A traditional Simnel cake is a light fruit cake with a layer of marzipan baked through the middle, a second layer on top, and eleven marzipan balls around the edge — one for each of the eleven faithful apostles. It is the cake of Mothering Sunday and Easter, and this recipe makes one 20cm cake to serve around twelve. Allow a good afternoon: the bake alone is two and a half hours.
Simnel cake is gentler than its Christmas cousin — lighter in fruit, warmer in spice, and defined by that unmistakable ring of golden marzipan balls. It looks like an occasion and tastes of spring. The method is forgiving; the two things worth understanding are why the marzipan goes in the middle and how to toast the top without a drama.
Key takeaways
- The cake: a light creamed fruit cake — 225g each of butter, sugar and flour, 4 eggs, mixed spice and around 475g dried fruit and cherries. Baked in a 20cm tin.
- The marzipan: about 600g, in three parts — a disc baked into the middle, a layer on top, and eleven balls.
- The eleven balls represent the eleven faithful apostles (Judas excluded). Never twelve, never thirteen.
- Bake low and slow at 150C (140C fan, gas 2) for around 2½ hours, tenting with foil if it browns too fast.
- It is the cake of Mothering Sunday — 7 March in 2027 — as much as of Easter.
The recipe: traditional Simnel cake
This is a classic light Simnel — creamed rather than boiled, so the crumb is tender and the fruit lifts rather than sinks. The quantities are the traditional proportions for a 20cm (8in) round tin. Use ready-made golden marzipan for ease, or make your own (see below).
Traditional Simnel Cake
A light spiced fruit cake with marzipan through the middle and eleven balls on top
Serves 12 · Prep 40 min · Bake 2½ hr · Tin 20cm round
For the cake
- 225g unsalted butter, softened
- 225g light muscovado or golden caster sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 225g self-raising flour (or plain flour with 2 tsp baking powder)
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- 225g sultanas
- 100g currants
- 100g glacé cherries, rinsed, dried and halved
- 50g mixed peel (optional)
- Finely grated zest of 1–2 lemons
To assemble and decorate
- 600g marzipan (golden or white)
- 2–3 tbsp apricot jam, warmed
- 1 egg, beaten, to glaze the balls
- A little icing sugar, for rolling
Method
- Heat the oven to 150C (140C fan, gas 2). Grease a 20cm round deep tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment.
- Take 175g of the marzipan and roll it, on a surface dusted with icing sugar, into a 20cm circle. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a spoonful of the flour with each to stop it curdling.
- Fold in the remaining flour and the mixed spice, then stir through the sultanas, currants, cherries, peel and lemon zest until evenly mixed.
- Spoon half the batter into the tin and level it. Lay the marzipan disc on top, then spoon over the remaining batter and smooth the surface, making a slight dip in the centre so it bakes level.
- Bake for about 2½ hours, until golden, firm to the touch and a skewer inserted at the edge comes out clean. Cover loosely with foil after the first hour if the top is browning too quickly. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a rack.
- When completely cool, brush the top with warmed apricot jam. Roll 300g of the marzipan to a circle a little larger than the tin, lay it over the top and trim; pinch or crimp the edge, and score a shallow criss-cross pattern with a knife.
- Roll the remaining marzipan into eleven even balls and fix them around the edge with a dab of jam. Brush the balls and the top with beaten egg.
- Toast the top under a hot grill for a minute or two, or with a cook’s blowtorch, until the marzipan is burnished golden and lightly caught at the edges. Watch it like a hawk — it colours in seconds.
Making it organic: the recipe works exactly the same with organic ingredients — choose organic butter, sugar, eggs, flour, dried fruit and marzipan if you would like an organic cake.
How a Simnel cake is built
Why eleven marzipan balls?
