Simnel Cake aka Easter Fruit Cake

I know what some of readers are thinking:

• "Where have you been?"
• "What on earth have you been doing to not publish on this blog?!"
• "Where did I put my sandwich?"

Well in order:

• In classrooms, at work or eating.
• In the world of revision and university coursework. Its not a good holiday destination. 
• I most likely ate your sandwich because of all the revision and travelling I've been up to. 

I've been darting back and forth to London, to celebrate my friends birthday and my own birthday as well. I've also been doing revision for the ridiculously hard last year of university. So excuse my blogging absence for the next few weeks. There will be some pictures, tweets and the occasional facebook update but until the exams are completely over! Woo!! So onto this weeks recipe post:

(PS there is a serious lack of pictures-This is due to me not being at my home computer. My bad! UPDATE: pictures have been added) 
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Its nearly Easter again, where chocolate officially is on the menu. As much as stuffing your face with chocolate is possibly the best thing in the world, its sometimes best to step away from the cocoa. 
Instead why not try and bake this fruity alternative to chocolate?

This traditional light fruit decorated with marzipan. This Easter cake originated in the UK, which is served at the end of Lent. At times the marzipan balls (make your own jokes) are toasted using a blowtorch. There are 12 marzipan balls to represent the 12 apostles and Jesus minus Judas. 

Recipe: Simnel Cake

·       75g sultanas

·       185g currents

·       75g glace cherries (chopped)

·       75g mix peel

·       75g steam ginger (finely chopped)

·       2 lemon zested and juiced

·       1 orange zested and juiced

·       165g strong flour, sieved

·       2 tsp ground cinnamon, sieved

·       2 tsp ground nutmeg, sieved

·       1 tsp ground ginger, sieved

·       30g ground almonds

·       130g light brown sugar

·       130g soft unsalted butter

·       2 eggs

·       1 egg yolk

·       pinch of salt

·       (A little bit of milk, if necessary)
·       Marzipan 
·      Food Colouring (optional to colour the marzipan)

Equipment

·       Chopping board

·       Large knife

·       Grater or zester 

·       Bowl

·       Small Bowl

·       Electric hand held whisk/spatula

·       7 inch cake tin lined with silicone paper

·       Sieve

·      Fork
·       Rolling pin
·       Flower cutters/bunny cutters/ other Easter decorating cutters

1.Combine all the flour, spices and ground almonds in a bowl.
2.Beat the eggs and the egg yolk in a small bowl with a fork.

3.Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and

  fluffy. Beat the eggs slightly and add gradually to creamed mix.
4. Fold in the dry ingredients using a spatula and mix until just combined.
5. Fold in fruits, zests and orange and lemon juice. (Add milk if needed to dropping consistency.)
6.Bake at 300f/150c/Gas Mark 2 for 45 minutes in the lined cake tin. Insert a cake skewer into the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean then its done. 
  7. Once the cake is completely cool cut in half.

Step 8. Cut a circle of marzipan for the middle layer

Step 8.Middle layer

  8. Roll out marzipan and cut into a circle that's large enough to cover one layer of the cake.

Step 9. Make indents for decoration

  9. Roll out another circle of marzipan and make small indents

around the edges. This is for the top of the cake. 

  10. Decorate as desired: Bunnies, chicks and flowers are excellent! I made flowers using coloured marzipan. 
Have a fab Easter!