Mum and I have been talking about baking a simnel cake for years and years and never got round to it, so this one has been a long time coming. It also looked like a nice easy recipe to involve Elizabeth in, so we had a fun few hours measuring and mixing, and playing with bits of marzipan.
The method, happily, is the all-in-one approach, which just meant lots of adding of ingredients to the same bowl on the scales, and lots of good number recognition practise for the preschooler. There was no temptation to stick her hand in and steal any of the ingredients as she currently has an aversion to a)dried fruit and b)anything we tell her she'll like, which she's never tried before. She wouldn't even try a glace cherry! She proved very helpful with checking we'd included all the ingredients. The list was in a peculiar order (I always like to put the flour and sugar in first) and I was a bit sleep-deprived, so it was essential to check that I'd got everything in. I also had to read the method really carefully, and could easily have missed the instruction to put a disc of marzipan on top of half the cake mixture.
The recipe suggested baking for about 2 1/2 hours, so I baked it for 1 hour, then put a disc of foil on top to stop it browning too much (this didn't really work!) and popped it in for another hour. When I tested it, the skewer came out clean, so I followed my gut and ignored the suggested extra half hour. I was disappointed that it looked dark around the edges, despite my best efforts, but it wasn't burnt, and I knew it'd taste ok.
Time constraints meant the cake had to be finished the next day, and having slept on it, Elizabeth decided she would try some marzipan after all, and then wouldn't stop nibbling the offcuts! I attempted the 'crimping' but it looked rubbish, so I gave up. My layer of marzipan didn't seem as thick as the one in Mary's photo, so I didn't have much to pinch. I also failed to read the instructions about the marzipan balls on top, and accidentally included Judas (the 12th Apostle) when tradition holds that he should be cast out of marzipan land for being a turncoat. The lack of symmetry presented by the number 11 bothers me anyhow. It was all finished by an egg wash and a spell under the grill to brown the top - a new technique; not grilled a cake before!
First sampled yesterday, on Easter Sunday, by the family. We were all pretty impressed, and there's still half of it left for us to plough through over the next few days.
Baker's verdict: easy to make and really tasty. Loved the addition of the lemon zest. A winning fruit cake recipe!
Husband rating: 8/10 - new convert to fruit cakes, but probably one of the best I've had yet. Really nice with the lemon zest and I like the fact that it didn't have much spicing in it. The thin layer of marzipan on top, which added a nice bit of chewiness, was just right.
The method, happily, is the all-in-one approach, which just meant lots of adding of ingredients to the same bowl on the scales, and lots of good number recognition practise for the preschooler. There was no temptation to stick her hand in and steal any of the ingredients as she currently has an aversion to a)dried fruit and b)anything we tell her she'll like, which she's never tried before. She wouldn't even try a glace cherry! She proved very helpful with checking we'd included all the ingredients. The list was in a peculiar order (I always like to put the flour and sugar in first) and I was a bit sleep-deprived, so it was essential to check that I'd got everything in. I also had to read the method really carefully, and could easily have missed the instruction to put a disc of marzipan on top of half the cake mixture.
The recipe suggested baking for about 2 1/2 hours, so I baked it for 1 hour, then put a disc of foil on top to stop it browning too much (this didn't really work!) and popped it in for another hour. When I tested it, the skewer came out clean, so I followed my gut and ignored the suggested extra half hour. I was disappointed that it looked dark around the edges, despite my best efforts, but it wasn't burnt, and I knew it'd taste ok.Time constraints meant the cake had to be finished the next day, and having slept on it, Elizabeth decided she would try some marzipan after all, and then wouldn't stop nibbling the offcuts! I attempted the 'crimping' but it looked rubbish, so I gave up. My layer of marzipan didn't seem as thick as the one in Mary's photo, so I didn't have much to pinch. I also failed to read the instructions about the marzipan balls on top, and accidentally included Judas (the 12th Apostle) when tradition holds that he should be cast out of marzipan land for being a turncoat. The lack of symmetry presented by the number 11 bothers me anyhow. It was all finished by an egg wash and a spell under the grill to brown the top - a new technique; not grilled a cake before!
First sampled yesterday, on Easter Sunday, by the family. We were all pretty impressed, and there's still half of it left for us to plough through over the next few days.Baker's verdict: easy to make and really tasty. Loved the addition of the lemon zest. A winning fruit cake recipe!
Husband rating: 8/10 - new convert to fruit cakes, but probably one of the best I've had yet. Really nice with the lemon zest and I like the fact that it didn't have much spicing in it. The thin layer of marzipan on top, which added a nice bit of chewiness, was just right.
My gran always used to make simnel cake. I also used a Merry Berry recipe but this one required the fat and sugar to be creamed before other ingredients were added. The one I made is a little sweet, I think this is down to bought marzipan, I have always made my own before. In future if using bought marzipan I shall reduce the sugar content in the cake by 1/10.
ReplyDeleteI toyed with the idea of making my own marzipan, but used the bought stuff in the end. Couldn't really detect it in the middle, and husband, who doesn't like really sweet things didn't think the cake was overly sweet. I wonder if the recipes were the same?
DeleteI tried this as a light fruit cake without the marzipane at the weekend; worked a treat with or without hot custard.
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