Simnel loaf cake
Total Time
2 hours and 35 minutes
Cook Time
2 hours and 35 minutes
Rating
0 out of 5 stars
(0)
Ingredients
12 servings
- 550g mixed dried fruit, such as sultanas, raisins, currants, dried cranberries, dried apricots, citrus peel, glacé cherries
- 1 orange
- 200g soft unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
- 200g soft light brown sugar
- 4 medium free-range eggs
- 200g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- 500g golden marzipan
- 2 tablespoons apricot jam
- Lancashire cheese, such as Mrs Kirkham’s, to serve
- All-Rounder Board
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Preparation
Step 1
Finely chop the apricots, citrus peel and glacé cherries, if using, place in a pan with the remaining dried fruit and finely grate in the orange zest and squeeze in the juice. Warm it through over a medium heat, stirring to coat, then remove from the heat and allow to cool down to room temperature. If you have time, cover and leave the fruit to macerate in a cool, dark place for 24 hours – this helps develop some epic flavours.
Step 2
Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/gas 2. Grease a 1.5-litre loaf tin with butter, then line with greaseproof paper.
Step 3
Blitz the butter and sugar in a food processor, then crack in the eggs, add the flour, mixed spice and a pinch of sea salt, and blitz again until smooth. Scrape this mixture into the bowl of macerated fruit and fold together with a spatula.
Step 4
Cut off a third of the marzipan and roll it out onto a lightly flour-dusted surface to about the size of the tin (keep the remaining marzipan covered to prevent it drying out).
Step 5
Use a spatula to gently spoon half the mixture into the tin in an even layer, lay over the marzipan sheet (this will create a gooey centre), then spoon over the remaining batter. Smooth the top and bake for 2 hours, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean – you can loosely cover the cake with foil if it’s browning too much after the first hour. Remove from the oven, leave for 20 minutes, then lift it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 6
To decorate, roll out the remaining marzipan to ½cm thick on a lightly flour-dusted surface. Spread the jam over the top of the cake, then invert it onto the marzipan so it's upside-down. Trim the marzipan around the cake, leaving a 1cm border, then flip the cake the right way up and crimp the edges (like you see in the picture). Roll the offcuts of marzipan into 11 small balls, then press onto the top of the cake.
Step 7
Serve as is, or you can either pop the cake under a hot grill for a couple of minutes to brown, or use a blow-torch if you have one. Delicious with slices of Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire cheese on the side.
Step 8
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