Simnel Cake Slice for Mothering Sunday and Easter

Simnel Cake Slice is a simple tray bake version of the traditional Simnel Cake served on Mothering Sunday and at Easter in the UK. 

Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent, it’s also known as Mothers’ Day but is celebrated in Spring in the UK rather than Summer, as it is in the USA.  

In the past it was the tradition for people to return to their ‘mother’ church, the main church or cathedral in their area,  once a year and this took place in the middle of Lent.  This led to families, scattered through work, meeting up as they returned to their home area.  Part of the tradition was for children returning to bring small gifts to their mother.

Simnel Cake

The food Gift most associated with Mothering Sunday is the Simnel Cake. A fruit cake with two layers of marzipan, one on top and one baked in the middle of the cake. The cake would be topped with eleven balls of marzipan, one for each of the disciples, excepting Judas.  Simnel Cake is also often served at Easter. 

Simnel Cake Slice

I thought I’d take the Simnel Cake recipe and change it up a bit, make it quicker and easier to make and serve for busy families while retaining the same delicious flavours.  I’ve been making cake based tray-bakes for many years, they are simple and you can feed a lot of people quickly and easily. I also like that it’s easy to pack some in a box and freeze it, bringing it out when those visitors arrive unexpectedly!

Simnel Cake Slice

Fruit Cake Slice with marzipan inside and on top, an adaptation of a traditional British Mothering Sunday cake.

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Course: Baking

Cuisine: British

Keyword: cake, easter, marzipan, simnel

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 24

Calories: 259kcal

Author: Farmersgirl Kitchen

Ingredients

• 175 g soft butter
• 175 g soft brown sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 175 g plain wholewheat flour
• 3 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 30 ml milk
• 275 g mixed dried fruit I used currants and cranberries, but any combination will do
• 50 g glace cherries halved
• 1 orange, zest only
• 40 g ground almonds
• 500 g marzipan almond paste
• icing sugar
• apricot jam fruit jelly or honey

Metric - US Customary units

Instructions

• Heat the oven to 170C.
• Line a tray-bake or straight sided roasting tin (27.5 x 17.5 x 2.5 cm) with baking parchment.
• Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, I used my stand mixer but you can mix it with a wooden spoon or an electric hand mixer, until it is thoroughly mixed.
• Put all of the mixture into the tin and spread evenly.
• Take about 100g of marzipan and roll into 24 small balls.
• Push the balls into the mixture at even intervals, you want to aim to have one in each slice.
• Move the mixture around with a spatula to just cover the marzipan, the cake will rise and cover them but this helps.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes until the cake has risen and is evenly brown.
• Leave to cool in the tin.
• Once the cake is cool, carefully remove it from the tin and remove the baking parchment. Lay it onto a baking sheet.
• Roll out 350g of the marzipan into a rectangle the size of the cake, using the icing sugar to stop it sticking to the work surface and your rolling pin.
• Put a tbsp of apricot jam, jelly or honey into a bowl with a little water, heat in the microwave and brush all over the cake.
• Place the marzipan on the cake. Use the remaining marzipan to make decorations, I made a twisted rope which I stuck onto the cake with a little more of the jam, but you can make the traditional 11 balls or any other decoration you wish.
• Brush the top with more of the jam/jelly/honey and place under the grill or use a chef's blow torch to brown the top of the marzipan.
• Leave to cool and cut into 24 squares.

Nutrition

Calories: 259kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 68mg | Potassium: 194mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 4.3% | Vitamin C: 1.1% | Calcium: 5.5% | Iron: 6.2%

 The huge advantage of this Simnel Cake Slice is that it’s an easy all-in-one-bowl mix and only takes 25-30 minutes to bake.  It keeps well and tastes just as good as a more traditional bake, perfect for busy Mums on Mothering Sunday.