Simnel when you’re winning?

The second of my traditional Easter Recipes this weekend was a Simnel Cake. The topping of this cake features a layer of Marzipan topped by some extra balls of Marzipan and a cross to remind us all of the origins of this cake. There is debate as to how many balls should be on top of a Simnel Cake. Some say it should be twelve to get proper symmetry and to represent each of the twelve apostles. Others say that it should be eleven balls to represent eleven of the apostles as the twelfth and excluded one is the traitorous Judas Iscariot. 

The ingredients of the cake are as follows:

For the cake itself: 

175 grams of Unsalted Butter.
175 grams of Demarera Sugar. 
3 beaten Free Range Eggs.
A teaspoon of All Spice. 
A teaspoon of Vanilla Essence. 
175 grams of Plain Flour. 
500 grams of mixed Peel and Sultanas.

25 grams of diced Lemon Rind.

2 tablespoons of Apricot Jam 

For the topping: 

A block of Rolling Marzipan.

On the player was more of the Big O this time in the shape of the 1988 compilation "The Legendary Roy Orbison" which was no doubt released to cash in on his well-deserved renewed level of success. It focuses on his excellent sixties hits including "Love Hurts" which includes perhaps the best arrangement of Piano and Strings on any record ever. 

So to the method which goes as follows:

1. Cream the Butter and Sugar until a mixture with a fluffy texture is created. 

2. Gradually beat in the Eggs to the mixture. 

3.Add the Allspice and Vanilla Essence. 

4. Stir in the Flour.

5. Add the Fruit and stir in until a thick paste is created. 

6. Put half the mixture into a greased cake tin and add the Apricot Jam atop it.

7. Then put other half of the mixture on top of the mixture and Apricot Jam already in the cake tin. 

8. Cook for one and three quarter hours on Gas Mark 1.

9. Turn out onto a rack and leave to cool. Put a skewer into the cake; if the skewer comes out clean apart from any Apricot Jam then it is done. If it does not then return to the oven for a further ten minutes.

10. Once the cake is cooled roll out the Marzipan and use two thirds of it to cover top of the cake and then use the remainder to create twelve balls representing the Apostles as well as a cross shape to decorate the top of the cake.

This cake is sweet and rich with a taste sensation that, if you think hard enough, can take you to better places away from all of this. 

They were all yellow; the chosen twelve sit atop the cake with a rudimentary cross in the middle.