Members of the congregation of St. Boniface, after the Morning Service on Mothering Sunday, have often enjoyed a slice of Simnel Cake with their cup of coffee. For many years this has been made by Margaret Rodwell - but not always on her own! During the time when the church had a Sunday School, at the beginning of Lent, Sunday School had a “Food Theme” session when the scholars mixed all the ingredients of the Simnel cake and Margaret then took the cake home to bake it in her oven and store it ready for Mothering Sunday. Here is her recipe:
Cake mixture: 8ozs / 200g butter 4 eggs
8ozs / 200g brown sugar 1lb / 400g sultanas
Grated rind of 1 lemon 1lb / 400g seedless raisins
8ozs / 200g S.R. flour 4ozs / 100g chopped peel
Pinch of salt 4ozs / 100g halved glace cherries
Three quarters teaspoon baking powder 2ozs / 50g chopped almonds
Teaspoon mixed spice A little milk to mix
Almond paste:
1lb / 400g ground almonds 1 large egg
8ozs / 200g icing sugar Juice of 1 lemon
8ozs / 200g caster sugar Half teaspoon each of vanilla and almond essence
Mix ground almonds with the sifted sugars. Hollow out the centre. Add lightly beaten egg, lemon juice and essences. Mix to a dough, then knead lightly on sugared board.
or: 1 large block of ready-made almond paste (sold in all stores)
Also required: 9-inch cake-tin
Apricot jam
Small egg, lightly beaten
Line tin with greaseproof paper and brush with a little melted butter.
Cream butter and sugar. Add, alternately with eggs, all other ingredients, in any order. Mix well.
Put half the mixture into the prepared cake-tin. Divide the almond paste into three and roll out one third to cover the cake mixture. Add the rest of the cake mixture.
Bake in slow oven (150C / 300F/ gas mark 2)for about three and a half hours.
Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Spread top with apricot jam and roll out another third of almond paste to cover the top. With the remaining almond paste roll eleven balls and place them round the top. Brush all with beaten egg.Return to the oven for twenty minutes.
Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Store in an air-tight tin for about three weeks.
The Sunday School children had questions to answer on stories in the Bible involving food, such as the feeding of the five thousand, the miracle of manna in the wilderness, the disciples going fishing, Jesus and the miraculous draught of fish, the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes, the wedding at Cana, one of the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness, and so on. The child who answered correctly and was able to explain the reference was allowed to choose what ingredient went into the bowl next and to mix it in. Fortunately, they must have studied theirmaterial well, for St. Boniface always had its Simnel cake on Mothering Sunday!
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