10 mins prep
105 mins cook
12 servings
Easter Simnel Cake
This cake is traditionally eaten on Easter Sunday, and has a beautifully light texture and is packed with juicy fruit. Top it with marzipan and you have the perfect combination! Read my recipe below to learn how to make it.
Light Fruit Cake Recipe
- Light Brown Sugar: 175 g
- Unsalted Butter: 175 g
- Plain Flour: 175 g
- Large Eggs: 3
- Salt: 1 pinch
- Mixed Spice: 0.5 tspn
- Mixed Fruit: 400 g
- Orange Zest: 0.5
- Apricot Jam for glazing: 2 tbspn
Light Fruit Cake Method
- If you are making your own marzipan, check out the recipe for it here. If using shop bought, dust a clean suface with icing sugar. Roll the marzipan out to a circle large enough to cover your cake
- Take your clean cake tin and press it on the marzipan, firm enough to make an imprint. Cut out the circle carefully with a knife. Repeat this step if you would like marzipan in the middle of your cake too!
- Preheat your oven to 160°c (320°f) and grease and line an 8 inch cake tin
- Whisk together the cream and the sugar until pale and creamy, then whisk in the eggs one at a time
- Add the flour, mixed spice and salt and fold in with a spatula until combined
- Add the orange zest, and mixed fruit and fold in until combined
- Pour the mixture into the tin. If you want marzipan in the middle of your cake too, pour half the batter in and place one of your marzipan rounds on, then pour the rest of the mixture on top
- Bake for 1 3/4 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Check the cake after an hour or so - if the top is browning too quickly then cover it in foil
- Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes in the tin. Then turn the cake out on to a cooling rack to cool completely
- Stir 2 tbspn of apricot jam with a splash of hot water to loosen it up, then spread it on the top of the cake
- Place the round of marzipan on top of the cake
- Make 11 little balls, then decorate your cake with them using the apricot jam to stick it to the cake
- Take a blowtorch if you have one and caramelize the marzipan balls then crimp the edges of the cake to give it that classic look. Enjoy!
Is it ever too late to make an Easter Simnel cake?
Fruit cake with marzipan is a winning combination for me. That’s why this Easter Simnel Cake recipe is definitely one of my favourites. So it surprised me when I realized I hadn’t made one this year! That’s very unlike me. I decided to make one and I had no regrets once that gorgeous smell filled the house. This cake is a traditional cake made for Easter. It’s a light cake filled with juicy fruit and gently spiced, layered with marzipan and topped with 11 marzipan balls to symbolize Jesus’ disciples. It’s still very popular which shows how great it is. The one thing I love about fruit cakes is how versatile they can be. Like nuts? Throw some in! Like a bit of nutmeg or ginger in your fruit cakes? Go for it! I would usually add chopped glace cherries to mine, but unfortunately as we’re in lockdown I had none to hand.
Marzipan & Fruit Cake: A Match Made In Heaven
I usually like to put a layer of marzipan in the cake before I bake it. But as it was for my boyfriend’s family who aren’t too keen on marzipan, I just put it on top instead.
I also didn’t have a rolling pin for this cake. Most of my baking equipment is in storage at the moment and a rolling pin is definitely not an essential item to leave the house for. So if you’re ever in the strange position where you find yourself without a rolling pin, use a clean roll of clinfilm instead. I promise it works just as well! Happy belated Easter!
