On 3/11/07, Sibyl Smirl wrote:
> Professional chefs don't usually give their recipes away for free.

Turns out it's his (Scott Smith's) adaptation of the recipe handed out at church (there were recipe cards on the table at coffee hour today).
Mainly he measures stuff by weight instead of volume:

SIMNEL CAKE FOR THE CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION
Printer version of this recipe

9 oz butter
1 lb 8 oz sugar
1 lb 8 oz all-purpose flour
9 eggs
11-12 oz (depending on how it's packaged) peel of candied orange and lemon
2 oz raisins

Combine in five-quart mixing bowl and mix.
Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, then 325F for 15 minutes.
Wrap and cover until you finish the cake.

Makes TWO 9-inch cakes in half-filled pans.
Cut off tops to produce two flat 1-inch layers.
Finish in the traditional style.

That's all the recipe says...he must have the almond-paste finishing bit in his noggin.

Here's a more complete recipe...
http://www.chippingnorton.net/Features/simnel%20cake.htm

--------------------------------------- Scott the Younger's simnel cake usually looks similar to this:
http://www.tpcalcake.net/home/simnelcakenet.jpg

The balls on top represent the 11 faithful apostles (so there's no ball for Judas). They're made of an almond-paste mixture. The cake has fruity bits in it; it's not exactly fruitcake, though. More cakey than fruity. That's my inexpert analysis.

It's traditionally eaten on Mothering Sunday, the Fourth Sunday in Lent. We call it Laetare Sunday for the first word of the Introit at Mass. Rose vestments are worn at Mass, and flowers are on the altar that day only in the midst of the more austere purple and flowerless Lent. I believe in Britain, that day is more of a Mothers' Day than the May observance here in North America?

Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2007
From: Scott Knitter
To: anglican@stsams.org
Subject: Re: [Anglican] Simmel Cake