me you do not know what creaming butter is you basically whisk butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Don’t lose heart – or throw it in the bin – if it doesn’t happen quickly ) Add the beaten egg to the butter mixture a little bit at a time, beating after each addition – do not rush this process as the mixture could curdle. If it does curdle simply add some flour and mix again, this should bring the mixture back together.
6. Carefully fold in half the flour and half the fruit into the egg and butter mixture, once incorporated repeat with the remaining flour and fruit.
7. Put half of the cake mixture into the tin, smooth and cover with the round of almond paste. Put the remaining cake mixture into the tin and smooth the surface carefully. Bake in the center of the oven for 1 hour.
8. Lower the heat to 300°F/150°C/Gas 2 and bake for 3 hours until the cake is golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.
9. Roll another third of almond paste, again to the size of the tin. Make the remaining almond paste equally into 11 tiny balls.
10. Once the cake is completely cool, remove from the tin and brush the top of the cake with apricot jam and cover with the disc of almond paste. Place the 12 tiny balls of paste evenly around the edge. Brush the paste all over with a little apricot jam and place under a hot grill until lightly browned.
11. ENJOY!

For some reason my cake was quite dry but tasted rather nice – fruity with a hint of spice – if I say so myself!

Terribly sorry for the late post no excuses just enjoying the holidays x

 

 

Molly Cake

Once a week either on Saturday or Sunday (depending on how much homework I have :/) I do some baking for the next week’s packed lunches. This week’s treat was incredibly low-fat and delicious ‘Molly Cake’ The week before I had attempted to make some cereal bars but turned out to be some sort of crumble – great as sprinkles on yoghurt and fruit for breakfast – not what I was aiming for. So after talking to my mum about some other recipes she told me to ask my aunt about ‘Molly Cake’ she directed me to the Waitrose website and lo and behold there was the recipe! Eager to try said recipe I bought the ingredients and got baking:

Ingredients

• 250g stoned dates, roughly chopped
• 300ml water
• 85g plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground mixed spice
• 85g wholemeal flour
• 500g bag dried, mixed fruit
• 50g ground almonds
• 80ml orange juice

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C, gas mark 3 and line a 900g loaf tin with baking parchment. (Unfortunately I did not have a 900g loaf tin so used a cake tin instead and it was perfectly fine)
2. Put the dates and water in a pan and bring to the boil. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool.
3. Put the plain flour, baking powder and mixed spice into a bowl. Add the wholemeal flour, mixed fruit and ground almonds and mix. Stir in the wet date mixture and the orange juice. Mix well.
4. Spoon into the loaf/cake tin.
5. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. (My cake was ready at about 30 minutes for some reason… Perhaps the tin?
6. Turn out onto a wire rack and cool.
7. ENJOY!

The cake has a fruity slightly citrus taste and is very moist… Perfect with a cup of tea – or that is what my mum tells me.

This recipe is great if you are cautious about what you eat because it is low-fat and free of dairy products.

P.S. Because I am new to blogging, if you have any tips or things to improve please let me know! x