The eleven balls are the heart of the cake’s meaning: they stand for the eleven faithful apostles, Judas being left off for his betrayal. It is traditionally always eleven — not twelve, the version that adds Christ to the eleven, and not the thirteen you will occasionally see. Space them evenly around the rim; an odd number can be fiddly, so a good trick is to place the first four at the quarter points, then fill the gaps. Rolling the balls is another job children love, and precision is not the point.
Why the marzipan goes in the middle
The layer of marzipan baked through the centre is what makes a Simnel cake a Simnel cake, rather than a fruit cake with almond paste on top. As it bakes it softens into a molten, almond-scented seam that keeps the crumb moist and gives every slice its distinctive band. Roll the disc to match the tin exactly so it sits flat, and resist making it too thick — around half a centimetre is plenty, or it can sink through the batter. Bake at a low, steady heat so the cake cooks through before the middle layer has any chance to slump.
Grill or blowtorch: toasting the top
The burnished, faintly scorched top is traditional and worth doing. A cook’s blowtorch gives you the most control — keep it moving and catch just the peaks of the balls and the ridges of the criss-cross. Under a grill, set the shelf low and the heat high, leave the door ajar and do not walk away: marzipan goes from golden to black in the time it takes to answer the phone. If you would rather not toast it at all, a simple brush of beaten egg gives a soft sheen and is perfectly correct. To finish in the traditional way, tie a wide ribbon around the side and, for Easter, nest a few sugar or chocolate mini eggs in the centre.
Toast the marzipan with one eye on the clock. It turns from golden to gone in seconds, under grill or torch alike.
What is marzipan — and a homemade option
Marzipan is a sweet paste of ground almonds and sugar, bound with egg or syrup, sold as golden (with a little colour) or white. Shop-bought is entirely traditional here and saves time. To make your own, blitz 300g ground almonds with 150g caster and 150g icing sugar, then bind to a firm paste with a beaten egg, a squeeze of lemon and a drop of almond extract; that makes roughly the 600g you need for this cake. Homemade has a fresher, less sugary flavour, though it is a little softer to roll.
Not keen on marzipan?
Some people do not like it, and the cake still works without. Leave out the middle disc and bake as a plain light fruit cake, then finish the top with a thin layer of almond-flavoured fondant or a simple glacé icing and eleven blanched almonds in place of the balls, to keep the symbolism. It is no longer strictly a Simnel, but it keeps the spirit of the occasion for a marzipan-averse table.
Make ahead and freezing
The cake itself keeps well and is happiest made a few days ahead: bake it, cool it, and store it un-decorated, wrapped in parchment and foil, in an airtight tin for up to a week, adding the marzipan and balls a day or two before serving. This actually improves the flavour as it settles.
You can freeze the cake for up to three months, but freeze it without the marzipan — marzipan turns sticky and can sweat as it thaws. Wrap the plain cake well, freeze, then defrost fully at room temperature and decorate before serving. Once decorated, keep the finished cake in a tin somewhere cool but not the fridge, which dries cake and dulls the marzipan.
Does Simnel cake contain alcohol?
Traditionally, no — Simnel is a lighter, family and church-fete cake, and this recipe is alcohol-free, so it suits children and anyone who does not drink. If you like, you can steep the dried fruit overnight in a couple of tablespoons of brandy or, for an alcohol-free version with the same fruity depth, in orange juice or cold tea. It is a matter of taste, not tradition.
A short history: Mothering Sunday, Lent and the name
Simnel cake belongs to Mothering Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent, long before it belonged to Easter. On that day — also called Laetare or Refreshment Sunday, a mid-Lent easing of the fast — servants and apprentices were given leave to visit their “mother church” and their families, and a Simnel cake was the thing they carried home. The forty-day fast is why the cake is comparatively light, and why it was baked ahead and finished for the celebration.
