Hope you are all enjoying your chocolate eggs. I’m looking forward to my most favourite cake in the whole world – Simnel cake. I love marzipan.
I hope you were all good over Lent, and gave something up. I gave up alcohol and chocolate, and only have one brief, but vicious lapse (chocolate) on Mother’s day. So I’m really looking forward to chocolate, wine and champagne today.
Simnel cake dates back to Tudor times. Supposedly, Lambert Simnel, the ten-year-old pretender to Henry VII's throne was spared death and sent to work in the royal kitchens where he came up with the recipe. Pretty clever for a ten -year -old!
The truth is probably less colourful, especially as references to the cake appear before Henry VII's reign. Simnel probably refers to the Latin word simila, meaning fine, wheaten flour, which was used to bake cakes for Mothering Sunday, which takes place during Lent.
By the eighteenth century, however, it had become an Easter treat to celebrate the end of the 40 days of Lent. The cake has a layer of marzipan or almond paste baked into the middle while on the top it is usually decorated with eleven marzipan balls placed around the edge, representing the apostles ( minus that rat-bag Judas).
Thought for the day
Go easy on the chocolate eggs – or you will be sick!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/7544471/Easter-2010-Simnel-cake-enjoys-revival.html
I hope you were all good over Lent, and gave something up. I gave up alcohol and chocolate, and only have one brief, but vicious lapse (chocolate) on Mother’s day. So I’m really looking forward to chocolate, wine and champagne today.
Simnel cake dates back to Tudor times. Supposedly, Lambert Simnel, the ten-year-old pretender to Henry VII's throne was spared death and sent to work in the royal kitchens where he came up with the recipe. Pretty clever for a ten -year -old!
The truth is probably less colourful, especially as references to the cake appear before Henry VII's reign. Simnel probably refers to the Latin word simila, meaning fine, wheaten flour, which was used to bake cakes for Mothering Sunday, which takes place during Lent.
By the eighteenth century, however, it had become an Easter treat to celebrate the end of the 40 days of Lent. The cake has a layer of marzipan or almond paste baked into the middle while on the top it is usually decorated with eleven marzipan balls placed around the edge, representing the apostles ( minus that rat-bag Judas).
Thought for the day
Go easy on the chocolate eggs – or you will be sick!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/7544471/Easter-2010-Simnel-cake-enjoys-revival.html
1 comment:
Ooooh our cake looked just like the one in your picture! I'm very lucky to have such a good cook in the family. The way you described it is just how I like it! Got to have the marzipan in the middle too, yummmmm
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