Easter Simnel Cake Slice

Easter Simnel Cake Slice is a simple traybake version of the traditional Simnel Cake originally baked in the UK for Mothering Sunday, it is now usually served at Easter.  

What is Mothering Sunday?

Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent.  It’s also known as Mothers’ Day and is celebrated in Spring in the UK. Mother’s Day is celebrated at different times of the year in other countries. 

Mother Church 

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 mothers.

What is Simnel Cake?

Simnel Cake was the food gift most associated with Mothering Sunday. It is a fruit cake with two layers of marzipan, one on top and one baked in the middle of the cake.

The cake is topped with eleven balls of marzipan, one for each of the disciples, except Judas.  

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 because they are simple and you can feed a lot of people quickly and easily.  

Easy One Bowl Mix 

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

Can you freeze the Simnel Cake slice?

Simnel Cake Slice is easy to pack in a box and freeze. Then it is ready to bring out when you have unexpected visitors. 

Why is the marzipan brown on top?

I ‘fired’ the marzipan under the grill to release the sugar and make it bubble and caramelise.  You get a better effect with a blow torch if you have one. However, you don’t need to do this it is entirely optional. 

More Easter Holiday Recipes from Farmersgirl Kitchen

Find more holiday recipes in my Festive Recipes section including more Easter recipes

Easter Simnel Cake – enjoy the traditional version of this delicious fruit cake with marzipan. 

Easy Easter Nest Cupcakes are simple vanilla cupcakes topped with chocolate buttercream and decorated with mini Easter eggs.

Hot Cross Shortbread Cookies combine the fruit and spice of Hot Cross Buns with a buttery shortbread cookie. 

More Easter Recipes

Creme Egg Brownies – Recipes from a Pantry

No-Bake Chocolate Easter Fridge Cake – Something Sweet, Something Savoury

Simnel Spiced Easter Cheesecake – The Baking Explorer

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Easter Simnel Cake Slice

A delicious fruit cake traybake with marzipan inside and on top, an adaptation of a traditional British cake

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Baking, Dessert

Cuisine: British

Keyword: cake, easter, marzipan, simnel

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 24

Calories: 263kcal

Author: Janice Pattie

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
• 1 tbsp icing sugar
• 1 tbsp 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.

Notes

Slice and freeze for up to 3 months. 

Nutrition

Calories: 263kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 69mg | Potassium: 190mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 217IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 53mg | Iron: 1mg