HISTORY COOKBOOK
Easter simnel cake
RECIPE
ELEANOR BARNETT bakes a sweet confection that originally offered Christians a respite from tedious Lenten dishes
Once an Easter essential, simnel cake is harder to come by these days, overshadowed by copious amounts of chocolate. This is such a shame, because it’s a delicious, light and visually spectacular fruit cake with a burst of nuttiness provided by the melted marzipan layer in the middle. It is often decorated with 11 marzipan balls representing Jesus’s disciples – minus the treacherous Judas.
According to a legend with its roots in the Victorian era, simnel cake was created when a couple named Simon and Nelly argued about what treat they should make with some leftover unleavened dough. Simon wanted to boil it, whereas Nelly insisted it should be baked. In the end, they reached a compromise: the dough would be boiled then baked in a kind of pastry. Simon and Nelly’s names were later merged to form the name of their creation: simnel cake.