English cake Simnel
In the English Easter cake Simnel, as in the Russian Easter cake, chopped dried fruits or candied fruits are added. But it is based not only on flour, but also chopped almonds and ginger. Thanks to this circumstance, as well as a thick layer of icing, the cake does not get stale for a long time.
Ingredients
Servings 8 servings- 230 g flour
- 3 large eggs
- 180 g butter, plus more for greasing
- 170 g muscovado sugar
- 50 g chopped almonds
- 500 g of a mixture of prunes and raisins
- 100 g of dried cherries
- 3 juicy oranges
- 1 large lemon
- 700 g of marzipan
- 4 Art. l. apricot jam
- 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 allspice peas
- 1 clove bud
- a pinch each of grated nutmeg and ground ginger
Cooking
Step 1
Grate the zest from 1 orange and lemon, squeeze out the juice. Mix with dried fruits. Boil over low heat until boiling. Remove from heat and cool completely. Drain dried fruits in a sieve, place on paper towels and pat dry.
Step 2
Crush allspice and cloves in a mortar with the rest of the spices. Mix in sifted flour and almonds.
Step 3
Whisk the eggs into a fluffy foam. Separately, beat the sugar and softened butter also into a fluffy mass. Gradually, while continuing to beat, add the eggs.
Step 4
Mix flour mixture, dried fruits and butter-egg mixture. Mix the dough until smooth. Transfer to a detachable heat-resistant form, greased with butter. Bake in the oven at 160°C for 90 minutes. Carefully remove from oven and cover up with a sheet of foil. Bake another 45-60 minutes until fully cooked.
Step 5
Remove the mold from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack. Cut the cake in half lengthwise.
Step 6
Dilute jam 2 tbsp. l. boiling water. Lubricate the bottom cake with jam, cover with the second cake. Roll out the marzipan mass in the form of a circle, equal in diameter to the cakes. Cover the top of the cake, making a curved edge if desired. Roll the balls from the remaining mass and lay them around the perimeter of the cake, smearing the bottom with the remnants of jam.