Easiest Way to Prepare Homemade Easter Simnel Cake

Easter Simnel Cake.

You can cook Easter Simnel Cake using 18 ingredients and 14 steps. Here is how you achieve that.

Ingredients of Easter Simnel Cake

1. You need 175 g of raisins.
2. You need 175 g of sultanas.
3. It's 50 g of mixed peel, chopped if necessary.
4. Prepare 4 tbsp of brandy, whisky or golden or dark rum.
5. It's 50 g of whole skinned almonds.
6. It's 175 g of self raising flour.
7. You need 45 g of ground almonds.
8. It's 1/2 tsp of fine salt.
9. You need 11/2 tsp of mixed spice.
10. You need 180 g of butter, softened.
11. It's 180 g of soft, light brown sugar.
12. Prepare 3 of eggs, lightly beaten.
13. Prepare of Zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange.
14. You need 50 g of glacé cherries, halved.
15. It's 1 tbsp of golden syrup.
16. You need 75 ml of milk.
17. It's 700 g of marzipan.
18. It's of Sugar syrup, apricot jam or marmalade, to top.

Easter Simnel Cake step by step

1. Mix the raisins, sultanas and dried peel in a bowl and pour in the rum, stir, cover and leave to soak. You can do this a couple of hours ahead if you want to..
2. Butter a 20in loose bottomed cake tin, then line the base and sides with baking parchment. Cut a second disc of parchment the same size as the base, and set aside for later. Heat the oven to 130C/1/2 Gas..
3. Gently toast the whole almonds in a medium oven until golden, keep an eye on them, set aside to cool. Put the flour, baking powder, ground almonds, salt and mixed spice in a large bowl, whisk together to mix and lose any lumps..
4. Beat the softened butter in a food processor, or with an electric beater or a vigorously applied wooden spoon until soft, then beat in the sugar. Continue beating until light and fluffy..
5. Add the beaten egg to the mixture, a little at a time, continuing to mix. Add a little flour in between the egg to prevent curdling..
6. Add the remaining flour mixture and the orange and lemon zests, and fold in with a metal spoon..
7. Roughly chop the toasted almonds and add to the mixture..
8. Add the cherries, soaked fruit and rum, and golden syrup to the bowl, and mix well, then stir in the milk so you have a soft dropping consistency..
9. Add half of the cake mixture to the tin, and smooth level. Roll out about 200g of the marzipan to a disc just smaller than your tin, and place on top of the cake mixture..
10. Spoon the rest of the cake mixture in to the tin, smooth the top, and gently place the disc of baking parchment on top. Bake in the oven for 2 and a half hours. This is an unusually long, slow bake, but the end result was perfect..
11. When the cake is cooked (test with a skewer), remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin until you can handle it, then remove the tin and baking parchment..
12. To decorate brush the top of the cake with warmed apricot jam or marmalade. Roll out a disk of marzipan and use the base of the tin to cut an exact circle. Place on top of the cake..
13. Form an edging of marzipan to fit round the outside of the top and mark with a fork. Toast briefly under the grill if you wish until golden. Stick on with more jam..
14. Fill the centre with thick glacé icing and decorate with little eggs or other Easter decorations..