How to Make Simnel Cake — The Victorian Way

[Music] thank you [Music] today I'm making a seminal cake it's a type of light fruitcake very popular at this time of year from mothering Sunday to Easter it's an ideal Tea Time cake for the family when they're entertaining for this recipe you will need milk yeast flour butter [Music] cinnamon nutmeg sugar currant candied peel eggs Brandy almond paste and crystallized fruit I'm going to start by rubbing the butter into the flour this is a very old recipe I am told that seminals are from a long time ago back when the churches would give their congregation something to eat when they gathered at mother Church although we don't know what the recipe was from back then there are lots of different versions of seminal cake all over the country Mr strut Lord and Lady braybrook's son-in-law tells me that simnal is the Latin word for fine white flower and that he's often eaten them in wafer form my great-grandmother told me that traditionally hers were boiled and then baked they were shiny on the outside and difficult to cut open I'm now going to add all my dry ingredients the sugar the candid peel the current [Applause] a little cinnamon and Nutmeg just a little there are a lot of tall tales about signals Annie Chase was telling me one just the other day I don't remember all the details but it was that seminal cake was first invented by a man called Simon and his wife Nelly as they argued over what was the best cake it was very involved there was a chair leg and a pudding it was all very silly now I'm going to make a hole in the middle and add my yeast which has been in warm milk along with the eggs and a little Brandy in Wiltshire they make their seminals in the shape of a star and I once met a cook who always wrapped hers in pastry nowadays they are mostly just plain cakes with fruit in them I like this one because it has yeast in it that must mean it's an old recipe because only old cake recipes have yeast in them it'll mean that it's more robust which is ideal because at this time of year the family are often traveling down to their townhouse I'm now going to cover this and let it prove for about two hours [Music] thank you now that my mix has started to Bubble I'm going to put half in the cake tin and then put a layer of this almond paste which Marianne made for me in the middle and then put on the rest of the mix not all seminal cakes have a layer of almond paste but I quite like it seminals were popular at this time of year as they were used by those who follow lent as a weekend off mothering Sundays have often been a bit of a feasting time I remember making myself quite ill on frimity when I was a child traditionally though really this time of year is for making a pilgrimage to Mother Church no one does that kind of thing much nowadays although the eating Traditions have still remained I understand in America they have a special day called Mother's Day which is quite different and not popular here seminal cake I suppose has become an Easter cake now this cake will be baked for between two and three hours and I might put some brown paper around the outside if it looks like it's getting too dark this is going to go into the oven for between two and three hours I will cover the top and perhaps wrap it in brown paper if it starts to get a little too Brown around the outside [Music] now my cake is baked and has cooled I've used some of the almond paste to make a ring around it and then Brown it a little with a salamander now it's time to decorate it and I'm going to use some of these candid fruits you could I suppose use almond paste to make different shapes or turrets which would look very delightful but not very practical for traveling I have seen some with icing in the middle and you could write happy Easter on it and there you are similar cake ideal for a springtime afternoon tea [Music] thank you

Channel: English Heritage

Views: 259,075

Keywords: English Heritage, history, mrs crocombe, victorian way, cooking, cookery, recipes, audley end house, audley end

Id: -z4bIJgfCSw

Length: 8min 35sec (515 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 04 2023