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Simnel Cake
3/4 lb. (3 cups) flour 1/2 lb. (I cup) sugar 1/2 lb. (I cup) butter 4 eggs 1/2 lb. (2 cups) seedless raisins 1/4 lb. (1 cup) currants 1/4 lb. (1 cup) sultana raisins ¼ lb. candied citron peel ¼ lb. candied orange peel ¼ lb. candied lemon peel 1 gill (1/2 cup) milk 1 teaspoonful mixed spices 3 tablespoonfuls orange flower water or brandy Almond paste Line a buttered cake tin with two folds of thick white paper. Cream the butter and sugar thoroughly together, add the yolks of eggs, and beat again, then add spices, milk, orange flower water or brandy, flour, the whites of eggs stiffly beaten, chopped peels and the fruit. Turn the mixture into the prepared cake tin, smooth it over the top, and bake in a steady oven until well risen and firm to the touch.
When cold place the almond paste on the top.
Sometimes a layer of almond paste is put in the middle of this cake. When this is desired, onehalf of the almond paste should be made before the cake is baked, and this should be made in a round the size of the cake tin, and laid in the middle of the mixture before baking.
To make the almond paste, mix one pound of ground almonds with one-half pound of granulated sugar, one-half pound of confectioners' sugar, the strained juice of half a lemon, one tablespoonful of vanilla extract, one tablespoonful of almond extract and enough egg to bind all together. Either yolks or whites of eggs may be used; the yolks will make the paste yellower and richer, the whites drier, and of a paler color.
Whole eggs may be used if it is more convenient.
The paste ought to be just moist enough to be bound together.
Simnel cake has a legendary history: Long Cakes IOI ago an old couple were making their cake for Mothering Sunday, when the children would return home for the Mid-Lent holiday. Why the old man meddled with the cake-making nobody tells, but so determined was he that it should be. boiled, and so determined was his wife that it should be baked, they came to a quarrel. Finally they decided to split the difference by boiling it half the time and baking it the other half. The old man's name was "Sim," the old lady's "Nelly"; and the cake is called "Simnel" in honor of both. Simnel cake today is always baked, proving that no man has any right to interfere in the affairs of the kitchen.
A rich creamed fruit cake of the older English type, leavened only by beaten egg white and baked slowly. The paper lining and the low, steady heat are what keep three pounds of fruit and butter from scorching before the centre sets.
- "A steady oven"For a cake this dense that points to a slow oven, somewhere in the region of 300-325F. The book gives no tin size and no timing; expect a long bake in a deep round tin, and test with a skewer at the centre rather than trusting the surface, which firms up long before the crumb does.
- The paper liningTwo folds of thick white paper inside a buttered tin is the period equivalent of a double thickness of parchment. Worth keeping: it is genuine insulation, and a collar standing an inch above the rim protects the top during the long bake.
- A gillHalf a cup, as the text says. The volume equivalents given for flour, sugar and butter are the author's own and only approximate: the butter conversion is exact, the sugar and dried fruit less reliable. Weigh where you can.
- Candied peelThe three quarter-pound quantities of citron, orange and lemon peel are given as whole pieces to be chopped, not the pre-diced mixed peel sold now. If you buy diced, reduce slightly and skip the chopping; if you buy candied citron whole, chop it finer than you think necessary or it sinks.
- Mixed spicesBritish mixed spice: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, a little clove and ginger. Pumpkin pie spice is the closest supermarket substitute; it leans harder on ginger.
- Orange flower waterStill sold, and modern distillates vary a good deal in strength. Three tablespoons can taste soapy in this quantity of batter, so start with one and top up with brandy.
- The almond paste quantityOne pound of ground almonds plus a pound of sugar makes a little over two pounds of marzipan, enough for the top, a middle layer and some left over. Halve it if you only want the lid. The paste should be just cohesive, not sticky, so add the egg a spoonful at a time.
- The middle layerThe recipe wants the disc made "in a round the size of the cake tin"; roll it a shade smaller if you want to be sure of a seal, lay it on half the batter, then cover. Expect the layer to interrupt the rise through the centre.
- Yield and keepingThe book gives no yield; a cake of this size will cut into sixteen or more slices. Wrapped in paper and foil it improves for a week or more before the paste goes on; the marzipan is best added within a day or two of serving.
Simnel cake belongs to Mothering Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent, when servants and apprentices were given leave to return to their home parish and often brought a cake with them; its association with Easter is a later shift. The tale of Sim and Nelly is folk etymology of the cheerful Victorian kind, and the book prints it as such o Latin simila, the finest white wheat flour, which appears in English as simnel from the twelfth century onward for a fine bread or bun. Something of the boiling-and-baking story does survive from real practice: the earliest simnels were boiled or scalded before baking, giving a hard crust, and Shrewsbury and Bury both kept distinctive local versions. The ring of eleven marzipan balls now taken as obligatory is a comparatively recent convention and is absent here, as is any mention of the apostles.