What Makes a Simnel Cake Special

Simnel cake belongs to the weeks around Easter, and in much of Britain it was once the cake of Mid-Lent Sunday — the fourth Sunday of Lent, also known as Mothering Sunday, when servants were given the day off to visit their families and often carried a simnel cake home as a gift. Older versions were boiled first and then baked, which tells you a great deal about the density of the thing. Most of us now skip the boiling, but we keep the two details that make a simnel a simnel: a layer of almond paste baked through the middle of a light, spiced fruit cake, and a second layer smoothed over the top, ringed with eleven balls of paste.

It is a gentler cake than a Christmas cake. Paler, fragrant with citrus and candied peel rather than treacle and dark sugar, and it wants eating within a fortnight rather than being fed for months. That makes it a lovely thing to bake in March or April, when the kitchen is not yet too warm and the fruit does not need to sit and mature for half a year.

The Eleven Balls and Where the Tradition Comes From

Eleven balls, arranged around the rim of the top layer, stand for the eleven faithful apostles — Judas being left out, and in some tellings the place that Matthias would later fill left empty too. Roll them by hand and keep them even: roughly 15g each, about the size of a small walnut, spaced so they read clearly as a ring from across the table rather than huddling in one corner.

Some families brush the balls and the top disc with beaten egg before browning; others leave them pale and soft. Both are traditional. Toasting gives a deeper almond flavour and a bronzed finish, but it must be watched closely — the distance between golden and scorched under a hot grill is roughly thirty seconds, so stand at the oven with the door open and the tray in your hand.

Choosing British Flours and Grains

British wheat is generally lower in protein than the hard wheat grown in North America, and for cake baking that is an advantage. A soft, low-protein flour gives a tender crumb; too much strength and your simnel will turn bouncy and bread-like. Look for flour milled from heritage varieties — Red Lammas, Rivet and April Bearded are all grown again by small British growers, and they bring a quiet, sweet, almost grassy note to a fruit cake.

• Soft plain flour: the backbone of the cake. Something in the region of 9–10% protein is ideal.
• Stoneground wholemeal: use it for a quarter to a third of the total flour for a nuttier, more old-fashioned crumb. It absorbs more liquid than white flour, so add an extra splash of milk or juice and expect a slightly darker cake.
• Fine oatmeal: a tablespoon or two adds a faint sandy texture that sits well with candied peel and mixed spice. Toast it first for a rounder flavour.
• Self-raising flour: perfectly acceptable if that is what is in the tin, but reduce any added baking powder accordingly so the cake does not rise too fast and crack across the top.

Whatever you choose, weigh it rather than scooping from the bag, and sieve it with the spice so everything is evenly distributed before it meets the fruit.

Making Almond Paste That Rolls Without Cracking

What you want here is almond paste rather than the firmer marzipan sold in blocks for decorating. It needs to be soft enough to roll thinly and hold its shape in the oven, and the classic ratio is roughly equal weights of ground almonds and icing sugar, bound with a little beaten egg and a few drops of lemon juice or almond extract.

For a 20cm round cake you will need about 700g of paste in total. Half goes into the middle of the cake, and the rest covers the top and makes the eleven balls. If it crumbles as you roll it, work in a few more drops of egg rather than more sugar; if it is sticky, dust the parchment, not the paste. A rolling pin between two sheets of baking parchment is the easiest way to get an even disc that lifts cleanly onto the cake.

Baking Tips for a Moist Fruit Cake

• Soak the fruit overnight. Currants, sultanas, raisins and chopped candied peel left to plump in warm Earl Grey or orange juice for a night will give you a far moister cake than any amount of extra butter.
• Cream the butter and sugar properly, then stop. Beat until pale and light, but fold the flour in by hand. Once the flour is in, every extra stir develops gluten and costs you tenderness.
• Line generously. A double layer of baking parchment around the inside of the tin, standing a good 5cm above the rim, protects the sides from scorching over a long bake.
• Bake low and slow. Around 150°C fan, 160°C conventional, gas mark 3, for two to two and a half hours. If the top browns early, lay a disc of parchment over it.
• Trust the skewer. It should come out with a few moist crumbs, not wet batter. If in doubt, give it another fifteen minutes.
• Cool completely in the tin. A fruit cake is fragile while hot, and moving it too soon is how tops crack and middles sink.

Finishing, Storing and Serving

Brush the top of the cooled cake with warmed apricot jam — this is the glue that stops the paste sliding about — then press on the disc, crimp the edge with your fingers or a fork, and arrange the eleven balls around the rim, fixing each with a dab of jam or egg white.

To toast the top, either return the cake to a moderate oven for ten to fifteen minutes or flash it under a hot grill, watching constantly. Leave it to settle for a day or two in an airtight tin before serving. Cut with a serrated knife, in thin wedges, and serve as it is with a pot of strong tea — or, if you are feeling generous, with a spoonful of clotted cream.