Gluten Free Easter

 Some people are social smokers and drinkers. However I am a social gluten eater as I can only eat a limited amount of the stuff and so just consume it on meals out with friends. That has encouraged me to find new, gluten-free twists on classic recipes. Today I bring you an Easter Bank Holiday Monday gluten free recipe for a Simnel Cake.

The weekend prior to Easter was a time to rest up after a Covid Scare and use the downtime to prepare a gluten free cake to distribute to friends and colleagues alike during Holy Week. On the player were the summery sounds of Sedaka, the eternally unhip yet compelling singer songwriter, who on the offering being listened to was backed by members of the nascent 10cc. The record in question is called "Solitaire" and its title track tells the story of an indifferent lover. It's a cautionary tale to anybody who is thinking of passing up true love and fulfilling relationships by hiding behind indifference. 

So the ingredients of this cake which are as follows:

• 250g mixed dried fruit- a mixture of sultanas, currants and raisins 
• The juice of 1 Orange
• 300g pack marzipan
• 250g unsalted butter , softened
• 200g light brown soft sugar
• 4 eggs , beaten. The eggs I used were sourced from the wonderful Stretton Hall Farm | Facebook
• 175g gluten free plain flour
• 100g ground almonds
• The juice of 1 lemon 
• 2 tsp All Spice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g glacé cherries , halved
• 3 tbsp apricot jam

The way to make this dish is as follows:

1. Grease a cake tin. 

2. Cream the Butter and Sugar together until a fluffy mixture is formed. 

3. Add the beaten Eggs and stir them into the mixture to form a paste. 

4. Carefully add the Gluten Free Flour, fruit juices, almonds, vanilla extract, spice and dried fruit and stir together to get a thick and pliable cake mix. 

5. Place half the cake mix in the cake tin. Then take a third of the Marzipan and roll it out. Place it on top of the cake mix in the cake tin. Then cover with the other half of the cake mix. 

6. Cook in the oven on Gas Mark for two hours. The cake will be ready when a skewer, poked into it, comes out clean. 

7. Remove the cake from the cake tin and leave it to cool.

8. Once the cake is cooled, cover the top with Apricot Jam. 

9. Roll out the balance of the Marzipan and put it on top of the cake. Take some bits to make eleven balls, representing the non-traitorous apostles, to put on top of the cake with extra marzipan to be used for a decoration of your choice. 

Prior to discovering my intolerance for excessive amounts of gluten, I wasn't able to enjoy cakes as I used to and for someone with a sweet tooth this was hard, quite literally, to swallow. However this recipe enabled me to enjoy one of my favourite seasonal cakes without any side effects. It also went down well with those I distributed pieces of the cake to. 

One of our Apostles is missing- there should be eleven on this cake.