The name most likely comes from the Latin simila, the fine wheat flour the cake was made from. There is a charming folk tale of a couple, Simon and Nell, who argued over whether to bake or boil the cake and compromised by doing both — but that story is a later invention, an after-the-fact explanation of a word people had stopped recognising. Three regional Simnels survive: the Shrewsbury version, historically sealed in a hard, saffron-yellow crust around a rich fruit filling and famously sturdy (one story has a recipient mistaking it for a footstool); the flatter, spiced Bury simnel from Lancashire, closest to the cake we know today; and the star-shaped Devizes simnel, coloured gold with saffron and made without marzipan.
The cake itself is medieval, but its signature finish is not. The marzipan layers and the ring of eleven apostle balls are largely a twentieth-century convention — an old, rich fruited cake given a newer and more symbolic dress. The meaning has stuck fast all the same, which is rather the point of a tradition.
More for the Easter table
Bake a batch of traditional hot cross buns to go alongside, or try Mrs Robin’s boiled fruit cake from Linda’s family book — a close cousin you can top with marzipan and eleven balls for an easier Easter cake. Planning the weekend? See how many days until Easter.
Troubleshooting: why your Simnel cake went wrong
Fruit cakes are forgiving, but a Simnel has its own quirks — mainly the middle layer and the long bake. Here is the quick diagnosis.
| What went wrong | Likely cause | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Sunken middle | Underbaked centre, or marzipan disc too thick | Bake fully at a low heat; roll the middle disc thin (about ½cm) |
| Marzipan layer sank through | Batter too loose or disc laid on too heavily | Level the first layer firmly before adding the disc; keep the disc thin |
| Top browning before centre cooks | Oven too hot for a long bake | Tent with foil after the first hour; keep to 150C (140C fan) |
| Fruit sank to the bottom | Fruit damp, or batter too slack | Dry rinsed cherries well; fold fruit into a firm, creamed batter |
| Marzipan top slid off | Cake still warm when decorated | Cool completely; brush with jam to anchor the marzipan |
| Balls burnt under the grill | Left unattended | Grill low and fast, door ajar, or use a blowtorch and keep moving |
When is Mothering Sunday and Easter 2027?
Mothering Sunday 2027 falls on 7 March, and Easter Sunday on 28 March. Both are traditional occasions for a Simnel cake, so you have two good excuses a fortnight apart. As with all the moveable Christian feasts, the dates shift each year with Easter; you can follow the countdown on our days until Easter page.
Frequently asked questions
Why does a Simnel cake have eleven balls?
The eleven marzipan balls represent the eleven faithful apostles, leaving out Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. It is traditionally always eleven — not twelve, and not thirteen.
Why is it called a Simnel cake?
The name most likely comes from the Latin simila, meaning fine wheat flour. The popular tale of a couple named Simon and Nell is a later, invented explanation rather than the true origin.
When do you eat Simnel cake?
Traditionally on Mothering Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent, and also at Easter. Both fall in spring — in 2027, Mothering Sunday is 7 March and Easter Sunday is 28 March.
Why is there marzipan in the middle of a Simnel cake?
The baked-in marzipan layer is what defines a Simnel cake. It softens as it bakes into an almond-scented seam that keeps the cake moist and gives every slice its distinctive band.
Can you freeze Simnel cake?
Yes, for up to three months, but freeze it without the marzipan, which turns sticky when frozen. Wrap the plain cake well, defrost fully at room temperature, then decorate before serving.
How long does Simnel cake keep?
Un-decorated and well wrapped in a tin, about a week, and the flavour improves over the first few days. Once decorated, keep it in a tin somewhere cool but not the fridge.
Can you make a Simnel cake without marzipan?
Yes. Leave out the middle disc and top, bake it as a light fruit cake, and finish with a thin almond-flavoured icing and eleven blanched almonds to keep the symbolism. It is no longer strictly a Simnel, but it works for those who dislike marzipan.
Recipe by Linda Garrould. Published 18 July 2026. Quantities follow traditional British proportions; general home-cooking guidance, so adjust for any allergies or dietary needs. CookeryEasterBakingRecipe
0 Comments