Can I Use The Simnel Cake As A Christmas Cake?

Our answer

Nigella's Simnel Cake (from FEAST) is a light fruit cake that has a layer of marzipan baked into the centre. Simnel cake is traditionally made around the Easter period and topped and decorated with marzipan. We suspect that the cake could have the marzipan topping replaced with a thin layer of marzipan and then iced with fondant or royal icing, though keep the layers of marzipan and icing as thin as possible as the cake is more crumbly than a rich fruit cake and likely to be more difficult to cut if you are having to put pressure on a knife to cut through a thick coating of icing and marzipan. Or you could just marzipan and ice the top of the cake. Make the cake with the marzipan layer in the centre as this helps to keep the cake moist and is reminiscent of a Christmas stollen loaf.

The Simnel cake keeps for about a week in an airtight container in a cool place. If you wish to make it further in advance then we suggest baking the cake, cooling and then freezing it. Wrap the cake tightly in a double layer of food wrap and a layer of foil and freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw the cake, unwrap it and put it on a wire rack at room temperature for 3-4 hours. Make sure that the cake has completely thawed and come to room temperature before you put on the marzipan and icing.